More of my family's repugnant display of faith

[Handprint]

Oh for fucks sake...

To put it in purple crayon, a fucking Judge will look at what a person employed by a charity does (they earn money after it has been accounted for in the organization), what someone whom donates to a charity expects and then compares it what Allie's fortunate relatives have done.

In this case, the judge will see that this person is claiming to represent a charity. However, instead of passing the donations onto said charity where said donations can be logged for tax purposes, he has taken an amount. So we have a case of fraud when it comes to tax accounting.

Now, if the organization did not explicitly put that action in writing, then this man has committed theft. If the organization did place that in writing, then the charity itself is now in trouble for potential laundering charges (along with fraud).

Finally, the judge will look at what someone who donates to said charity would expect. To do this, the attorneys present and argue their case while the judge examines the evidence and constructs a rhetorical story to fit the facts based on what both attorneys are presenting. So for someone donating, the judge no doubt will look at how the defendant presented himself, how he asked for things, what his documentation/materials were presented as and the consider that while asking "What would a member of the public, given the defendant's story, expect?"

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Charities have to pay taxes?

yes the money might make less people eat dirt cookies.

Okay lets suppose he was in it just for the profit. Even that, even with that motive 75% of what he collected (earned) went to Haiti so less people have to eat dirt cookies.

Charities do have to submit documentation detailing their income so as to not run afoul of money laundering or fraud.

This reminds me of Robin Hood for some reason...

Did you seriously fucking try to use Robin Hood as an argument?

I want to thank you for putting that in purple crayon for me. Unfortunately right now my brain seems to have deflated. I feel tired, so I'll come back in the morning and give you a proper response to this. I just wanted to thank you though for re-explaining it in the meantime though.

[thesummerqueen]

Robin Hood WAS chased by the law. Also, we don't live in medieval England where peasants lived at the point of a noble's sword.

What you seem to be missing, which Moros explained, and which I don't remember or don't understand was whether or not this guy represented himself as a charity in which the people who donated assumed their money would be going entirely to Haiti - not to line the pockets of some kid living in the US who has adequate food, medical supplies, indoor plumbing and access to heating and AC. If he said outright "I'm getting 25% of this" and they still gave - well, that's no snot out of my nose because they did it fully knowing where their money was going. If they didn't, it is a gross abuse of their trust. They gave out of their pockets because they understood that someone had much less than they did. This man doesn't. He might have less to some small degree, but nowhere near the level of poverty which hit Haiti and which so many of these same Christians were saying was a "punishment" for something that if I recall happened 200 years or so ago. This man doesn't need their money - even for his "efforts." The money certainly didn't come from God. It came from people who earned it and acted the way thoughtful human beings should. Exactly how hard is it to wander around with a collecting jar anyway, Soph?

If someone strives for "full good" and only "some good" comes out of it - then I give you "some good". But if someone only gives "some good" when they could have given "full good"...that gets suspect to me.

I abhor two things when it comes to charity: people who feel the need to see gratitude from people by alleviating suffering, and people who feel the need to crow about their "good works". He's crowing. God didn't give him that money. He's showing that he "earned" something through "doing good" for other people. "Look at how much better I am than you!" he's really saying.

I'd have called him a "good Christian" if he gave everything over, understanding his home hasn't been wiped out and turmoil cast over his whole country for years to come, and said "it's what I ought to do."

[Jackalope]

Summer, thanks for that. I could not have said it nearly as well.

[thesummerqueen]

The publicized version of Christian charity makes me want to vomit.

[Cinjin]

What kind of a fuckhead keeps ANY percentage of a charity for a dirt poor country for himself?!?

I want to beat that smug look off his face right now!

I know, I know ... it's nothing new. I just get so fucking sick of hearing how the most devout christians are ALWAYS the biggest douchebags.




Fuck you jesus and your little sheep too.