After receiving backlash for its racially charged wording asking white people and Christians to “examine” racist attitudes and practices, the Salvation Army has taken down a paper called “Let’s Talk About Race” from its website.
Now, this so-called charitable foundation is under hot water after it was discovered they were pushing a form of “Critical Race Theory” on their employees.
The Christian Salvation Army noted on its website that, the “Elements of the recently issued” “Let’s Talk About Racism” 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.”
In addition, as of Tuesday, a link to the instructions that had been uploaded in April had been removed from the Salvation Army website.
In a November 25 update titled, “The Salvation Army’s Response to False Claims on the Topic of Racism,” The Salvation Army reiterated that its primary goal is to “preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and meet human needs in His name without discrimination.”
“The beliefs that motivate our service are based solely on the Bible, and that will never change,” the organization said, accusing “some individuals and groups” of attempting to “mislabel our organization to serve their own agendas.”
“They have claimed that we believe our donors should apologize for their skin color, that The Salvation Army believes America is an inherently racist society, and that we have abandoned our Christian faith for one ideology or another,” it wrote.
“Those claims are simply false, and they distort the very goal of our work,” it claimed, emphasizing its belief that racism is “fundamentally incompatible with Christianity, and that we are called by God to work toward a world where all people are loved, accepted, and valued”: Our positional statement on racism makes this clear. These beliefs and goals are critically important because we know that racism exists, and we are determined to do everything the Bible asks of us to overcome it.”
The organization explained that it publishes internal study guides on “various complex topics to help foster positive conversations and grace-filled reflection among Salvationists,” which is where the controversial guide “Let’s Talk About Racism” comes into the picture.
The organization said the guidance was “issued as a voluntary resource” and continued to defend it, casting blame on “some” for ignoring the “accurate information” it has provided.
However, Salvation Army’s Donors Withdraw Support recently in Response to Racial ‘Wokeness’ Initiative, which included the “Let’s Talk About Racism” guide that allegedly incorporated Critical Race Theory ideology.
According to Newsweek report:
Christian apologist and radio talk show host Greg Koukl wrote in a Facebook post earlier this month, “In my estimation, CRT is a Trojan horse taking in well-intentioned Christian enterprises that—because they care about justice and oppose oppression—naively promote the most serious threat to biblical Christianity I have seen in 50 years.”
These donor retractions come right before the holiday season when the group launches its Red Kettle Campaign, best known for having its members stand outside of grocery stores in Christmas wear, ringing a bell, and asking for donations.
I’m truly gobsmacked that an organization like The Salvation Army, @SalvationArmyUS, whose members are the least racist people across history, has now caved to blaming white people for racism. I will not be giving to the Red Kettle campaign.
Quoted here:https://t.co/NbuDaUh6JM
— Kenny Xu (@kennymxu) November 25, 2021
Colonel Cindy Foley of the NW Salvation Army Division said, “There are many reasons why both financial and toy donations are down this year, not the least of which is likely pandemic fatigue and concerns about employment and the future, We are actually trying to provide food, shelter, toys, and clothing to double the number of families we served last Christmas, and in the midst of the growing need we are seeing fewer people donating at our virtual and physical kettles.”
Not only is the nonprofit organization short on donations, but they also are in desperate need of bell ringers to staff the red kettles seen at businesses around the country.
“The situation is dire, and we are asking our generous supporters in the region to donate to the virtual Northwest Red Kettle as well as make donations at every physical kettle in whatever way you can,” said Foley.
In its update, The Salvation Army says all of its actions are based “solely on the Bible” and that they aim to meet “human needs” in Jesus’s name, “without discrimination.”
Joseph Cohen, a spokesperson for The Salvation Army, told TND in a statement, “Elements of the resource mistakenly led people to believe that The Salvation Army thought people needed to apologize for the color of their skin, that America is inherently racist, and that the organization had adopted critical race theory.”
Cohen added,
“The confusion was leading to disrespectful discourse, which distracts from our mission to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human need in His name without discrimination. Our focus remains on helping the 30 million Americans who are relying on us.”
Read more here: Salvationarmyusa.org, Salvationarmyokcac.org
Sources: Waynedupree, Wpde, Breitbart