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Penguin

What's Sally Ann got that we don't got?

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by
Penguin
, 12-24-2009 at 01:04 PM (2730 Views)
Every Christmas, when I go to the mall, I get discouraged and a bit angry. It's those red Salvation Army buckets.

I'm not mad at the Salvation Army, though. I'm mad at you. And me. And all the other non-theists and secularists who have dropped the ball to the extent that this evangelical Christian church has become, in their words (which I suspect are correct), "the largest non-governmental direct provider of social services in Canada".

The problem I see isn't that the Salvation Army has stepped up to meet needs in our communities. The problem is that all of us have failed to meet these needs ourselves. This has created a situation where now in many places in our country, there are few if any options for us to make a donation that will help the homeless, for instance, without putting money in the hands of a group that's opposed to same-sex marriage, runs its own evangelical Christian college, and holds other positions that are likely to not align with the views of many people who just wants to chip in a few bucks to make sure someone will have a hot meal and a warm bed for the night.

This is just one example of a larger phenomenon I've seen: there are plenty of Christian charities, but very few atheistic ones. But why should that be? Why would people who think that suffering is part of "God's plan" and who think that Jesus Christ will be coming down from Heaven to make everything right in the world be more inclined to do acts of charity than a group of people who generally don't think human suffering has any intrinsic purpose and, by definition, don't think they can rely on some deity to clean up our social messes?

Or is this based on a false assumption? Do atheists just tend to do their charity quietly?

Either way, I think it would be a good thing for atheists to be more visible doing good works in the community, and making it clear to everyone why they're doing it: that it's useless to wait for some cosmic force to make everything right, so if we want a better world, it's up to us to make it.
Categories
‎ Atheism , ‎ Religion , ‎ Christianity

Comments

  1. WhiskeyandGunpowder's Avatar
    A good entry to be sure. A large part of the revenues for the Red Cross, Salvation Army and others are donations at death. Large sums of money left by elderly people through their estates. it's not something that an Atheist is likely to do to. I appreciate this is a gross generalization but the reality is that it is more likely that an atheist would leave a portion of their estate to a trust for the arts or a university or something of that nature rather than something like foster parents plan . Again not at all a criticism just a perception on my part.

    What we value most tends to be the thing to which we are committed in life and at death. Christians and other faiths are sensitive to weakness and frailty, Humanists tend to be sensitive to human rights, etc... it's what it is and yes I donate regularly to organizations like this that at least seem to share my worldview.
  2. Penguin's Avatar
    I'm not so sure about your characterizations. Most individual humanists I know are quite sensitive to people in need... and I can think of a large number of churches that are very active when it comes to human rights (the United Church, the Anglicans, and the Quakers all immediately come to mind).

    The thing that just puzzles me is why the discrepancy has worked out the way it apparently has: I would think that the people who believe that some sort of divine force is going to make everything better would be less inclined to try to make the world better than the people who think that any positive change is up to us and us alone.
  3. B Roodnick's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Penguin
    : I would think that the people who believe that some sort of divine force is going to make everything better would be less inclined to try to make the world better than the people who think that any positive change is up to us and us alone.
    My understanding of the Judeo-christian worldview is that it is part of the task of believers to be active and doing good in the world, rather than passively waiting for some sort of divine intervention.

    Ephesians 2:10 (New International Version)
    10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.