Question to Atheists: Why do you help people in need?

[pj084527]

A lot of you Atheists love to say that you care about human problems here and now, when us Christians are only concern about the after life. If that is the case, where are the atheist-run Rescue Missions, soup kitchens, Medical ships, after-school programs, Third World assistance organizations, and alcohol and drug rehabilitation programs? There are a number of godless secular programs (mostly run by tax dollars) and private programs, but where is the privately funded atheist equivalent of the Salvation Army, the world's 2nd largest welfare organization, second only to the United Nations?

You Atheists love to pull out the example of Bill Gates and his now full-time dedication to philanthropy, but that appears to be the exception more than the rule. In fact, according to a study by the Barna Group, charitable giving by atheists and agnostics in America is significantly less than by theists.

Since atheistic evolutionary thinking leads to  Social Darwinism and that you atheists have no 'rational' basis for morality in their ideology, the immoral views that atheists often hold and the low per capita giving of American atheists is not unpredictable.

As the bible informs us: Ps 14:1-3 1 "The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they do those things that I hate, there is none that does good." Atheists devote their time not to helping anyone out but rather bring hell to Earth. Just look at 'logical' and 'rational' atheistic countries like the Soviet Union and North Korea.

[pinkocommie]

Wow.  I didn't even read this, the title was so incredibly insulting.

[pj084527]

Wow.  I didn't even read this, the title was so incredibly insulting.

How is that insulting at all? The title doesn’t say, ‘Imagine No Atheists’ or 'The Atheist Delusion' . All I want is a public debate. I want you atheists to defend some of your unethical and behavior.

[pinkocommie]

[Tank]

I personally support with a monthly subscription Amnesty International who do good work attempting to protect theistic sects from persecution in China. I have given up my time and refurbished a children's cancer hospital in Romania which I still support financially with a £25 monthly subscription. I spent a week there painting and redecorating the place stopping it from being closed. The group that did it were mixed atheists theists, That group still exists and continues humanitarian aid in the Balkans. I support Christian Aid as they do a lot of good and are a very efficient organisation.

I have done work for the Holocaust centre near Newark in the UK and also for organisations in Rwanda.

[pj084527]

I personally support with a monthly subscription Amnesty International who do good work attempting to protect theistic sects from persecution in China. I have given up my time and refurbished a children's cancer hospital in Romania which I still support financially with a £25 monthly subscription. I spent a week there painting and redecorating the place stopping it from being closed. The group that did it were mixed atheists theists, That group still exists and continues humanitarian aid in the Balkans. I support Christian Aid as they do a lot of good and are a very efficient organisation.

I have done work for the Holocaust centre near Newark in the UK and also for organisations in Rwanda.

You did not read what I wrote. Just because you did something good doesn't change anything. Can you name any Atheist run charity organization anywhere near the size of Salvation Army? How about this, I will make things easier for you. Can you even name ONE atheist run charity organization? No? I thought so.

[JillSwift]

You did not read what I wrote. Just because you did something good doesn't change anything. Can you name any Atheist run charity organization anywhere near the size of Salvation Army? How about this, I will make things easier for you. Can you even name ONE atheist run charity organization? No? I thought so.

Su Vida (Outreach and group home for at-risk kids)
Intermountain Youth Centers (Community based rehabilitation for kids)
La Otra Puerta (Children's emergency shelter)

All secular and atheist run.

You know why Atheists don't have Salvation Army sized organizations? Being a small minority means having fewer people. Secondly, atheism isn't an organization like religion is, there are no central tenets to gather around. Your argument in your OP is flawed for forgetting that major difference.

Still, did your rant make you feel superior?

[Will]

I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm far too busy eating babies to give money to people in need.  

The simple truth, pj084527, is that on the whole atheists are not organized under a banner of atheism. I get a sense of false equivalence from your insinuation. Religion, by its very nature, is organized. The Catholic Church is arguably the largest organization in the world. Even the largest atheist organizations in the world are tiny when even compared to smaller sects or denominations of religion. Because we don't have centralization in the same way religion does, our private donations are not considered to be atheistic. I can personally say that I donate a great deal of time and money, but I don't do so as an atheist, but as a human being with empathy. My atheism doesn't inspire me to do anything because that's not what atheism means. Remember, atheism is a disbelief in god or gods. It's not a dogma or belief system or organization.

