Don’t Trust Corporations With Your Charity

When it comes to in-person shopping, one of the more frequent complaints I’ve encountered recently concerns self-checkout registers. It seems many people despise using them. I do not. Whether Kroger, Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot, and the like, I almost always choose the self-checkout station over an in-person cashier. In fact, I will wait in line for the self-checkout even when a line for an in-person cashier is unoccupied.

It’s not that I dislike human cashiers, it’s just that I prefer being in control of the check-out process, and the typical convenience of the self-checkout. There’s another reason that I prefer the self-checkout: I never get solicited by a cashier at a self-checkout.

It seems that retail, fast-food, financial corporations, and the like, are frequently in the business these days of asking their customers to donate to one pet cause or another. If you happen to have to deal with a cashier today, a common method of “charitable” soliciting often goes something like this: “Would you like to round-up your purchase to support ____________ (fill in the blank)?”

My answer virtually every time: “No, thank you.” Of course, this is not because I’m against charity, rather it’s because almost every corporation in America today has proven itself to be quite unworthy of stewardship over a single penny of my charitable income.

In case you haven’t noticed, one of the largest reasons we’re currently in a “woke” war is due to the actions of corporate America. On virtually every moral issue facing the world today, most all of corporate America stands in opposition to the truth. Whether capitalism—yes, even capitalism!—climate change, crime, guns, immigration, abortion, the evil LGBT agenda, and so on, corporate America is almost always on the wrong side of the truth.

As is the case with our schools, our government, our media, and tragically, even our churches, our corporations are merely a reflection of the culture at large. And as is the case with almost any American institution one can imagine, U.S. corporations are so often on the wrong side of the truth because there is a widespread ignorance of what is truth in America today. This is due to the widespread rejection of Christianity that prevails in America today.

Instead of embracing the absolute, unchanging, undeniable truths of the universe given to us by the Author of truth Himself and living by those truths (whether we want to or not), for decades now, much of America—increasing numbers it seems as time moves onward—has decided to go their own way and decide “what is truth” for themselves. In other words, many of us have rejected God as the ultimate Authority in the universe and have decided to rule our own world.

This secular humanist worldview dominates the thinking in corporate America today. Thus, instead of merely quietly and subtly heeding what is good and right, or simply acknowledging a preference to their bottom line, U.S. corporations today are dedicated to nonsense such as the “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) and “environmental, social, and governance” (ESG) scams. Both DEI and ESG are dogmatic rejections of truth that are born of modern leftist orthodoxy. Yet, corporate America has embraced these boondoggles as a means of declaring to the world, “Look at how much we care!”

If corporate America truly cared about the world we live in and the human beings who occupy it, then the likes of DEI and ESG would be quickly and enthusiastically rejected. If corporations truly had the well-being of humanity in mind, they would realize that true charity is—or should be—far more than words or actions that make us feel good.

Additionally, charity is about far more than simply giving to the poor. Giving to or caring for the poor ought to be one of the most obvious actions of a charitable person or organization. Most importantly, charity must be rooted in truth. The most charitable person who ever lived—Jesus Christ—makes this clear. When Jesus healed the sick, fed the hungry, or even raised the dead, He didn’t do this only to satisfy their physical needs—though that is indeed a good thing. The ultimate goal of all of the good works of Jesus was to point people to a magnificent spiritual truth.

In other words, the ministry of God—feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, healing the sick (things often deemed as “charitable”)—should never be separated from the message of God—to repent of our sin and believe that Jesus was who He claimed to be: the Son of God and the Savior of the world. The ministry of God and the message of God—both together complete the mission of God. In other words, any sound charity should ultimately help complete the mission of God.

Thus, even if a corporation is doing what seems like legitimate charitable work, or even if it has ties to what many conclude are legitimate charitable organizations, given the current track record with the truth that is prevalent in corporate America today, I will not trust corporations with my charitable income. Instead, I choose to do my charitable giving directly myself. I encourage you to politely do the same.

(See this column at American Thinker.) 

Copyright 2023, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
trevorgrantthomas@gmail.com