DRAWING LARGELY ON A PP
Dear XXXX
I am writing to you with regard to the Operation Christmas Child Christmas box scheme. My family is new to the school and therefore I am a little light on background knowledge so I hope you will take this email in the spirit it is sent and forgive me if this has all been discussed and resolved in past years. It is a little long but I hope you will forgive this too!
I have the greatest respect for the charitable activities of the school, and support them wherever possible. Unfortunately I do not feel able to support the Operation Christmas Child shoebox appeal for a number of reasons. I am not sure if you are aware of the controversy surrounding Samaritan’s Purse/Operation Christmas Child, so felt I ought to write to you in case the school was unaware.
Firstly, the distribution of the shoeboxes has an overtly evangelical purpose with efforts being made to convert the recipient children, regardless of their religious or cultural affiliations. Samaritan’s Purse say on their website that "In the hands of local churches, every gift-filled shoebox is a powerful tool for evangelism and discipleship". Religious literature is distributed with the shoeboxes (no longer inside the boxes from the UK, but certainly with them). Children are invited/coerced to attend Christianity lessons after receiving their boxes and then encouraged to convert and bring others to their new faith. It is documented that the shoeboxes have been used as leverage to sign up children to the course.
Secondly, the form of Christianity supported by Samaritan’s Purse is a fundamentalist form of the religion, which promotes extreme values that are diametrically opposed to my own and, I believe, SCHOOL’s own values. Samaritan’s Purse and in particular the President, Franklin Graham are linked to Franklin Graham’s father’s (Billy Graham) Evangelistic Association and their “Greatest Journey” curriculum. They very clearly campaign against equal rights and same-sex marriage in particular for example - here is a link to an article written by Samaritan’s Purse, which expresses views that I personally find highly offensive and that I hope run counter to SCHOOL’s own values. www.samaritanspurse.org/article/persecution-against-u-s-christians-on-the-rise/
Thirdly, I feel it is inappropriate to support an organisation whose founder is blatantly and publicly intolerant of other religions as demonstrated by such quotes describing Islam as “a very wicked and evil religion”. On Hinduism he says “…we travelled to the subcontinent of India, with its hundreds of millions of people locked in the darkness of Hinduism… These people were bound by Satan’s power.”
I also cannot ignore his homophobic beliefs, demonstrated by writing in his magazine that Vladimir Putin's state-sanctioned homophobia should serve as a lesson to President Obama. This website probably explains more clearly what I am trying to say: humanism.org.uk/humanism/humanism-today/humanists-doing/good-causes-and-charities/samaritans-purse/. I particularly draw your attention to the link to this article www.theguardian.com/world/2003/nov/10/religion.society written by a Christian minister in case you should think my concerns have an anti-Christian or anti-religion motivation.
The website www.humanistlife.org states the following: “Several other charitable organisations and reputable businesses, including the Cooperative, have withdrawn their support for Operation Christmas Child. The charity Save The Children has questioned its effectiveness and expressed concerns about the use of evangelism in the context of people in need. Some leading teachers’ Unions, including the NASUWT, have pointed out the difficult position that schools are placing themselves in when they support such charities without giving careful thought to their stated mission. I read on another website that the Charities Commission has also expressed concern that “for hiding their missionary aims from teachers and parents of school children asked to support the scheme, and from volunteers helping the project. They found that Operation Christmas Child "appeal leaflets sent to parents and teachers say nothing about any missionary aim, or religious affiliation."
I would additionally say that I note and agree with views that sending gifts so far across the world is neither particularly efficient in terms of the aid they provide nor environmentally responsible.
I do think it is a fantastic idea for the children to be involved in giving, supporting and thinking of others, in particular at Christmas time. There are many alternatives to Samaritan’s Purse. These may also involve giving closer to home, which addresses the efficacy issues I mentioned above. Some hospices and care homes fund similar schemes. Another possibility is Mary's Meals, which runs a backpack project. (www.marysmeals.org.uk/get-involved/the-backpack-project/). Link to Hope is a Christian organisation providing gifts to children in Eastern Europe, but without any ulterior motive (linktohope.co.uk). There are also secular alternatives such as the Rotary Club shoebox appeal, I wonder if you would consider offering these as alternatives. If it is too late to change plans for this year, perhaps these might be considered for future years?
I am sorry this is such a long email, but I wanted to make sure that I offered some explanation and evidence. If the school is committed to Samaritan’s Purse then I hope you will understand that we will not be taking part and will instead make other arrangements for DS and DD to participate in charitable giving – perhaps via the Good Gifts website.
Thank you for reading this and I hope you will understand why I felt I had to write.