My guess would be yes.
I am suspicious of nearly all charities. I think many were created as a cover for DS activities and for laundering money and/or fleecing it from honest donors. But I think there are plenty of charities that were started by decent, honest people who were trying to do good things. In those cases, I believe that any time the DS saw an opportunity to take it over and use it for their purposes they did.
I look at all of these things in a different light now.
My sympathy to you and all who knew Mr. Diener.
We constantly ask, “Why can’t the churches do more? They are in the compassion business!”...Then we dutifully make donations to United Way, local food pantries and fill the “red-kettle” at Christmas while balancing our tithe to the local congregation so they can continue to operate. (Really? Does the Salvation Army reflect YOUR faith understanding?). And, let us NOT go down the Red-Cross road at this time.
Why do we give our money to secular compassion outlets and then complain that the local churches are not stepping up to help the needy? Have you ever considered the impact of giving that $25 to your church instead of the United Way in October? [So your boss can get his UW bonus? Yeah...that’s real.]
This isn’t ALL about some church administrators abusing the funds of the congregants (tho, some do). This is about how YOU view the church’s role in helping those truly in need.
Sadly, many view that role as equivalent to socialism...always more effective with someone else’s money. Hey! I gave my 10% so my church can pay the pastor...let the United Way help everyone else.
Lord...when have we visited you in prison?
Right or wrong I decided that there were a lot of shenanigans in charities way back and have refused to give to any major organizations.
My CO on one of my ships in the 90’s was very displeased when I refused to participate on a recurring basis in the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC). I made the minimum 1 time donation just so his ship’s 100% participation wouldn’t be impacted.