Media Release Thursday 23rd March 2017: Meander Area Residents and Ratepayers Association Inc. (MARRA)
The Meander Area Residents and Ratepayers Association (MARRA) today commented on what they described as the extraordinary hypocrisy of the strict Christian organisation Teen Challenge Tasmania accepting a $20,000 donation from the “pubs and pokies” industry.
President Bodhi McSweeney said today that the MARRA membership were stunned at the announcement that the Australian Leisure and Hospitality (ALH) Group had donated the money to an organisation controlled by the Assemblies of God Churches in the USA which preaches abstinence from alcohol, gambling and dancing. ( http://ag.org/top/Beliefs/topic_index.cfm ).
“Teen Challenge is obviously prepared to accept money from anybody regardless and seem willing to expose their own faith to ridicule” said Ms McSweeney.
Teen Challenge had originally stated that the donation came from the Tasmanian Hospitality Association but corrected that to the ALH group.
“It’s getting harder to take them seriously as a faith. They seem more focussed on the money aspects of their activities.”
“But I would have thought that with $20,000 in the bank that they’d get the donor right first time.”
“We believe Teen Challenge Tasmania should show some integrity and practise what they preach.”
Karen Hillman Secretary, MARRA Inc.
