Companies like JC Penney and Kraft with its Oreo brand have recently supported same-sex relationships and homosexuality in their advertising campaigns, and the only real backlash seems to have come from hate groups like One Million Moms and the odd moron on Facebook.
Since even a majority of Americans supports same-sex relationships, companies are starting to realize that supporting GLBT rights is not only the right thing to do, but it’s also good for business.
Someone should have told the Salvation Army that. When one of their spokespeople blundered into a radio interview with Joy FM (I see it called a “gay radio station”, what’s with that, journos ?) here in Victoria last week and confirmed that yes indeedy, he and his club of Christian haters think that all gays should be put to death since, you know, the Bible says so, there has been a bit of a backlash against the Salvos, to put it mildly.
So because they realized that statements like this may be a bit detrimental to their donations and bank accounts, the Salvos quickly put out a press release in which they apologized. Well, no, they didn’t really apologize, they just put it all down to a misunderstanding of the bit from “Romans” that they quote in their official handbook :
Question: Why include in your handbook the Romans text from The Bible, which indicates that God insists that homosexuals deserve to die?
This is a misunderstanding of the text referred to. The Scripture in question, viewed in its broader context, is not referring to physical death, nor is it specifically targeted at homosexual behaviour. The author is arguing that no human being is without sin, all sin leads to spiritual death (separation from God), and all people therefore need a Saviour.
Digging the hole deeper :
Question: Do you feel you owe an apology or explanation to all those gay and Lesbian volunteers and people your organisation supports?
The Salvation Army sincerely apologises to all members of the GLBT community and to all our clients, employees, volunteers and those who are part of our faith communities for the offence caused by this miscommunication.
No, we don’t actually wish the gays physical death, just spiritual death. Our holy book says so. Or maybe not. Depends if we are talking among ourselves, or doing radio interviews, or trying to control the damage from one of our spokespeople accidentally saying what we really think in public.
Pathetic.
Please consider giving to non-religious charities instead. A listing of all charities for Australia can be found here, a charity finder based on US charities is here, and some secular charities are listed in this thread. If you know any more, feel free to put them in the comments.
