The Agenda of The Salvation Army

[Shwa]

I thought this was kind of funny. Hey I respect the Salvation Army, but even some of the most respected organizations deserve a 'C'mon man!" This is one:

Sally Ann bans Harry Potter, Twilight Xmas donations

CALGARY—Disadvantaged tween fans of the boy wizard and the “Twilight” franchise may be out of luck if they're counting on the Salvation Army to bring them Christmas presents this year.

That's because the Calgary wing of the Christian aid agency is refusing to take donations of toys that it believes promote black magic.

The Salvation Army collects thousands of toys every Christmas through its Toy Mountain campaign.

"Black Magic??" Have they ever read or even seen Harry Potter? The guy is a GOOD wizard who is fighting the EVIL wizard and usually comes out the winner.

A spokesman for the agency says it isn't appropriate for them to distribute toys they think promote things like the occult, vampires or black magic.

The volunteer, who doesn't want to be identified, tells CTV Calgary some of the toys would have been worth as much as $100, yet they were not being utilized because of their nature.

Toy guns, on the other hand, appear to be acceptable.

You know, Twilight stuff I can understand, because the whole Twilight thing is despicable what with the teenaged blood letting and Twilight Mom phenomenon. But Harry Potter??

C'mon man!

[bloodyminded]

Yeah, at least you can argue for a level of quality with Harry Potter. Twilight offends because, while it may or may not contain some offensive themes (ie abstinence as love; centuries-old dudes having teenaged love affairs with high-school girls), it is too banal to be offensive. And that's it's offense! Banality.

Edited December 11, 2010 by Charles Anthony
deleted re-copied Opening Post

[Shwa]

So now the ban deniers are in action again, disputing official reports. This time it is the Star who gets the 'C'mon man!'

No ban on Harry Potter, Twilight Xmas donations, says Sally Ann

“This is not true. There must have been some miscommunication. We don’t know where that story came from,” said Andrew Burditt, spokesman with the Salvation Army in Toronto.

He said the agency is scrambling to issue a statement Thursday morning to clarify the situation while trying to determine the origins of the story out of Calgary.

...

“There is no set national policy,” Burditt told the Toronto Star Thursday morning. “These are local decisions. But more often it’s the parents who decide what toys they receive. That’s not a decision the Salvation Army makes. We just want to put joy on the faces of children on Christmas morning.”

You rock Sally Ann!

Toronto Star: C'mon man!

(but they should still ban Twilight crap, just to be fair)

[Moonlight Graham]

Good ol' Calgary.

Edited December 9, 2010 by Moonlight Graham

[pfezziwig]

Christian bashers are more than welcome to set up their own charities and show them how to do a better job.....oh, I forgot, they don't do those sorts of things, they don't stand for anyhing but themselves.

[bloodyminded]

Christian bashers are more than welcome to set up their own charities and show them how to do a better job.....oh, I forgot, they don't do those sorts of things, they don't stand for anyhing but themselves.

There was no Christian bashing here. The 2nd sentence of the opening post is that of respect for the organization.

You're oversensitive.

[DogOnPorch]

Goodness knows what they'd think of re: Buffy the Vampire Slayer lesbian action figure dolls...

[Bonam]

"Black Magic??" Have they ever read or even seen Harry Potter? The guy is a GOOD wizard who is fighting the EVIL wizard and usually comes out the winner.

That is the tragedy of magic. Those who hate and fear the magically gifted make no distinction between good wizards and evil wizards, they believe that all magic is a bane to mankind and must be eliminated. Consider the executions of witches and the like in Western history, it was not necessary that they had done evil with their supposed magical powers, rather, it was only necessary that they were suspected of having magical powers, even if they used them for good.

[Guest TrueMetis]

That is the tragedy of magic. Those who hate and fear the magically gifted make no distinction between good wizards and evil wizards, they believe that all magic is a bane to mankind and must be eliminated. Consider the executions of witches and the like in Western history, it was not necessary that they had done evil with their supposed magical powers, rather, it was only necessary that they were suspected of having magical powers, even if they used them for good.

Which is why I don't let people know about my magic powers.

[bloodyminded]

Which is why I don't let people know about my magic powers.

But you just did. Big trouble coming, my friend.

[segnosaur]

Christian bashers are more than welcome to set up their own charities and show them how to do a better job.....oh, I forgot, they don't do those sorts of things, they don't stand for anyhing but themselves.

Actually, there are a lot of secular and/or atheist organizations that engage in charitable work.

Just a couple of minutes on google found:

- Fellowship of Freethought (humanist organization in the U.S., runs programs to help the homeless as well as community cleanup) See: http://fellowshipoffreethought.org/outreach.html

- International Humanist and Ethical Union (stands up for things like Human Rights in the world)

- American Humanist Association runs multiple programs (including earthquake relief in Haiti and flood relief in Pakistan) See: http://www.humanistcharities.org/

Perhaps the reason you don't see more 'atheist' charities is because A: There are unfortunately fewer atheists than religious believers in North America, and B: atheists are quite happy donating to "secular" organizations (ones that neither promote nor criticize religion), such as various medical causes, the Red Cross, or The Nature Conservancy.

[Guest TrueMetis]

But you just did. Big trouble coming, my friend.

... oh crap.

[Moonlight Graham]

The SA is good peoples. Reespekt!

[wyly]

I respect the SA's not to hand out toys which represent another religion(whether real or imagined) that's fair...it's also fair that I now pass up it's donations requests based on it's religious intolerance...

I stopped donating to religious charities long ago, doing so only enabled them to poison peoples minds when they're most vulnerable...

[lukin]

I respect the SA's not to hand out toys which represent another religion(whether real or imagined) that's fair...it's also fair that I now pass up it's donations requests based on it's religious intolerance...

I stopped donating to religious charities long ago, doing so only enabled them to poison peoples minds when they're most vulnerable...

Please explain the religious intolerance of the Salvation Army?

[segnosaur]

Maybe we should take up a collection to donate a bunch of "Dora the Explorer Aqua Pet" toys to the salvation army.

(Google it... trust me on this.)

[DogOnPorch]

Maybe we should take up a collection to donate a bunch of "Dora the Explorer Aqua Pet" toys to the salvation army.

(Google it... trust me on this.)

Good catch!

[segnosaur]

Maybe we should take up a collection to donate a bunch of "Dora the Explorer Aqua Pet" toys to the salvation army.

(Google it... trust me on this.)

Good catch!

Well, it was either that, or the Harry Potter Vibrating broomstick...

Broomstick

(Ok, well, maybe the Salvation Army was right in not distributing a toy which was supposed to vibrate while wedged into the nether regions of children.)

Edited December 15, 2010 by segnosaur

[Saipan]

The Agenda of The Salvation Army

is to be the most effective non-profit organization. And they are. More than 90 cents on a dollar goes to charity recipients. I'm not Christian but they have my admiration.