Samaritan’s Purse has come under new scrutiny from a bevvy of democrats and LGBT groups, sparked by New York Democratic Senator Brad Hoylman for his criticism of their statement of faith that it requires volunteer doctors and nurses at their new relief hospital to sign.
The emergency field hospital, currently setting up shop right now in East Meadow in New York’s Central Park, is a 14 tent, 68-bed repository unit and will handle overflow patients from Mt. Sinai which it has partnered with, designed specifically to treat COVID-19 patients in a city being ravaged by the virus.
While most people might think this is a good thing, their presence in NY has drawn the ire of the senator who has labelled the organization homophobic and bigots for their stance of human sexuality.
While not going so far as to demand the hospital be shut down, he has further expressed ” “COVID-19 doesn’t discriminate, and neither should Franklin Graham. It’s unacceptable that a New Yorker infected with COVID-19 could be subjected to discriminatory treatment from an organization whose leader calls us ‘immoral’ and ‘detestable.’ ”
As you can imagine, in response to his question of whether Samaritan’s purse would turn away gay patients with the virus, his followers were emphatic.
Others were questioning whether patients would be required to listen to sermons of convert before they are treated, or whether they would be forcing baptisms upon patients as a condition of accessing ventilators.
It’s pretty evident that these people don’t know anything about Samaritans Purse beyond the soundbites.
The organization has been operating for over 50 years, sent out tens of thousands of volunteers, trained hundreds of thousands of workers, provided medical aid and relief in war-torn hellscapes and the harshest of conditions, has an operating budget of almost $700,000,000, engages in large-scale relief efforts, and operates in over 100 countries. They also oversee Operation Christmas Child, which has given out over 150 million shoeboxes of children with toys (and frequently with gospel literature), and the whole effort has been paid almost exclusively by Christians donating and giving charitably. All this has been done, at no cost to anyone receiving aid, given unconditionally without preconditions, and without any hint of discrimination based on sexual orientation. That’s a pretty good record.
Given this, one might be tempted to Senator Hoylman has he has no idea what he’s talking about.
Despite Samaritan’s long history and record of these good works, their new grievance which has them so vexed and seems to be the source of their wild speculationsis that the 72-member Disaster Assistance Response Team comprising of doctors, doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel now on the ground, all of whom are Christian volunteers who are going to be risking their lives, are required to support a statement of faith, which says, among other things.
“We believe God’s plan for human sexuality is to be expressed only within the context of marriage, that God created man and woman as unique biological persons made to complete each other.“God instituted monogamous marriage between male and female as the foundation of the family and the basic structure of human society. For this reason, we believe that marriage is exclusively the union of one genetic male and one genetic female.”
That’s it. That’s what has them mad. It would make sense though that these Christian medical professionals would have no problem signing that, as Samaritans Purse is a Christian organization. According to the mission statement:
Samaritan’s Purse is a nondenominational evangelical Christian organization providing spiritual and physical aid to hurting people around the world. Since 1970, Samaritan’s Purse has helped meet needs of people who are victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease, and famine with the purpose of sharing God’s love through His Son, Jesus Christ. The organization serves the Church worldwide to promote the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So no, Samaritan’s purse is not going to turn away anyone or refuse to treat gay people with coronavirus.
In response to Hoylman, Frankling Graham wrote an open letter, stating:
Regardless of my strongly held religious views — or actually because of them — Samaritan’s Purse treats everyone we help the same. We do not make distinctions about an individual’s religion, race, sexual orientation, or economic status. We certainly do not discriminate, and we have a decades-long track record that confirms just that. Our doors at the Emergency Field Hospital in the East Meadow are going to be open to all New Yorkers who need our help.
We are here to save life, which is precious in God’s sight — and we do it all in Jesus’ Name. I hope you will be able to come by for a visit and see for yourself. This is a time for all of us to unite and work together, regardless of our political views. Let’s support one another during this crisis, and we pray that God will bless the efforts of all those battling this vicious virus.
