How Samaritan’s Purse is Contradicting Its Own Name (and Jesus)

As the global COVID19 pandemic continues to ramp up, New York City has quickly become a hot-spot for rapid transmission and increasingly death as a result. The need for critical and expedient aid has never been higher for the city, prompting many organizations to rise to the occasion to lend a much-needed hand in this time of crisis.

One such group is Samaritan’s Purse, an evangelical Christian humanitarian organization, headed by Franklin Graham, son of the late preacher Billy Graham. Samaritan’s Purse valiantly rushed to NYC to set up an overflow field hospital in Central Park for the overrun Mount Sinai across the street. Their need for immediate and qualified volunteers- especially medical professionals- was made widely known, with the call going out across the nations.

Yet, surprisingly, many of those very essential volunteers- people willing to put their own lives at risk to serve those in need- were denied the opportunity despite the clear and expressed need. Why? It turns out that, even amidst this humanitarian crisis, the Samaritan’s Purse was requiring all potential volunteers to sign off on their statement of faith.