They have to pledge unquestioning obedience and sacrifice to the small, unelected leadership. William Booth used to refer to his role as that of dictator . They have a system of ranks, giving and taking of orders etc. Salvation Army members aren t allowed to marry civilians , officers are only allowed to marry other officers, and everyone has to get permission to go courting. And of course there s the uniforms.
All members have to pay and care for their own uniforms.
They cost several hundred dollars. It can t be easy for their members who are on pensions to afford that. With all this, it seems that no one will criticise them. The Salvoes get free advertising, on prime time TV and billboards, schoolkids are encouraged to collect money for them, and so on. In fact there s a few reasons why the powers that be do so much for the Salvoes.