to ask for your help in writing an objection to Operation Christmas Child?

[autumnwinds]

Our local primary is supporting OCC and has published a piece in the village magazine explaining how wonderful it is and how much the local children enjoy it, what a difference it makes to needy children, and inviting local residents to donate too. The piece omits any reference to the evangelical christian literature that is distributed with the parcels and the way that the gifts are used as a tool to agressively convert recipients to christianity.

I would like to write a reply for publishing in next month's issue trying to give the full picture so that people can make an informed choice about whether to donate to this charity, and to suggest some alternatives that don't come with the religious baggage.

As I don't have a child at the primary yet I'm not sure about tackling the school itself about it (they are not a faith school, so not sure they should be supporting this). DC will be starting next year so I might save that fight for next xmas!

Anyway does anyone have any ideas about a few lines I could write, something succinct and unemotional? I feel quite cross about it but don't want to come across as an equally fundamentalist atheist. I've been looking for some evidence on the web for people who want to know more but most of it is not well referenced...

We gave when DS1 was at nursery, in ignorance and assuming that the nursery would have checked out the charity.

When it came to DS1 doing it with school, I'd seen threads on here and was horrified at what I'd been supporting. I'm not homophobic, racist, islamophobic etc etc so obviously would not want to support a charity that is any of those things.

I wrote to the HT at the school expressing my concerns. He was equally horrified and agreed that a school who are keen on diversity and equal opportunities should not support a charity like that, but was not able to change at the late stage because people had already given.

This year we are doing the Rotary version.

This was what I wrote last year, with some useful links.

"I have received email notification about the Samaritans Purse shoebox appeal and I am very disappointed that the school continues to want to associate itself with an organisation with such evangelical and distasteful views.

I am sure that the ethos of the school is open and equal to all of any faith or no faith, but from my research of the parent organisations of this appeal this is not mirrored there, in particular the anti-Islamic views held by Franklin Graham and the charitable funds spent campaigning in the US against the recognition of gay marriage.

Support of this organisation by the school is entirely inappropriate and in breach of its Equal Opportunities policy.

Our own family do not hold any faith and to support organisations with such aggressive evangelistic agendas is utterly unacceptable to us. Needless to say, [DS1] will not be bringing a shoebox to school and I can only hope he doesn’t feel excluded as a result.

It also concerns me that pressure is being placed on families of other faiths to support this charity, either because they are unaware of the background and activities of Samaritan’s Purse, or because they do not wish their child to feel excluded.

I would urge you and the board of governors to consider carefully your continuing support of this organisation and whether in future you might consider supporting a more inclusive, non-denominational organisation at Christmas.

I am sure that you can all do your own research on the Samaritan's Purse but here are some links that I have found useful, including their own literature:

www.samaritanspurse.org/pdf/2011occsr.pdf

www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/GreatestJourney/index/

pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2012/06/08/report-samaritans-purse-spent-150k-on-marriage-discrimination-amendment/

www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/nov/10/religion.society

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Graham#Work_with_Samaritan.27s_Purse

sites.google.com/site/occalert/

I look forward to hearing your thoughts."

Pigsmummy - the FAQ where OCC says that no Christian literature goes into the boxes is another example of OCC being deliberately misleading economical with the truth.

True, they do not put their 'booklet of bible stories' (= evangelical material asking children to confess their sins and dedicate their lives to Jesus) inside the boxes - they hand the booklets out before/after/alongside/on top of/underneath the boxes. As if that makes any difference, except that it means they can 'truthfully' say that no Christian material goes 'into' the boxes.

flowery that is a really good letter, thanks for posting it.

Mid winter festivals, parties, celebrations, etc have always happened, long before Christianity started to join in.
Furthermore, whilst not being of any religion I was bought in a culture that has been heavily influenced by Christianity and pagan religions.

When I was younger and single I used to do volunteer work on 25th Dec because I am not of that religion.

Now that I have a family we take advantage of the school holiday and work holiday period to enjoy family time of our own, including visiting relatives who are also usually working throughout the year.

We are not religious. Though I want my children to understand the main points about Christianity and how it became a powerful religion by adopting practices, beliefs and stories that already existed.

Isaac Newton is a household hero here too.

notanyanymore and others who were looking for alternatives to OCC here is a link to a Humanist page that might help. while their perspective is the same as Red's they do offer some good suggestions to those who wish to do something to help children humanism.org.uk/humanism/humanism-today/humanists-doing/good-causes-and-charities/samaritans-purse/

Thanks Houseseller

Don't like it? Don't do it...simple. Why try and stop others from doing it. We are doing it through school and guides and do it every year. i think some people are reading too much into the scare stories.

jellybeans - have you actually read the whole thread?

I have and I've decided I'm no longer supporting this because of what it stands for.

But hey, if you're happy supporting islamophobia and homophobia you carry on. Simple.

Our leaflet went in the bin and I told DS we won't be doing it. I'm wondering if I should be explaining why now ...

