I got a phone call today from a woman, an alleged “Christian” woman. The first thing she said was that I should stop badmouthing the Salvation Army. I tried to ask her what she was talking about, but she wouldn’t really answer. She proceeded to ask me why I hated Christians. Eventually, she resorted to name calling. She kept calling me “nothing”. Complained that I worked in a non-profit. Suggested that I put up homeless people myself if I didn’t like the way the Salvation Army did it. She continued talking over me, insulting me and calling me anti-Christian and telling me I was “nothing”. I tried to explain I wasn’t anti-Christian and that this wasn’t a very “Christian” conversation, but she wouldn’t listen. I finally had to tell her the conversation was over and hang up on her. It was one of the least “Christian” conversations I have had in a while . . . since some of the phone calls I got during the smoking ban.
What I would have said to this woman, if I could get a word in edgewise, would have been the following:
I don’t care that the Salvation Army is a church, as it says on their website:
Founded in 1865 in London, England, The Salvation Army is a Christian Church dedicated to serving those persons with physical and spiritual needs in the name of Jesus Christ without discrimination.
or that their mission statement is as follows:
The Salvation Army, an international movement, is an evangelical part of the universal Christian Church. Its message is based on the Bible. Its ministry is motivated by the love of God. Its mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination.
What bothers me, is that they are the “gatekeeper” for homeless services in Dane County, which means it is the only place homeless families can go. Unfortunately, their religious beliefs intrude into their services in the following ways:
1. They require their case managers to keep their bibles on their desks, and my tax dollars help pay for that case manager.
2. Instead of providing daycare, they send the kids to bible school, and I suspect my taxpayer dollars pay for that as well. (Note: This incident happened a few years ago, the county no longer funds it.)
3. They discriminate against gay and lesbian couples. If two women and their children come in to the shelter, they don’t let them stay together. One of the mom’s can stay with the children, they other one has to go to the single women’s shelter. I don’t understand why they would break up a family who is homeless when they should be kept together so they can support each other.
Even worse, they’re not even good at providing the services they do provide. The have a “warming shelter” where they can take up to 14 people who would otherwise possibly freeze to death on the street. In public meetings, they claim that they don’t turn anyone away. However, the other night, there were only two families in the shelter, meantime, several families got turned away. They don’t even tell people about the “warming shelter” when they turn them away.
So, I don’t care that the Salvation Army is a Christian Church, but I do care that their religion bleeds over into their services to the homeless, and that their services leave quite a bit to be desired. Lose the bibles, stop discriminating against gay and lesbian couples and let people into and tell them about the warming shelter instead of turning them away, then I’ll think about discontinuing complaining about the Salvation Army.
By the way, if you’re going to try to make anonymous phone calls, think a little bit. I was able to get the “Christian” women’s phone number off my cell phone, googled the number and got her address. Looked up the address in the voter file and now I have her name. I’m tempted to send her a copy of this blog, but it would probably freak her out too much.
