Operation Christmas Child

[tribpot]

I found out on Friday that someone from my team at work had been prevented from sending out an email to the office at large, letting them know she was organising the shoebox collection for Operation Christmas child .

She was told that people in the office might be offended to be informed of a Christian charity, doing charitable work. At Christmas.

I am completely appalled; to be honest, had I known about this beforehand I would have sent out an email myself, and let them sack me for it if deemed appropriate. (This the NHS we're talking about).

Why would a non-Christian be offended by this? I am a non-Christian (an atheist) and I see absolutely nothing wrong in it. The organisation, Samaritan's Purse, might be slightly dodgy in some way, i.e. they have a Christian agenda (hardly unreasonable for them)? But this seems to have been a knee-jerk reaction to ensure the non-Christian members of staff were not offended. I obviously don't know them all, but the ones I do would not have given two hoots about this and would probably have been happy to contribute.

Sounds like madness - surely this is a good thing that people of all faiths would be glad to aid?

Yeah - I kinda thought that charity was one area we could all get together on. There are a lot of people in the world with worse problems than those of us who live in the UK. Why can't we help them a little, for whatever reason and for whatever faith?

Samaritan's Purse, the parent charity, have a shocking reputation (and I say that as a Christian) but OCC themselves are very different and I know they give boxes to Muslim children if their parents or carers are happy fpr them to get one - there is an optional booklet explaining the meaning of Christmas - no religious items are allowed in the boxes themselves.

What really saddens me is that I know from talking to people from other faiths both here and in RL that they are in favour of Christian festivals being expressly religious. All this kind of thing does is stirs up bad feeling and plays into the hand of extremists.

Look at this thread for more about shoebox appeals and Samaritan's Purse/OCC.

Thanks for that - interesting reading. I think that my friend got involved in OCC via her church, she probably doesn't know much about the actions of Samaritan's Purse herself. If I'm around next Christmas I might organise a secular collection myself (which seems completely barking given it's - you know - Christmas) or suggest something more mainstream like Christian Aid. I bet our HR people will still object to it having the word 'Christian' in the title, but we'll see.

The real shame is that OCC started in Wrexham and got taken over by SP when they could no longer cope with demand. What started out as Christians wanting to do some good got turned into an opportunity for prosletysing. FG is seriously unpleasant. Having said that, the UK operation is still pretty independent and doesn't include religious items in boxes, I know as I used to help pack them. There are other schemes around which I would use if I could, but we are in teh sticks and as a woman in our village collects the boxes it's this or nothing (but we do World Vision Good Gifts too.)

I'll tell you why I am offended.
Because they use these gifts to gain access to poor kids, and indoctrinate them to renounce their religions and convert to Samiratan's Purse's off the wall version of Christianity. They undermine local customs and break up families.

Read their own words here www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/Newsletter/october_09/ and be appalled.

My daughter's school just ditched this SP when they found out what it was about.

• Amnon

I am personally involved in Operation Christmas Child, I have been involved in a warehouse at this end that checks and sends shoeboxes, and in delivering them at the other end.

I can only tell you what I have seen with my own eyes and know to be true and that is that no child has EVER been required to "renounce" any religion.

Boxes are given on the basis of NEED only, without regard to political background, religious beliefs, or nationality. We are very careful not to undermine local customs and some of the items on the list of things that should NOT go into a box are there for those reasons!

No child is ever required to do anything in order to receive a box. Not to agree to anything or attend anything, or sign up for anything.

As stated the UK NEVER puts any literature into the boxes we send. EVER. the only reason we ask that boxes are not sealed at this end is because we have to check there are none of those items on the list of things that are not allowed to go in. Those items that are not on that list for local reasons are on that list for customs and excise reasons, and we have to check them. A sample of boxes from each lorry may be checked by the customs service of the nation receiving them and if items on the "no" list are in there, a whole lorry could be held up and that would mean 8000 children not receiving a gift that had been sent for them.

You might not think people would put in items on the "no" list but believe me it happens an awful lot.

A small booklet of bible stories (more often than not the Christmas story) is sometimes made available alongside the boxes. But only in about half the cases. We have NEVER refused a child a box based on their choice not to have a leaflet. Never refused a location a box based on that either.

You can read the full text of this small booklet sites.google.com/site/occalert/Home/MostImportantStory.pdf?attredirects=0|here. The really good stuff is in the last few pages. As well as the bible stories, it contains hard sell evangelism, encouraging the reader to "become a child of Jesus". It includes a sinners prayer which the kid is encouraged to say in order to convert to Christianity, and a pledge card to commit to church attendance and doing missionary work amongst their friends.

sorry, I got the link address wrong.
Try sites.google.com/site/occalert/Home/MostImportantStory.pdf?attredirects=0|this

UKZoe has only posted on this thread, hmmmm.

Links: pursestrings.ca/ www.humanism.org.uk/humanism/humanism-today/humanists-doing/charities/samaritans-purse
secularderby.org/purse.htm
sites.google.com/site/occalert/

SomeGuy,
Great sites. Thanks for the links. Well worth reading. What amazes me is how many schools are still supporting these characters. With all their emphasis on ICT, haven't schools learned how to use Google?

