I’ve found quite a few
here to be run by religious groups and people with ultimately socially conservative views (bear in mind I work with and speak to some of these god squad types). they don’t agree with aspects of my lifestyle, so I don’t see why I should fund them with my cash. Of course SW England may be different (the history of East Anglia shows the Christian Church has had immense power here and still does, nearly every other person I meet is religious)
outside exeter a lot of voluntary organisations in devon are dominated by christians, and that prolly represents the population as a whole.
2 points about that
first, one of the playgroups we take our older daughter to is run by christian volunteers. there is no christian content in the play (otherwise i wouldn’t go). when we had our second child, they delivered delicious, home-cooked meals for 2 (actually more like for 4) to us for 2 weeks, for free, to support us while we were busy adjusting. while i would actually rather see the christian church giving it’s wealth to those most in need, the ‘ground soldiers’ do know about community spirit. as long as they keep their beliefs and motivations to themselves, i find that quite inspiring :group_hug
the other point is that if ‘above board’, grass-roots, community organisations are dominated by religious or right-wing people, i see that as a challenge to get involved and break down their prejudices and stereotypes so that the kind of organisations, groups, committees etc start to become representative of all the people who give a shit. sometimes you need to be a thorn in the side to help these people catch up with what century we’re living in. it might take a while to prove yourself, but become indispensable and you can write the policy on “XYZ”… i’m now exercising real influence on local policy makers while 4 years ago (when i first moved back here) i was seen as an anarchist bum :banana2:
as far as giving money to charity, i almost never do, except this year at work we had a whole discussion about xmas cards, so we decided to buy some goats and bees for developing countries and when we receive a xmas card from someone we work with, we can send them an email to say “we are giving you a goat, which lives in ……”