Bearing that all in mind, there's no way for you to demonstrate how much atheists do or do not donate time, money, or anything else. Your entire premise is fundamentally flawed, and it is a bit offensive. I'm proud of my work with Habitat for Humanity (I've been volunteering with them since I was in high school). I'm proud of my annual donations to Red Cross.

Since atheistic evolutionary thinking leads to Social Darwinism and that you atheists have no 'rational' basis for morality in their ideology, the immoral views that atheists often hold and the low per capita giving of American atheists is not unpredictable.

Evolutionary thinking does not lead to social darwinism. Social darwinism is the exact opposite of darwinian evolution. Natural selection and artificial selection are diametrically opposed.

I'm taking off my regular member hat and I'm putting on my moderator hat now.

What you've posted here is entirely inappropriate and offensive. Suggesting that 1) atheists don't help people in need, 2) atheists are inherently immoral, and 3) atheists seek to create hell on earth are all entirely outside of allowable discussion. I'm giving you an official warning. If you persist, you will be permanently banned.

[Dretlin]

A lot of you Atheists love to say that you care about human problems here and now, when us Christians are only concern about the after life. If that is the case, where are the atheist-run Rescue Missions, soup kitchens, Medical ships, after-school programs, Third World assistance organizations, and alcohol and drug rehabilitation programs? There are a number of godless secular programs (mostly run by tax dollars) and private programs, but where is the privately funded atheist equivalent of the Salvation Army, the world's 2nd largest welfare organization, second only to the United Nations?

You Atheists love to pull out the example of Bill Gates and his now full-time dedication to philanthropy, but that appears to be the exception more than the rule. In fact, according to a study by the Barna Group, charitable giving by atheists and agnostics in America is significantly less than by theists.

Since atheistic evolutionary thinking leads to  Social Darwinism and that you atheists have no 'rational' basis for morality in their ideology, the immoral views that atheists often hold and the low per capita giving of American atheists is not unpredictable.

As the bible informs us: Ps 14:1-3 1 "The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they do those things that I hate, there is none that does good." Atheists devote their time not to helping anyone out but rather bring hell to Earth. Just look at 'logical' and 'rational' atheistic countries like the Soviet Union and North Korea.

This is quite bizarre, you claim the moral high ground when your morals are based on the ramblings of bigoted men in the desert. Atheism is a reaction to Theism, it is not a set or morals or "guide" to life, you are completely confused on what Atheism actually is.

If you do a tiny bit of research, you might stumble upon Humanism. Your argument about morals and Atheism is highly flawed and shows you have done nothing to even research the meaning of the word.

And countries with highly religious leaders:

-Robert Mugabe - Catholic
-Francisco Franco - Roman Catholic
-Kim Il-sung - Presbyterianism
-Saddam Hussein - Sunni
-Emperor Hirohito - Shinto

I do no judge your religion by these tyrants, yet you are all to happy to fabricate a connection with Atheism and anything, you might consider evil. There are thousands of charity's all over the world that have no connection with religion. I am surprised you managed to ignore all of them.

[Asmodean]

I'll answer the original question and let others fight you over moral grounds

I do help those in need of my help because it makes me feel good, self-important and a bunch of other rather positive emotions.

[kelltrill]

I'm going to strain to ignore the ignorance and bigotry in your narrow-minded little rant. I'm just going to say that you really need to pull your head out of your ass sometime and open your eyes to the world around you.

In general, secular charities are difficult to identify because they do not operate under the arrogant banner of religion. These secular societies operate without the assumption of a god, floating teapots, magical flying unicorns, or smurfs:

http://www.interactworldwide.org/
http://www.wpf.org/
http://www.ifpd.org/
http://www.iheu.org/node/1062
http://www.iheu.org/
http://newhumanist.org.uk/ra
http://www.secularism.org.uk/
http://www.humanism.org.uk/home
http://www.secularhumanism.org/

Miscellaneous charities worth supporting as a secular humanist:
http://www.unicef.org/
http://www.wwf.org/
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/
http://www.rspb.org.uk/
http://www.catholicsforchoice.org/
http://www.janegoodall.org/
http://www.amnesty.org.za/

Atheist charities do not need to announce their atheism to the world because atheism is not a thing, it's a lack of a thing. Atheists do not believe in a god, so if we're going to form organisations proclaiming our lack of belief in a god then we had might as well do the same for our lack of belief in the above-mentioned nonsensical, irrational things too.

