Don't donate if you don't want to

Casadena

I have a cousin that I once was quite close with, but we have grown apart in adulthood, largely due to differing political views. I love his children, and we are still in touch regularly. Their family goes to a very conservative church that has views that I find offensive, particularly related towards the LGBTQ+ community. My cousin’s son recently asked me to donate money towards a mission trip he plans to take. I try to be supportive of the kids, but feel conflicted about donating money to an organization whose views I find so hateful. Should I support the kid because I love him, or stick to my morals and forego a donation?

levioosa

I don’t think I can answer this one without flying into a rant about conservative evangelical missions trips/churches….so I won’t. 

charlotte989875

levioosa said:

I don’t think I can answer this one without flying into a rant about conservative evangelical missions trips/churches….so I won’t. 

SAME. 

I’ll just add; don’t donate because you’re contribute to a legacy of colonialism, racism, fracturing communities, and general bad outcomes these mission trips tend (yes, #notallmissiontrips) to lead to. 

ei34

Weird church trip or not, there are other ways to show your love/support to your nieces and nephews.  I adore all my sweeties but yeah unless that’s a Girl Scout cookie form don’t ask Aunt Eileen. 

Edit spelling 

mrsconn23

These kinds of problems are always a head-scratcher to me. The answer is just so obvious that it makes me wonder how they get through daily life where requests of your time and/or money are made all.the.time.  

Seriously, LW.  It's ok to say, "I'm sorry, but I can't this time."  There's no need to explain yourself further.  If the request came via e-mail you can literally pretend you never saw it. This is not a crisis. 

VarunaTT

I feel for this person b/c I get loving the kids in your family, I know how those damn churches get about mission trips, I have quite a load of religious trauma and would fly off as well, and LW probably is going to have to answer because of the way those churches teach the kids to push for donations.  I think a simple, "I'm not able to do that" will have to suffice and LW will probably have to say it more than once and refuse to offer an explanation.