The LDS Church (Mormon) Has a welfare program know world wide. Whenever disasters hit, one of the first there are Mormon’s. They have over 100 warehouses in the U.S. with emergency supplies ready to go. They manufacture Atmit, a cereal food used in Africa for the very young and very old. Each year they make 20 tons of this product for Ethiopia. They have drilled wells and piped clean water to dozens of African villages. Hundreds of Mormon volunteers help at every disaster in the U.S. and world wide. They work many times with Catholic and other charities. They help people of ALL faiths. Every stake (diocese) in the church has a food warehouse to help feed the poor. In this case it is mostly members. Look up Mormon Welfare.
While I'm not big on organized religion in general, I will be the first to admit that organized religions of whatever stripe do far more to help the poor than their secular counterparts which do nothing more than foster dependency as a means to perpetuate and grow their own bureaucracy.
We even had a gaggle of dim bulbs on one thread arguing that the Mormon welfare program was not charity because they expected those getting it to do some sort of work. That is about as stupid as arguing that Habitat for Humanity isn't a real charity because they expect the people getting homes to participate in building them. But you can't argue logically with bigots.
Even if xyz church only helped other members of xyz church, I'd still argue that it is a good thing, because there would be that many fewer people in line competing for government largess.
“The LDS Church (Mormon) Has a welfare program know world wide. “
Sure. It takes care of members first and foremost. To the degree it helps
those in need, it should be commended.
It uses just a small percent of the billions it takes in each year.
The rest is diverted to luxury Hawaii property, luxury real estate,
and other worldly investments to enrich itself and buy influence through
hiring PR agencies.
Meanwhile, it asks members in third world nations in poverty to sacrifice
their gold fillings to build ugly temples.
To the degree it does the two things above, its condemnation is just.
It spends lots of money to lead people away from the Gospel of Grace
in the one true God into a system of human worthiness and the worship
of many gods - condemning them to a life of never knowing the truth
that will save them from hell.
For this it is anathema. A white-washed tomb that hides the rot and bones
underneath.
Lawsone, heed what Jesus says:
1Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. 2Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 3But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: 4That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
(Jesus, Matthew 6:1-4)