Personally, I live in a country where 8% of the 45million people are non-religious, pretty much non of which are outspoken atheists. 80% are Christian and this generally also entails a belief in ancestors, African witchcraft resulting in the deaths of millions of children annually, gods, and other irrational, unfounded superstitions (More on witches). As a result of this ridiculously high concentration of faith and belief in non-existent bullshit (granted, alongside economical and historical reasons as well) South Africa is in a ditch and struggling out of it much slower than it would be if our president wouldn't say things like, "Vote ANC (African National Congress, the presidential party) or else the ancestors will get you." There are gross divisions within the ranks of Christianity alone in SA ( Jacob Zuma continues to claim the divine right to rule South Africa. Not a true Christian. ) and this is just dragging SA further into the muck. Despite the extremely high levels of religion in SA, a woman is raped every 17 seconds, which amounts to 1300 women a day. 30% of adolescents report that their first sexual encounter was forced. 50 people are killed every day. There are 1 million orphans in our country. 50% of the population live in utter poverty, 14 million are unemployed, 13% are HIV positive, there are 4 million immigrants from poverty-stricken neighbouring countries, and we have a matric pass rate of 36.2%.

Before you berate other people for not having the same delusions as you, do your research first and at least make sure you understand the basics of the argument you're raising.
If you are pro-humanitarianism, no matter the form, then perhaps educating the uneducated masses who are lacking primary school education about the basics of breadline-existence would be better than telling them a supernatural deity who causes earthquakes, damns nonbelievers to hell, and murders millions upon millions of people on a whim will fix it all. Stop confusing secular humanism and atheism. And stop quoting from a dusty, unreliable text, which is not divine revelation, just to support your irrationality and bigotry.

[Asmodean]

Do not forget Red Cross. They claim religion neutrality. Their symbol has nothing to do with religion either - it's the Swiss flag in inverted colors. Has to do with the founder.

[Tank]

I personally support with a monthly subscription Amnesty International who do good work attempting to protect theistic sects from persecution in China. I have given up my time and refurbished a children's cancer hospital in Romania which I still support financially with a £25 monthly subscription. I spent a week there painting and redecorating the place stopping it from being closed. The group that did it were mixed atheists theists, That group still exists and continues humanitarian aid in the Balkans. I support Christian Aid as they do a lot of good and are a very efficient organisation.

I have done work for the Holocaust centre near Newark in the UK and also for organisations in Rwanda.

You did not read what I wrote. Just because you did something good doesn't change anything. Can you name any Atheist run charity organization anywhere near the size of Salvation Army? How about this, I will make things easier for you. Can you even name ONE atheist run charity organization? No? I thought so.

See above posts.  

[kelltrill]

Can you even name ONE atheist run charity organization? No? I thought so.

You've already been given an answer to this by Tank, but since you missed that one I hope you don't mind me answering you briefly.
I founded the Fundaninathi program in Grahamstown, South Africa, operating in the Joza township providing schools with resources and equipment. C.M Vellem was the first school we were able to impact. It is a charity organisation and run by me: an atheist.
I was also the human rights education coordinator for Amnesty International, the treasurer for Give5 which fundraises for student bursaries, a narrator at the Grahamstown library for the blind, a volunteer tutor at township schools etc etc. Now stop your generalising and go read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which I'm sure you'll quickly find is contradicted by your Bible at several articles. Re-evaluate what you base your own morality on before calling the morality of others into question.

[Tank]

Can you even name ONE atheist run charity organization? No? I thought so.

You've already been given an answer to this by Tank, but since you missed that one I hope you don't mind me answering you briefly.
I founded the Fundaninathi program in Grahamstown, South Africa, operating in the Joza township providing schools with resources and equipment. C.M Vellem was the first school we were able to impact. It is a charity organisation and run by me: an atheist.
I was also the human rights education coordinator for Amnesty International, the treasurer for Give5 which fundraises for student bursaries, a narrator at the Grahamstown library for the blind, a volunteer tutor at township schools etc etc. Now stop your generalising and go read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which I'm sure you'll quickly find is contradicted by your Bible at several articles. Re-evaluate what you base your own morality on before calling the morality of others into question.

Bloody well done!