Monday, March 2, 2009

Comic Relief - it's no joke


John Smeaton and other commentators such as the Hermeneutic are warning people not to give money to Comic Relief, the organisation behind the high profile bi-annual Red Nose Day fundraiser. Unfortunately, Comic Relief gives money to organisations that promote abortion and contraception in the developing world in spite of previous assurances that this is not the case.

As both John Smeation and Fr Finigan point out, it is never advisable to give money to a generic fundraising organisation as the donor has no way of knowing where their money is actually going. There are many excellent charities that receive no publicity in the mainstream media but are nevertheless in need of funds for their worthy work. My advice would be: boycott Red Nose Day but do some fundraising anyway. 'Do Something Funny For Money' as Comic Relief puts it, and give the money to a charity you can trust.