Salvation army on gays
Salvation Army Australia apologizes for official's anti-gay comments
The Salvation Army Australia is apologizing for an official’s comments suggesting that the charitable Christian organization believes homosexuals should be put to death.
Maj. Andrew Craibe, media relations director for Salvation Army Australia Southern Region, found himself in the middle of a public-relations firestorm for comments he made on a gay-oriented Australian radio show last week.
Salt and Pepper
One of the radio hosts, Serena Ryan, expressed concern over the alley and asked, “How do you respond to that as part of your doctrine?”
Craibe responded: “Well, that’s a part of our belief system. We have an alignment to the Scriptures that that’s our belief.”
Later, Ryan again pressed Craibe on the issue “Honestly, Andrew, tell me, as a human being, how can you qualify that?”
Craibe replied: “Well, I qualify by way of, that’s where my belief system is structured, you know? It’s what it comes down to, that salvation story, and that we can be redeemed from that. That’s my belief.”
On Saturday,
LGBT Statement
The accompanying statement is The Salvation Army Northern Division’s response to false accusations claiming that The Salvation Army discriminates against the LGBT group and pays lobbyists to fight against their interests.
- The Salvation Army is open and inclusive to all people. Anyone who comes through our doors will receive aid based on their need and our capacity to assist. We annually provide around 30 million Americans from a variety of backgrounds – we undertake not pick and choose who we serve based on religion, sexual orientation or any other factor. This swear to serve goes to the core of our opinions as laid out in our organizational Mission Statement: “The Salvation Army, an international movement, is an evangelical part of the universal Christian church. Its message is based on the Bible. Its ministry is motivated by the love of God. Its mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His designate without discrimination.”
- Any instance of discrimination is in direct rivalry to our core beliefs and is against all of our polic
Salvos back away from anti-gay comments
The Salvation Army in Australia is distancing itself from a statement by its international parent organisation that homosexuality is "an unacceptable urge".
The gay collective has criticised the church's online declaration.
Church spokesman Major Bruce Harmer says its Australian arm believes the statement needs to be changed.
He has denied the Salvation Army is homophobic and has appealed to the gay community not make judgements on the declaration.
"If you had a bad taxi driver, you wouldn't group all taxi drivers the similar as well," he said.
"At the moment the international statement is our declaration, but we are operational behind the scenes."
He says the church's position on homosexuality is being debated internally and the Australian arm believes it needs to be changed.
Major Harmer says the Salvos present services to all who are in need, regardless of sexual orientation.
"The Salvation Army has worked for many years with same-sex attracted and lesbian people through their treatment centres and welfare
A few years back, we were asked about the current relationship between our communities and the Salvation Army. As you comprehend, the Army organised the infamous petition against lesbian law reform in the s, an act which damaged relations for many years, so that many gay people still notice unable to contribute to the SA’s fundraising tries. So the Board wrote to them. After considerable discussion, the following combined statement was written in
RAINBOW WELLINGTON AND THE SALVATION ARMY REACH A RAPPROCHEMENT:
A SIGNIFICANT STEP FORWARD“A very significant step forward and an vital building block for the future”, is how Tony Simpson, Chair of the Wellington based gay, female homosexual and related groups human rights organisation Rainbow Wellington, and Campbell Roberts, chief of The Salvation Army’s Social Policy and Parliamentary Unit, described jointly issued statements of the two groups made public today.
For the past year, both groups have been considering future perspectives on their relationship.
“This initially arose” says Simpson, “because our board was discussing the role of