By Richard N. Ostling
The Associated Press
Renowned for Christmastime bell-ringers with red kettles, thrift shops, skid-row missions and efficient canteens that served 4.8 million meals after Hurricane Katrina, the Salvation Army enjoys a kind of respect accorded few American charities.
Yet the Army isn’t a charity. It’s a small, conservative Protestant denomination that sponsors a massive and expanding philanthropic empire even as its membership ebbs.
Last year, the organization spent $2.6 billion and aided 34.5 million people through every imaginable form of social service; about 11 percent of its income came from the government. One day, the Army’s impact will be enhanced by 30-some community centers funded by America’s biggest one-time charity gift — $1.5 billion from the estate of McDonald’s heiress Joan Kroc.
While the fact that devout evangelicals are managing social services partly with government money has provoked protests from civil libertarians and gay activists, it hasn’t undercut public support. Last December’s kettle proceeds set a record and contributions to Katrina relief, the Army’s biggest disaster effort ever, were triple those after Sept. 11.
Still, the Army faces internal trouble. Its 62,000 employees and 3.5 million volunteers are led by a mere 3,684 “officers” (the clergy) whose ranks have declined nearly a third the past five years. “Cadets” enrolled at the four U.S. officer-training schools are down 18 percent since 1997, to 284, and membership is also sliding.
National Commander W. Todd Bassett of Alexandria, Va., said that the Army has been hit with a cultural undertow that has hurt other churches and that officer careers require “dedicated devotion.” That includes financial sacrifice. For example, 42-year veteran Bassett and his wife, Carol, (all officers’ spouses must also be officers) together receive a $33,000 stipend plus housing, expenses and benefits.
“I’m a man of faith, so I know we can turn it around,” Bassett said, speaking about the decline in officers. “Our recruiting in the past has been within our own ranks. We’re reaching beyond that” to more non-Salvationist youths.
A product of its time
The Army originated in 19th-century England with founder William Booth’s mission to help the downtrodden. Its doctrines are orthodox Christian with one oddity: no baptism or communion.
In many ways a product of its time, the Army is saturated with Victorian traditions: brass bands, distinctive uniforms and military metaphors.
Today, it is an international organization based in London with 1.4 million followers in 109 countries. The U.S. has the largest contingent, but the growth is in Africa and India.
The 113,500 U.S. “soldiers,” the core among 427,000 members, have taken covenant vows, once called “Articles of War,” covering doctrine, loyalty, generosity, willingness to evangelize and help the needy, and clean living (no alcohol, tobacco, drugs, gambling, pornography or profanity).
Ongoing dispute
The Army’s belief that “the full expression of sexual love” should be restricted to heterosexual marriage caused dustups in recent years with cities that required charities receiving public funds to provide benefits to employees’ unmarried domestic partners.
And an ongoing dispute involves l9 current and former employees, backed by the New York Civil Liberties Union, who alleged discrimination in employment. This fall, a federal judge ruled that the Army has the legal right to use religious criteria in hiring but let other allegations proceed.
Executive Director Donna Lieberman said the civil-liberties union will appeal on the hiring issue.
The Army lawyer said the organization obeys federal, state and city employment rules in social-service contracts and doesn’t use public funds for religious activities.
Bassett says that the Army doesn’t discriminate in hiring but believes its social-service employees should not “act or promote something contrary” to what it stands for.
R. David Rightmire, a fifth-generation Salvationist and faculty adviser to Army youths at Kentucky’s Asbury College, thinks such problems will only increase as the Army seeks closer ties between its religious and charitable operations, ties that are already politically sensitive.
Diane Winston, author of the Army history “Red-Hot and Righteous,” says that despite conflicts, the Army’s operations are “exemplary” when it comes to those it helps.
“They truly care about people, without regard to sexual orientation or religion or race,” she says.
* * * * * * * * * *
A shorter version of this article was printed in Sunday’s Chicago Sun Times.
