I've decided that I will not give to, any charities associated with Jesus

[still_one]

or the church

Let the born-agains take care of them

[OldLeftieLawyer]

1. I did that a long time ago

Quit taking stuff to the Salvation Army and switched to Goodwill, even though it's not nearly as convenient.

[still_one]

5. Salvation Army was the first on my list

I will continue to give to international aid organizations, like Care, etc

[AndyTiedye]

11. Salvation Army Made My Shitlist When They Lobbied to Discriminate

They had all this great access to the halls of power and what
do they ask for? The right to discriminate against gay people.

If being allowed to refuse help to gay people and to fire
all their gay employees was the most important thing in the
world to the Salvation Army, that told me all I wanted to
know about them.

And they're really a big annoyance around the holidays!

Goodwill just does good stuff, doesn't hate anybody and isn't
ringing bells all the time during Christmas shopping season.

[Contrary1]

17. The Salvation Army

will really be feeling the pinch. I heard on the news the other
night that the Target Stores were not going to allow them this year.

Does anyone know if the Target Company endorsed Shrub? Could be
an interesting tidbit, if they did.

[ailsagirl]

2. Yes-- there are plenty of

noteworthy charities that really need our help. How about the veterans? The forgotten men and women who risked their lives for all of us??

I commend you-- I understand completely.

I'm so disgusted with the Bible thumpers I could throw up.

[Pirate Smile]

3. Don't blame Jesus. We all know tax cuts for the rich, more wars and

intolerance toward people would not be his plan.

[still_one]

6. may not be his plan, but the people who "speak for him"

have other intentions

I am tired of hearing about several Catholic churches telling people not to vote for Kerry. What do they say about people in glass houses?

[Pirate Smile]

9. I was going to edit my response above to add - but give to whoever the

hell you want to.

The Catholic church stuff really ticked me off too because I am Catholic and that is all so contrary to what I learned growing up and attending Catholic schools.

[Obviousman]

4. believe it or not

there are wings of christianity that have a strong social conscience. it's sad that mainstream religion has been hijacked

[still_one]

8. Well, those Christians better reclaim it, but I think they are outnumbered

[michaelwb]

27. I'm not sure that is the whole truth

"it's sad that mainstream religion has been hijacked"

I think the mainstream wasn't hijacked as much as silent, just like the mainstream of the American public is traditionally silent (doesn't vote, protest, give to political causes, etc.)

If you look at polls of Americans and those Americans who call themselves religious or even Christian they don't usually reflect right-wing extremist values of the the Falwell/Limbaugh crowd, but more often left of center ones. Yet these folks aren't active and that is one of the problems.

[wildeyed]

7. Take care of who?

The charities or the people the charities take care of?

There are several really good christian charities in my city that take care of homeless, drug addicted, and working poor who are in crisis. They don't push the christian agenda with their clients, just do the good work that their faith dictates to them. And I will continue to support them. I actually worked with one of the groups while I was registering homeless to vote. They were extremely supportive of my work.

[Pirate Smile]

10. Yep, Christianity has been hijacked by the Right Wing. Those idiot

Catholic Bishops are a disgrace for focusing on a single issue and missing the broader view of humanity.

[Calvinist Basset]

12. Throwing out the Baby with the "Baptismal" Water?

We are out there--liberal, socially conscientious and progressive Christians, that is. I equate those who distort the Christian message with such extremist groups as the Taliban. In fact, I've taken to calling them "christianites" instead of Christians, just to draw a line of difference.

The problem, in my opinion, is that they get such attention and make an impact on society and politics because of their militant philosophy (not to be confused with military philosophy). Those of us who oppose them don't usually espouse militantism, and so, we don't find ourselves on TV interviews, pumping money into right-wing causes, etc. Perhaps we should adopt a more "rabid dog" approach to reclaim the popular perception of the faith from what they have made it.

Don't throw out the baby with the bath water, though. Instead of signing off from donations to all benevolent organizations and churches, perhaps it would be better to investigate which ones actually fit with your principles.

Personally, I support More Light Presbyterians, The Witherspoon Society, Habitat for Humanity, Bread for the World--all of these are examples of groups who seek to do the work of the Gospel without pandering to those living antithetically to Christian principles.

[wildeyed]

23. christianites, good one.

