THE LOCAL NEWS WAS GOING ON ABOUT HOW BADLY THEY’RE DOING, BUT DIDN’T SAY WHY: Salvation Army ditched by donors and volunteers after disastrous release of ‘anti-racism’ guide.
This year the Salvation Army’s International Social Justice Commission published a discussion guide called “Let’s Talk About Racism.” The document, its authors say, was “designed to stimulate gracious discussion among Salvationists who choose to participate.” But its radical woke overtones against American Christians seem to make such gracious discussion impossible.
“Why is it so difficult to acknowledge the sin of racism and the seeking of God’s forgiveness both individually as believers and corporately as the Church for our complicity in racism?” the document suggests as a conversation starter. It also called on Salvationists to “stop trying to be ‘colorblind’ ” and to “lament, repent and apologize” for their biases against people of color in America. Much time is spent explaining why the U.S. is racist.
“We must stop denying the existence of individual and systemic/institutional racism,” the materials say. “They exist, and are still at work to keep White Americans in power.”
After a torrent of criticism, the document was taken down in November, with a statement that said the “guide led some to believe we think they should apologize for the color of their skin, or that The Salvation Army may have abandoned its Biblical beliefs for another philosophy or ideology. That was never our intention, so the guide has been removed for appropriate review.”
Well, the apology is a lie, since that’s exactly what they said. A friend texts:
In other business … I hate bypassing those good sober souls who man the red buckets. But I’m done with Salvos.
Repudiate woke, I’m back, with the 5s, 10s and 20s it felt so good to drop in that bucket.
And I do mean repudiate.Salvos know what redemption involves. Apologize to me.
Yes. An open honest apology, and the sacking — or reassignment to kettle/bell duty — of those responsible for this debacle. And the statement above was not an apology, since it was neither honest, nor an apology.
Our problem is that even conservative religious institutions are largely run by people who want to fit in with their Gentry Class peers. But the Gentry Class’s values are mostly preening trash.
UPDATE: From the comments:
I’ll bet I can speak pretty well for the millions of white volunteers and donors who previously thought the Salvation Army one of the best.
You didn’t just break our trust. You insulted the very people who support you. But worse, you broke millions of us in what we believed was the true message of the Salvation Army – especially during the Christmas season.
You sullied the message of Christ Himself by rejecting the Gospel message of love and adopting the phoniness of popular worldly virtue.
The only question that remains for millions of us is, “Why? What could have possibly motivated you to be this stupid and repulsive?”
Hatred and contempt — and make no mistake, that’s the basis of the Salvation Army’s woke policy here — is not Christian.