From 620WTMJ:
The leader of the Oshkosh Salvation Army has been suspended and will lose his job if he goes ahead with plans to marry a woman who is not a fellow Salvation Army officer.
Johnny Harsh is engaged to a woman who isn’t affiliated with the Salvation Army. He lost his wife Yolanda, a Salvation Army captain, to complications stemming from a heart attack last June.
“My wife and I knew when we joined the Salvation Army that there was a ruling that if something happens to a spouse, you cannot marry anyone but another Salvation Army officer,” Harsh said. “But I swear, you never think it’s going to happen to you.”
Salvation Army Advisory Board member Helen Lord Burr confirmed the agency’s rule and told the Associated Press that it is the same for every branch across the globe.
Comments
9 Comments so far. Leave a comment below.The salvation army is not as good as a lot of people think:
http://www.americablog.com/2004/11/details-of-salvation-armys-rabidly.html
@Ben: I’ve also heard some unsavory things about the SA regarding their people going through donated items and picking out the good stuff FOR THEMSELVES and selling the dreck. Didn’t realize they’re anti-gay; thanks for the head’s-up.
Their website has all of their positions up on it. Pretty standard right wing evangelical ravings.
Huh. So only donate to Goodwill then?
That’s pretty messed up.
I read the entire article and can’t figure out what this means. Is he being thrown out of the church, like an excommunication? Or is he being fired from a job, his livelihood?
If it’s a church thing, he’s probably better off. His new wife didn’t join the SA, and she most likely has her reasons. If it’s his job, I wish him luck out there.
Well that was no fun
I went to their site to quote mine and found they at least put forth as tolerant a view as I’ve ever seen from an evangelical group:
Good Will is no better. My girlfriend worked for Salvation Army, and her mother currently works for Good Will. Both have pretty reprehensible policy.
My favorite policy for the “Doing the Most Good” organization? When they dispose of clothing that didn’t sell, they first destroy it to prevent homeless people from getting into their dumpsters and TAKING the clothing.
Again, the clothing GIVEN to them as a free donation by good-hearted people hoping to help their fellow man is to be destroyed if it doesn’t turn a profit.
If you have goods to donate, I strongly recommend donating to a local thrift store owned by a church, hospital or family. They usually have much better policy.
That doesn’t seem to be their official policy, Snarfleez.
You’re right about that, Fred. My previous statement does not align with their official, printed policy. For the record, I never bothered checking their official policy, nor will I make claim to know any portion of it.
I have, however, been privy to a wealth of reliable, first-hand testimony of one store employee (the aforementioned girlfriend) who worked at a local store for some time. She has recounted numerous instances of some ethically questionable activity.
On the subject of policy, Alcoholics Anonymous isn’t a religious organization. I can’t account for that discrepancy either. I find it best not to try and consolidate the words and deeds of organizations I’m not affiliated with. I suppose you’re right, however. What I quoted wasn’t technically policy; it was practice.