I think it is true that the radical right christians just make better news copy than the people quietly helping the poor like Jesus said to. And I think this does a disservice to chritainity and religion in general. I was raised in a secular household, so my main impression of chritianity, between the clinic bombings and the gay bashing, was that it is a religion of violence, hate and intolerance. Needless to say, I did not find that brand of faith attractive. Reading posts here from liberal christians and sites like sojo.net have really helped me see that there are other ways to be christian.

[Calvinist Basset]

13. Throwing the Baby Out with the "Baptismal" Water?

We are out there--liberal, socially conscientious and progressive Christians, that is. I equate those who distort the Christian message with such extremist groups as the Taliban. In fact, I've taken to calling them "christianites" instead of Christians, just to draw a line of difference.

The problem, in my opinion, is that they get such attention and make an impact on society and politics because of their militant philosophy (not to be confused with military philosophy). Those of us who oppose them don't usually espouse militantism, and so, we don't find ourselves on TV interviews, pumping money into right-wing causes, etc. Perhaps we should adopt a more "rabid dog" approach to reclaim the popular perception of the faith from what they have made it.

Don't throw out the baby with the bath water, though. Instead of signing off from donations to all benevolent organizations and churches, perhaps it would be better to investigate which ones actually fit with your principles.

Personally, I support More Light Presbyterians, The Witherspoon Society, Habitat for Humanity, Bread for the World--all of these are examples of groups who seek to do the work of the Gospel without pandering to those living antithetically to Christian principles.

[proudbluestater]

14. God is not a Republican, or a Democrat

Take your religion back from the haters. This site is for progressive Christians.

This guy runs the site: Jim Wallis, editor of the liberal evangelical journal Sojourners. He's fantastic!


http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm

[fshrink]

15. Remind them of the compassion of their government.

And close the door.

[Nordic]

16. You'd be mistaken. The whole "moral values" thing was a lie

http://www.zogby.com/soundbites/ReadClips.dbm?ID=10389

The Zogby poll shows that when voters were asked to list the moral issue that most affected their vote, the Iraq war topped the list (42%) – more than tripling the number that chose abortion (13%) or gay marriage (9%). Also, when asked to choose the most urgent moral crisis facing the U.S., voters chose ‘greed and materialism’ (33%) and ‘poverty and economic justice’ (31%) twice as often as abortion (16%) and gay marriage (12%).
(snip)


Yup, they fed us some kool-aid and we ALL drank it. Feels good, don't it? (Burp!)

[seabeyond]

25. the whole election andprocess was of lie, keeping the moral thing

going

this moral thing is what we need. it is what we need to outrage people out to vote. it is what we need to challenge the fundie christian, and allow the left to take back their religion. it is what we need to show the nation how retarded the vote for bush was. and it will be clear and easy. i am using hte moral thing with all my people. you say you are going ot teach me mrality and christianity, bring it on. i have been itching for this fight for a long time. time to dike it out

[RedTail Wolf]

18. God bess ya Brother and your right to your opinion! NT

[flordehinojos]

19. actually bush is unburdening many of the government's responsibilities

on to the shoulders of the churches and charities ... he is manipulating them, they are letting themselves be used and in that process they are enabling the whole sick bush agenda.

[LittleClarkie]

20. Hey now, Jesus didn't do it

Personally, the Christian Children's Fund stays.

And I am a Sunday School teacher, and the usher coordinator for my church.

The Fundamentalists aren't the whole ball of wax. That's just buying into the idea that the Republicans own this shit. The right wing may think they're setting the agenda, but they're not.

I resent that. I am a Christan, and a Democrat. And so are most of the folks I go to church with.

If someone kills a guy for his Nikes, you don't stop wearing the brand Nikes, do you?

[madrchsod]

22. dam i didn`t know there were sunday school teachers left

cause all the the fundies want their children to learn about christ in the public schools,now don`t they? i went to sunday school when i was a kid and i`m proud to say i did. didn`t make me a crazy right wing zealot....

[madrchsod]

21. "jesus is just alright with me"

what the hell did he do to piss you off? last i heard he was on our side. i guess this is another "pissed off at all christians" post, oh well to each his/her own

[Name removed]

24. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[mmonk]

26. They are part of the state now anyway,

let them line up to their Ceasar and receive their tax money and pay him tribute.