Cancer charity rejects £10000 donation.

Steve,
I'm not quite sure of the point your making, as far as I'm aware I haven't suggested the the funding required for research into the scourge of our society should come from the NHS, most of the research that is done, [I believe] is carried out by our Universitys funded by both Goverment cash[ our's] and private cash[ again our's just obtained by a differant means]. Whilst I admitt to not being able to quote figures and cases, I'm very reluctant to accept your assessment of the situation as being absolutely correct. Most breakthroughs in my experance do not occur as earth shattering experiences, but a very slow, unpublicized slide into discovery.
oldie.

quote:

Originally posted by Adam Meredith:

I tell you, her sins -- and they are many -- have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love."
— Luke 7:36-50

OK, but it's a flawed argument and could be taken to mean that those who are favoured by God are those that went wrong in the first place, and buggered are those that have always been good. That isn't the message, but it reads like that. The trouble with the bible is that you can read into it whatever you want. It just isn't as releveant to society as it was 1500 years ago when it was written. As a spiritual guide, it is a red herring. Or can be.

It is unfortunate that "christians" are being blamed for this. It is a small group of people who are probably thinking they are doing the right thing. Many don't agree with the actions, fear that there is a conspiricy to force religion down all of our throats and have concluded that christianity is the root of this evil.
Hmm. I have a lot of trouble with that.
Springer celebrates and profits from what most of us would agree are some of the biggest problems of our modern society: Broken homes, failed relationships, the undignification (is that a word?) of vulnerable people, selfish behaviour and warped attitudes toward sexuality.
At the root of christianity is loving your neighbor.
That sounds very black and white and simple and I realize it is not.
But as a christian I don't think that christians everywhere are to be blame for this.
David

David,
I must admitt to having a problem with the accepted definition of the word "Christian" and I do not, nor ever intended to paint all the followers of this particular religion with the same brush, In my simplistic world there are varying degrees of good people and bad people, and those who force their own[even well meaning] beliefs on others, and in doing so possibly deprive them of assistance and support when they need most, imo categorically do not fall into the former category, ie either good people or followers of the Christian faith.
oldie.

Agreed, Oldie.
David

quote:

Originally posted by NaimDropper:
Springer celebrates and profits from what most of us would agree are some of the biggest problems of our modern society: Broken homes, failed relationships, the undignification (is that a word?) of vulnerable people, selfish behaviour and warped attitudes toward sexuality.
David

I think the beef here was against "Jerry Springer, The Opera" which, I assume, claims to make ironic comment on Jerry Springer, The TV Show.

"quote:
Originally posted by Adam Meredith:

I tell you, her sins -- and they are many -- have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love."
— Luke 7:36-50

OK, but it's a flawed argument and could be taken to mean that those who are favoured by God are those that went wrong in the first place, and buggered are those that have always been good. That isn't the message, but it reads like that. The trouble with the bible is that you can read into it whatever you want. It just isn't as releveant to society as it was 1500 years ago when it was written. As a spiritual guide, it is a red herring. Or can be."

I ENTIRELY agree that the Bible is a stupid place to seek unambiguous guidance. It amused me that your "whore" comment so neatly reminded me of an "incident" from the book. I do not use the content as argument - more the presence of a contrary within the claimed authority to illustrate the vapidity of their argument.

Incidentally, and not that it matters, the amount turned down appears to have been nearer £3,000.

G

quote:

Originally posted by Adam Meredith:

I ENTIRELY agree that the Bible is a stupid place to seek unambiguous guidance. It amused me that your "whore" comment so neatly reminded me of an "incident" from the book. I do not use the content as argument - more the presence of a contrary within the claimed authority to illustrate the vapidity of their argument.

It has always seemed to me that fundamentalist christians use the bible as a textbook - which is problematic in the extreme. It is an account if it is anything.

I can't help thinking of the account of David and his men eating the shewbreads. If there is a moral to that story it is that humans are THE most important thing about the law.

Salus populi suprema lex.
The safety of the people is the highest law.

Deane

quote:

Originally posted by Deane F:
I can't help thinking of the account of David and his men eating the shewbreads. If there is a moral to that story it is that humans are THE most important thing about the law.
Deane

By way of curiosity I searched for "shewbread" and got this. A very modern message.