• Amnon

I'm always amazed how many people are so driven by their hatred towards Christianity. It seriously baffles me.

Why can't those people understand the concept of unconditional giving? That's what Christians do - they don't expect anything in return. These gifts are freely given and no one expects the recipient to do, say or think anything as payment for the gift.

Tit-for-tat is such a secular concept to the point that non-believers think that everyone is like that and can't believe in simple giving out of love with the receiving bit. And this all leads to spreading rumours and lies about the people who are coordinating the programme. There is nothing wrong with sending a book of the true meaning of Christmas with these shoeboxes. It is just another gift.

We don't take part in OCC, personally. We give shoeboxes called Love in a Box, run by Mutard Relief Mission. I imagine there are websites against them too. All they are trying to do is give someone a happier Christmas.

giving out of love without the receiving bit

But is it truly unconditional? Or a tool to assist with conversion?

from SP Oct news

"For our church partners across Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, and Latin America, the shoe box gifts are a powerful tool for sharing the life-changing message of Jesus Christ.

These tangible expressions of God?s love open doors for local churches to share the true meaning of Christmas?God?s gift of His Son, Jesus.

Along with their shoe box gifts, children are given colorful storybooks that present God?s plan of salvation in their local language.

We provide churches with a 12-part Bible study to teach children about the Gospel, invite them to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, and train them to share their faith with family and friends."

I'm always amazed how many people are so driven by their hatred towards Christianity. It seriously baffles me

What, like the Canon Chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral you mean? www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/nov/10/religion.society

Why can't those people understand the concept of unconditional giving? That's what Christians do - they don't expect anything in return.

According to press reports Franklin Graham, (the leader of this outfit) got $1,200,000 annual salary in return.

'we need to get over our fondness for charity and develop a thirst for justice'
says the guy from the link above
how true
even if we set aside the nasty evangelising, this sort of 'giving' just smacks of making ourselves feel better rather than adressing the causes of poverty. Like he says, support Christian Aid instead.

Unconditional giving - yes that's what I want to do - that's why I want nothing to do with Operation Christmas Child.

Re nearlythree "Samaritan's Purse, the parent charity, have a shocking reputation (and I say that as a Christian) but OCC themselves are very different"

OCC is entirely owned by SP and SP's accounts show that nearly 20p of every pound of cash (presumably the £2.50+ transport costs donation) raised by OCC goes into SP's general funds.

So much of what people have posted here is just not true. I know a few people who are involved with the Operation Christmas Child shoebox appeals and there is never anything religious put in the shoeboxes. There is no criteria that has to be met for a child to receive a box, and certainly no requirement that any of their beliefs or those of their families be renounced.
The shoeboxes are simply to bring happiness to a child who has very little.
The countries in which they are distributed are quite often Muslim or other faith, and permission is obtained to distribute the boxes. Operation Christmas Child want to continue to give out the boxes and they would not jeopardise their relationship with the powers that be of the host nation by being so insensitive as to trample on their beliefs.
The charity behind this is indeed Christian and they back up their beliefs by doing nice things - like making a poor child happy at Christmas. It's unconditional.

So much of what people have posted here is just not true. I know a few people who are involved with the Operation Christmas Child shoebox appeals and there is never anything religious put in the shoeboxes. There is no criteria that has to be met for a child to receive a box, and certainly no requirement that any of their beliefs or those of their families be renounced.
The shoeboxes are simply to bring happiness to a child who has very little.
The countries in which they are distributed are quite often Muslim or other faith, and permission is obtained to distribute the boxes. Operation Christmas Child want to continue to give out the boxes and they would not jeopardise their relationship with the powers that be of the host nation by being so insensitive as to trample on their beliefs.
The charity behind this is indeed Christian and they back up their beliefs by doing nice things - like making a poor child happy at Christmas. It's unconditional.

Operation Christmas CHild is dodgy as fuck. It;s a front for Samaritan's Purse which is a vile racist, sexist homophobic organisation.
So the OP's HR aren't prejudiced against Christians, they are refusing to allow an employee to solicit for an organisation that even other Christians have serious concerns about.
WHy not contact your local homeless shelter or women's refuge and find out what they would like in the way of donated goods and organise an appeal accordingly? There is nothing at all wrong with giving to charity at Christmas, just pick a worthwhile cause to give to.

SolidGoldBrass - are you saying it's dodgy as fuck because it's Christian?

Not sure why you'd conclude that giving toys and woolly hats and toothpaste etc to poor kids at Christmas wasn't a worthwhile cause. (I am not implying that homeless shelters and womens refuges are not worthwhile).
I just wonder how many people who are aggressively anti Operation Christmas Child actually know what they're talking about - this thread (and others) seem a bit like assuming you know all about the Labour Party by reading the Daily Mail.

SmallPenguin: Because they promote an aggressively evangelical, racist, homophobic and misogynistic branch of their superstition and pretend they don't. So they are dishonest (as well as having been investigated for having their fingers in the till but that's another issue).
I always give to secular charities on principal anyway, but the reason for being outspokenly opposed to this particular bunch of chancers is their dishonesty.