I agree. It’s like voting. It is private business that no one wants to hear about.
Thank you. Couldn't agree with you more strongly. An additional fact is that we, individually, are MUCH more capable of helping others more efficiently and at less cost than the government is. When I give a dollar to my neighbor, he gets a dollar. If I give a dollar to the government to help my neighbor, my neighbor will be lucky to end up with five cents of it.
Someone demanded that I tell them how I voted. I refused. So they unfriended me. It didn't even get to the litmus test - if I wouldn't tell, then I couldn't be a friend.
I know a woman that watched as her parents were shot in the street because of their political affiliation. Nazi’s were very committed. Voting is a very private concern for her. Interesting comment she made one day as we watched the news. She turned off the tv, sat quietly for a moment and said “no need to watch anymore. We already know how this ends.”
I was wondering if gramps or a close friend was triggered because had been taken in by one of those mega-church preachers raising money for a 4th bizjet, or one of those political populists raising money for a "cause" and then spending it on a yacht.
Wow! That would be considered insanely rude among everyone I know in Canada, not too different from asking a casual acquaintance if he was circumcised (maybe it's equally rude in the U.S.; I don't know).
This ^^^^ I remind my kids that paying your taxes is not charity, nor does it fulfil any obligation you feel to help others.
I think there are other, valid, reasons to talk about donations, at least with certain people...maybe in conversation with someone who is of like mind, but doesn’t know about a particular charity that they might like to donate to. Or maybe someone you don’t know is of like mind, but may be. “Have you heard of the National Association of Honest Politicians? They help support politicians who can’t get jobs because they’re not pathological liars. I donate to them once in a while,” seems less offensive than “Have you considered donating to the NAHP?”
Quoted just for context.
There's a term for that now: Prosperity theology (it's the exact opposite of the poverty that the gospels claim Jesus taught, but that doesn't seem to bother its practitioners much).
I tend to think that way, privately. Mostly because I think if you can't make a difference to your cause directly and personally, then stroking the check is just purchasing conscience credits, and not actually making you a better person engaged in a problem to solve. Or said differently, donations of time vasly exceed donations of treasure in my book.
It's insanely rude and unthinkable to me to actually say any of that aloud to someone. I would donate treasure, but not time, to a charity founded to smack whoever said that to you in the mouth.
"I don't care if it rains or freezes, 'long as I got my plastic Jesus riding on the dashboard of my car..."
Do you feel the same about the ones who contribute anonymously (or at least, don't tell everyone about it)?
I don't agree completely. If I tell you I give $XX,XXX to a charity, I'm probably looking for you to pat me on the back. I do give money, not saying how much, to 2 charities I mentioned above. If I tell you about these organizations, it's because I believe in what they are doing and I hope others would consider donating to them. I don't need any recognition.
Sounds to me like they did you a favor.
Yeah... that's right up there with asking how much money you make. In most parts of the country, it's a huge no-no.
They most definitely are, and most definitely should be stopped from doing so by the mods. Based on past practice, shots at religion here are allowed to a much greater degree than posts by believers defending their beliefs.
That's why I mentioned to my Facebook friends that I was donating my Covid stimulus payment to a specific charity. I was embarrassed when it resulted in recognition!
Not at religion itself (my mom was a lay minister in the United Church of Canada, and I'm deeply proud of the work she and her church did), just at the fraud artists who abuse and exploit religion to extract money from vulnerable people, especially via the so-called "prosperity gospel." The same kinds of fraud artists exist in charity, (alternative) medicine, (populist) politics, and even aviation.
Correct. Neither does Ronald McDonald House.
I vote for the latter. No matter what he may have thought about the donation, he was rude. What he said to you reflects more on him than it does on you.
It wasn't always productive, though. The closest I ever came to an argument with my late father-in-law was when I pointed out how much money he was losing driving nearly 50 km each way to save $0.02/litre on gas for his car. The depression generation learned a lot of good values—my father-in-law worked all week as a teacher, then had a second job on the weekend in a warehouse to support his family—but they could sometimes be penny-wise and pound-foolish, as the British say.
