[JimMorrison]

Originally Posted by PyroStock

Since this conversation has the more vocal people value anecdotal experiences I will share mine. Of all the charities and "helping the needy" organizations I assisted/worked... none asked/insisted/pushed the needy be a certain religion. Whether it was directly helping someone in need (such as handicap bowlers or soup kitchen) or indirectly such as disaster funds... there were no "enlist in church" sheets, no brimstone&fire pseudo-preachers trying to save to the infidels and no stamps with "DENIED WRONG RELIGION" on them. I will return you to your regularly scheduled smileys...

The irony here, is that while (in context) I found your other post a little insulting, and thus responded with a tinge of anger, I like this post.

Obviously, there will be many different experiences among many different people. However, anecdotal observations are invaluable in assessing the reality of situations (as long as those observers are honest), in ways that a more removed "authority" may not be able to see. That is, unless more people gathering information on such things want to take the time and effort to make up a fake story, and call around various organizations, fishing for data.

In my situation, it was simple enough though. My own "statistics" were skewed from the beginning. Probably a good 50% of the "charitable organizations" on this list provided by my hospital, stated quite clearly next to the phone number that they provided assistance to church members only. There are only 2 ways you can take that (and one is awfully optimistic), but I don't belong to ANY church, so it didn't matter. Anyway, the rest all have their own little agendas as well. Some would only help me if I had children, some would only help if I was a drug addict, and yes I applied for Oregon Health Plan again, and my rejection letter actually told me that they were only accepting unmarried males without dependents in my age bracket - if they were illegal aliens.....