Throwing the Baby out with the Bathwater
Social media was all abuzz this weekend over comments by former Trump advisor Gen. Michael Flynn, who wrote on X:
Now it’s the “Lutheran” faith (this use of “religion” as a money laundering operation must end):
Lutheran Family Services and affiliated organizations receive massive amounts of taxpayer dollars, and the numbers speak for themselves. These funds, total BILLIONS of American taxpayer dollars.
Here are just a few of the recent grants awarded (pre @RobertKennedyJr) by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS):
LUTHERAN IMMIGRATION AND REFUGEE SERVICE INC: $367,612,906
LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES OF THE SOUTH, INC: $134,190,472.95
LUTHERAN SERVICES FLORIDA, INC.: $82,937,819.95
There are MANY more organizations cashing in on our hard-earned money. These entities are receiving huge sums, which raise serious questions about how taxpayer funds are being spent and who’s benefiting.
It’s time to hold these organizations accountable. American taxpayers deserve transparency. Enough is enough!
And there is much more where these screen shots below came from.
(If you want to see the screenshots, you can look at his original post on X.) Things really got heated after Elon Musk reposted this and voiced his agreement.
I think that General Flynn and Elon Musk are dangerously misinformed on this matter.
Data Republican has put together an excellent search tool that helps you drill down into not just how much government money is going to these organizations, but what the money is for. As I peruse the search results for “Lutheran” I find:
Shelter and foster care for unaccompanied minors who have entered the country illegally. (The alternative is homeless kids and child trafficking.)
Head Start and Early Head Start education (We do it better than the government could ever hope to.)
Disaster Assistance (Our disaster relief efforts are by far more efficient use of funds than FEMA.)
Services for relocated Afghans who assisted US forces during the War in Afghanistan.
I won’t pretend that every dollar given to every agency with “Lutheran” in their name is money well spent. Personally, I am disappointed that Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services rebranded itself as “Global Refuge” as it joins other organizations (e.g. Thrivent) that have distanced themselves from their Lutheran heritage through rebranding. And we are well served by the renewed focus of this new Administration in hunting down fraud and abuse.
But the accusation that LSS or LIRS/Global Refuge represent anything like “money laundering” is harmful and false. We should not remain silent when the “baby” of Lutheran social service agencies is being thrown out with the “bathwater” of waste and corruption.
