Title: BBC - Ethics - Charity: Arguments against charity
Headings: Arguments against charity
Arguments against charity
What's wrong with charity
Thinking too small
Charities often target symptoms, not causes
Charity may become a substitute for real justice
Failing to change society
Charity may not provide the best solution to a problem
Charity may benefit the state rather than the needy
Technicalities of giving
Charity may lead to favouritism, not fairness
The relationship between charity and the tax system can do harm
Our charitable giving is often inefficient
What charities do with their funds
Charities may not make best use of their funds
Charities are often accountable to the givers not the receivers
Is it ethical to give with strings attached?
Fundraising

Content: If I don't throw them in, they'll dry up and die." The man smiled patronisingly and said, "But, there are miles of beach and thousands of starfish on every mile. You can't possibly make a difference!" The boy smiled, bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it into the sea. "Well," he said, "I made a difference for that one." Charity may become a substitute for real justice
This is a particular slant on the topic above. The idea is that charity is wrong when it's used to patch up the effects of the fundamental injustices that are built into the structure and values of a society. Charity, from this viewpoint, can sometimes be seen as actually accepting the injustice itself, while trying to mitigate the consequences of the injustice. One person who wrote on this is the American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. We have previously suggested that philanthropy combines genuine pity with the display of power and that the latter element explains why the powerful are more inclined to be generous than to grant social justice.