"And he rose and departed. And Ionathas went in to the town. Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech was astonied at his coming and said unto him: Why cometh thou thyself alone, and no man with thee? And David said to Ahimelech the priest: the king hath commanded me to do a certain thing and said unto me, let no man know whereabout I send and what I have commanded thee to do. And therefore I have appointed my servants to such and such places. And now what hast thou under thine hand? give me five loaves of bread or what cometh to hand. And the priest answered David and said: there is no common bread under mine hand, but there is hallowed bread, if the young men had abstained onely from women. And David answered the priest and said unto him: of a truth women hath been locked up from us about a three days, when I came out: and the vessels of the young men were holy. How be it this way is unpure, but it shall be hallowed in the vessel. And so the priest gave him hallowed bread, for there was none other bread there save shewbreads that were taken from before the LORD, to put fresh bread there, the day that it was taken away. And there was there the same day a certain man of the servants of Saul abiding before the LORD named Doeg an Edomite, the chiefest of Saul's herdmen."

I emailed this charity telling them I thought they were wrong to refuse the money. Here's the reply I got. I think they should have contacted the police.



Jerry Springer The Opera Statement
Thank you for your understandable expression of concern about the Jerry Springer Opera decision. I would like to explain what happened and our reasons for taking the decision we did.
Maggie’s is committed to providing cancer support and information for everyone affected by cancer through our growing network of cancer centres across the UK. We are a non-religious organisation, with no affiliation to any religious or political group. Our goal is to provide support for people affected by cancer, whatever their background or beliefs may be.
Jerry Springer the Opera offered Maggie’s a donation of £10 per ticket sold for the matinee performance of the show on 18th February, 2005. This amounted to £3,000.

The day before the performance, we were contacted by Christian Voice, the organisation that lobbied against the BBC. They told us that if we accepted the donation we would cause offence and that they would take action against us, effectively blocking our ability to work. They said that they would picket our centres, send out a press release deploring our action and email their 50,000 members. We felt that these actions would have prevented us from being able to function effectively. We also came under similar pressure from a second organisation UK Life League.

We decided that we would withdraw because we believe that our job is to help the people who come to us for support with their own battles for living with cancer. We believe that this had the potential to be an extra battle, not of their own choosing, that they didn’t have to fight.
Not only were we very concerned about the disruption to our centres and our services, but most importantly, the impact of this disruption on the people diagnosed with cancer who come into our centres on a daily basis.

We then prepared a statement for use when people contacted us about the situation. It said:
‘As a result of contact on 17 February from an organisation called Christian Voice, Maggie’s Centres, the cancer care charity, has taken the decision not to accept the proceeds from today’s performance of Jerry Springer the Opera.
Following an approach from Christian Voice informing us that to support this performance would upset Christians all over the world, we consulted internally and decided that we would not accept the proceeds. Maggie’s exists to help cancer sufferers, their families, friends and carers and to risk causing offence to anyone seemed unnecessary.’

We are a small charity with limited resources and our primary aim must be to provide people affected by cancer with the practical and emotional support and information they need.
I understand the concern that this has caused and hope that this explanation helps you understand the difficult decision we had to take.
With best wishes

Laura Lee
Chief Executive

For further information about Maggie’s Centres or to make a donation,
visit www.maggiescentres.org

--
Theo Hildebrand
Press Officer
Maggie’s Centres
0207 385 2706
london@maggiescentres.org
www.maggiescentres.org
Maggie’s—Building a life beyond cancer.

Bullys.
Shameful behavior, I'm saddened by this.
Far from mainstream Christianity, this is.
David

I am also saddened to read that the "Official Statement" skirted over the main issue that the "Christian" Voice threatened both the charity and show concerned.

Charity is good - no matter which form it comes in as it helps the disadvantaged.

My personal opinion - nail the threatening hypocritical "Christian" bastards to a cross and see now well they like emulation in the "spirit" of Christianity. Oh, and a claw hammer costs £10001

Sorry for the stern approach - people who demean good intentions have no place in my life.

Apologies to all true Chistians.

quote:

Originally posted by long-time-dead:

Apologies to all true Chistians.

Speaking as a non-christian I do not question whether someone who self-applies the title of christian is "true" or not.

If you say you are a christian then you are a christian. Surely it is up to other christians to decry the actions of their fellows as not "truly" christian?

Deane

The majority of 'all' charitable small & larger 'private' donations are anonimous, so I do wonder what motives lie behind all this publicity from both sides, innit ?


Fritz Von Give it to the Sally Army