Flowery - wow, the second link (the Greatest Journey) tells exactly what OCC's agenda is. In the words of Franklyn Graham himself.

I have always had reservations about this charity and don't like the idea of having to fill a box and then pay for the privilege to do so! I lived in Africa and saw poverty first hand, so one year I bought T shirts, pants, shorts, flip flops etc to put in the box only to be told no clothes,,only toys?! As others have said, children on the streets will play with sticks, boxes etc but a pair of shoes on their feet, or a shirt on their back is worth 100 boxes filled with tat.
After reading this thread, we will definitely not be doing it this year and I will send in the excellent template letter explaining why in a medium sized shoebox.

Scary stuff eh?

jellybeans have a look at the links I posted. These are not "scare stories", they are facts. If you read the links and find out more about Samaritans Purse and what they stand for, and then decide that you do want to support them, great.

But this is not about scare stories, and I expect the OP is concerned, as I was, that many people support OCC without having a clue about exactly what they are supporting.

I was very grateful for MN educating me last year, and posts on here a year ago have directly led to our school not supporting a homophobic islamophobic extreme evangelist organisation.

jellybeans Sun 03-Nov-13 14:27:53
Don't like it? Don't do it...simple. Why try and stop others from doing it. We are doing it through school and guides and do it every year. i think some people are reading too much into the scare stories.

Ok, so how does what they do help a child?

Thats a very simple question and doesn't have anything to do with scare stories. Its just a practical question. What are they aiming to achieve and how does it actually achieve that goal?

Why stop others doing it? Because it gives money to a man who supports homophobic causes. As far as charity goes it is useless. It isn't harmless. It is the opposite of harmless. I'm not going to stand by and watch people do it in the same way I wouldn't stand and watch someone hit someone or shout abuse at them.

Don't they also advocate abstinence over safe sex, and reduction in abortion rights? 2 more reasons not to support this 'charity'.
In my eyes evangelising in poorer/third world countries is akin to tobacco compan ies advertising cigarettes in these countries . The west is growing out of these practices (smoking and religion) so they need to recruit new members/consumers anywhere they can.

This is not specifically Samaritan's Purse, but the kind of thing some American evangelists get up to in Africa. Exporting homophobia from Kansas to Kampala

Thanks so much to everyone who posted here on this. What an education. I've done it this year at DS nursery, thinking I must check on the logistics of sending these boxes so far etc & if the carbon footprint negates cost. I am disgusted by so much of the information but perhaps most of all by the prayer that they suggest their converts say-'I know I have done wrong & I have sinned' etc. These are really awful things to encourage children from as young as 3 to be saying, (even if they can't read I am sure they would be given the leaflets & have someone read it for them).

I will be using the template to pen a letter/email to my DS schools head this evening.

Hours of work ahead to find a worthwhile charity I think...

Keep up the good work.

exexpat that is absolutely sickening.

But thank you for that link. Unlike some posters on this thread, I would prefer to know about issues like these, rather than close my eyes and stick my fingers in my ears.

I haven't read all the posts in this thread, but I'm glad I read the OP and the links posted by flowery. I'm horrified that any UK schools are supporting this charity. It's wrong on all levels, and I doubt very much that many parents are making an informed choice to support it - my kids are no longer school age, but I know that I often supported charities selected by the school without taking the time and trouble to research them myself, assuming the teachers would have checked them out carefully. I don't think I'm at all unusual in that. On principle, I always hated the 'fill a shoebox' type appeals anyway because they're so patronising, and I preferred to teach my children to question why the poor are poor, and what kinds of help would be sustainable, rather than give them a momentary feel-good factor by packing stuff they no longer wanted into a shoebox. But this is much worse than patronising, it's downright harmful, and I doubt very much that any teachers supporting it have done their homework properly. So YANBU, thanks for the links, flowery, and good luck to anyone writing a letter to their DCs' schools. The more people who know about this the better.

Yes I have read a lot on it in the past. Just because someone has a different view to you doesn't mean they are incapable of researching and coming to their own conclusions. It would never get stopped at my DC school because it is a very religious school. That doesn't make supporters of it homophobic etc.

But if something is being promoted as a nice, kind thing for children to do at Christmas by a primary school, why would people think they even need to go and do their own research on whether it is actually a front for a group of right-wing evangelists?

All the OP wants to do is ensure that people have the full facts, rather than just the PR message put out by Operation Christmas Child.

I really, really don't understand how you can object to people being given the chance to make an informed decision.

my DCs school did this - and they were an inclusive CofE
till they read what happens to the boxes

sorry but that "charity" should have no place in state funded schools.

Chris Morris and "cake" springs to mind

exexpat this is precisely why I posted upthread that I wished there was an emoticon for exasperation!

Some posters on here seem to be resolutely refusing to acknowledge the OP. They seem to have heard - or at least be pretending they heard - a completely different message from many, many other posters who are supporting people's right to have the correct facts about a charity which peddles their fundamentaliist views through school-children.

Clear enough, jellybeans?