Charity Reopens Bible, and Questions Follow - NY Times

February 2, 2004

By DANIEL J. WAKIN

The Salvation Army of Greater New York, long known for its network of thrift shops and shelters, has begun an effort to reassert its evangelical roots, stressing to lay employees that the Army's core mission is not just social services but also spreading the Gospel.

The New York division's new leaders have ordered that job descriptions now state the mission clearly. They have reminded employees who deal with children that they must fill out a form promising to follow the Army's religious mission in working with them. The form also asks those employees to describe their church affiliations.

"Periodically, we have to kind of reclaim the ecclesiastical turf, if you will," said Col. Paul M. Kelly, a former New York division commander who was brought in as a consultant last year to assess its operations.

The effort has stirred a mini-rebellion among some longtime employees who resent what they see as an intrusion on their privacy and the potential for religious discrimination. Such demands for religious loyalty, they say, breach the wall between church and state because the division accepts $70 million in state and city funds for its programs.

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