90 percent of churches refused to help single mom with formula for her baby

[drumdude]

A redditor recently posted the following:

There is a TikTok series going viral right now (@nikalie.monroe) where she calls random churches up throughout the country, and (with a tracked sound of a crying baby in the background) asks if they can help her get baby formula for her hungry baby.

TL;DR: 90% of the Christian churches flat out say no (rudely, rushed, or otherwise.) A Catholic Church and 2 traditionally Black churches did offer to help. A Muslim mosque (or possibly two) did as well as a very small church in Appalachia.

Huge, mega churches in the Deep South all said no.

The series has sparked commentary from pastors as well as ex-Christians and current Christians who are calling their own churches and being very disappointed with the results.

One of the main reasons I left the church - even before I left Christianity - was the hypocrisy. This is such an eye-opening experiment that shows it in the brightest light. I have very strong feelings about it and I’m wondering what you think.

https://www.reddit.com/r/exchristian/co ... al_series/


It’s interesting because one of the often cited reasons for churches being tax exempt is that they provide valuable charitable services to the poor and needy. As I’ve often noted, my local Catholic Church runs a food bank where anyone can walk up at and time and get food.

This is in stark contrast to religions like Mormonism, for example. The bishop storehouse I worked at required a bishops’ interview, paperwork, and only let those who came to the storehouse have the bare minimum of assistance. Nothing at all was provided to non members. The Costco model of Christian charity.

I think if there is a Jesus Christ up there, watching over those churches who preach in his name, he must surely be weeping.

[malkie]

...
This is in stark contrast to religions like Mormonism, for example. The bishop storehouse I worked at required a bishops’ interview, paperwork, and only let those who came to the storehouse have the bare minimum of assistance. Nothing at all was provided to non members. The Costco model of Christian charity.

I think if there is a Jesus Christ up there, watching over those churches who preach in his name, he must surely be weeping.

You were (in my opinion) rightly disappointed with your storehouse experience. I don't know how typical it is.

There's a process for administering the storehouse goods, that, if done properly, involves a "needs assessment" visit from the Relief Society President to the needy family. The Relief Society President, If I recall correctly, reports back to the Bishop, and he along with the head of the family fills out the order form. But sometimes the bishop simply allows the head of the family to put whatever they want on the form.

I've seen a very different picture from you, where, for example, a single mother had a huge amount of food storage all in the form of Deseret Industries cans - not at all the intention of the system. In another case, a family ate high on the hog for a long time, with large quantities of good quality meat every two weeks. I had a decent job as a manager of a small department in a large bank, but my family could never afford to eat the way that that one did.

So it's a bit like the Bishop's roulette for worthiness interviews: some are really strict, and others almost hand over the storehouse keys to anyone who asks.

As a branch president with no storehouse for me to fall back on, and with limited funds to use, I was of necessity on the strict side.

Unfortunately, people do try to take advantage of the system. One guy asked me for rent money, saying that he was about to be evicted. When I asked him to set up a meeting between me and his landlord there was a lot of backpedaling.

ETA: One of my bishops would have sent that young woman in a taxi to the storehouse, with a req. for everything under the sun that she could possibly have needed, whether she asked for it or not.

[drumdude]

I can imagine there are bishops who do what they can. I don’t blame them, I blame the leaders who created the system to act just as arbitrarily and capriciously as they intend for it to.

For a church that is so centralized and strict in the things it really cares about (recording the names of dead people dunked in water, ensuring every member declares their tithing) it is really arbitrary in the things that matter. Bishop roulette for allowing predators to stay in wards, being stingy with resources, excommunicating podcasters…

I’ve volunteered at a local community food bank, the catholic food bank, and the Mormon food bank. The Mormon one left such an incredibly negative impression on me that I’ll never forget. And this was before we knew the church was hoarding and hiding its wealth on such a massive scale.