After leaving work yesterday, I stopped by an office supply store. When I came out of the story, I chanced upon a woman who looked to be in her late forties or early fifties, asking for money so that she could catch a bus. She was able to name a specific destination that a nearby bus would take her, and it was cold and raining, and I had both time and money, so I told her I’d take her where she needed to go. She was hesitant to get in the car with me, but I managed to convince her that I am neither a rapist nor a murderer, so she got in; and as she hadn’t eaten that day, or said she hadn’t, I stopped at McDonald’s to buy her dinner and coffee.
The woman was very grateful. She thanked God for my arrival as we were driving away from the restaurant. This I simply ignored. But a few minutes later, when she asked me what church I attended, I felt obliged to tell her that I’m an atheist. She found this very surprising, and more than a little off-putting, and seemed to get nervous again; and she acted quite relieved when I dropped her off.
This reaction didn’t surprise me. Memphis is a city of churches, and atheists have a bad rep in American culture anyway. But it got me to thinking that perhaps I could do something, in a small way, that would at once be helpful to the less fortunate and also to dispel the notion that atheists are baby-raping murderers who eat kittens. So this morning I looked at the budget, and I see where I could squeeze enough money to, for instance, give out two breakfasts to homeless people every day. Finding them would be depressingly easy. Alternatively I could buy tickets to the Memphis Union Mission, which provides warm beds for a nominal charge; you can buy the tickets and give them directly to the person in need, thus ensuring that the money doesn’t get spent on cigarettes and beer. I don’t want to be pushy or proselytizing as I do this, but I can I can make a point of telling people I help that I’m an atheist doing this because it makes me feel good to help others and because I don’t want people thinking you must believe in God to be evil.
Anyway…I’ve opened this thread for ideas, recommendations, criticisms, and so forth. How can I best use my meager resources? Bear in mind that the primary purpose here is to helpful to people in need, not to convert anybody to atheism. How
Recently, I’m all about the food pantries, so I would suggest you donate to one.
As for reminding (or educating) people that atheists can be kind and do good, well, just remember that people in need already might feel pushed and pulled and imposed upon. Go here, do this, go there, get in line, etc. I wouldn’t want to add to that pressure, personally, through anything more overt than answering a direct question, as you did with the woman you helped.
Agreed, I wouldn’t bring it up unless you are asked. And even then, don’t make a big deal out of it. I think that fewer people would have problems with atheists if we didn’t make a huge deal out of it ourselves.
As for someone trusting you enough to get in your car, I had a similar experience last year. Sort of.
I was walking to work, and was running a few minutes late. Someone pulled up next to me to ask for directions to the hospital district. I was about to explain how to get there, but it’s a bit complicated. He’d probably get lost. I said “I’ll make you a deal. I’m going there myself and I’m running late. Give me a ride, and I’ll guide you every step of the way.”
He was really suspicious at first, but I think it dawned on him that I generally don’t find my victims by waiting for them to ask me for directions.
It’s a great secular charity and they do good work.
Plus, I give money directly to a couple of our local homeless here, and a bit more importantly, I try to spend a few minutes talking to them each week. (Two older gentlemen around here, generally drunk, kind of ‘not right’ but generally harmless as well.) They don’t make a lot of sense but sometimes I think that the human contact, even if it’s for 10 minutes or so, is something they don’t get a lot of. It’s just a bit of “Hi, how are you, getting on ok?” and then listening to them go on about whatever, but one of them told me I’m the only person who ever talks to him, instead of at him, and I make him less lonely. I got a bit sniffly.
So a couple of guys I slip 10, 20 bucks a week and hope they buy food with it, give them a little of my time, and give a good amount of money to The Smith Family and not the Salvos or St Vincent’s.
I don’t like the “money with a message” concept. If you want to do good deeds, do them. A meal from an atheist is no more or less nutritious than a meal from a religious person.
Then again, if you are just determined to make a splash, so to speak, the thing to do is go corporate. The Christians have the Salvation Army. You could form the Atheist Horde. WoW players will even let you borrow the catchphrase “For the Horde!”. Granted, that phrase is often associated with decapitating gnomes, dwarves, draenei, night elves or humans, but it’s nothing a little PR spin can’t fix.
Or counter the Salvation Army with the Atheist Air Force. Rent a small plane and distribute [del]live turkeys[/del] meal tickets to the homeless by air drop.
We volunteer a few hours a month at the local shelters. They always need people to make lunches for the guests to take with them, and they need set-up assistance to put the pads and linens on the floors, serve dinner, etc. It’s easy to carve out the time, and it’s meaningful.
This concept has always bugged me. If you were to say that you have no problem with *Jews *if they just keep quiet about their religion, people would be calling for your head.
I strongly disagree with the sentiment expressed in your post. Atheists are an almost invisible minority in this country, and continued reluctance to make ourselves known is only going to perpetuate the problem and keep the discriminatory attitudes going.
In the 232 year history of this country, I know of only one openly atheist person elected to Congress. Pete Stark of California. I think that speaks volumes about how much atheists are disliked in the U.S.A.
If someone were to ask me what church I attended, I would say, “None”. If they were to persist in asking me what my religion was, I would reply that I was born a Jew. If they persisted some more, I would say I was an atheist and if they were offended I would tell them not to ask questions if there were answers they didn’t like. Maybe in Montreal, people don’t pry since none of this has ever happened to me.
I agree that atheists don’t terribly impose their opinions on others and saying they do is a bit ridiculous. They farthest they go is making fun of Creationists for trying to get ID taught as a science (which is something that should be mocked and dismissed, so I have no problem with that).
However, I also agree that being charitable should be something you do not to say “hey, atheists are good people too” and try and include a message with it, but to say “dude, you’re in need, I got some extra, no worries.” I used to regularly give some of the homeless guys in my old town my leftovers from dinner and such when I saw them on my way home (one was this super-jolly old guy who was a bit… simple? Don’t want to sound insulting, but he was rather slow. Anyway, super nice old guy, always super appreciative of someone’s help. THey were all fun to talk to for awhile, though they creeped out some of my female friends).
If you really want to make a point that you’re an atheist, make up a little button or a t-shirt basically saying “Atheists for a more caring planet” or something silly like that, and don’t ever really bring it up but if people ask about your button than you can explain to them that atheists aren’t less-charitable or at a lower moral standing than any other religion.
Oh yea, and what’s wrong with a homeless guy buying beer or cigarettes? I have no problem with them indulging in some vices to make them feel better about how shit their lives must be, we all do it, so why can’t they? Granted if they’re doing it to the point of it impedeing their ability to eat, or if the drugs lead them to their homeless state (not usually something you find alcohol or cigarettes doing) than yea, they shouldn’t indulge. But saying a homeless guy shouldn’t buy beer is messed up.
I think it’s good to talk about your motivation and experiences of doing good but there are other people to deliver the message to besides the people you want to help. You can find a group volunteer activity and get to know the other volunteers, I’m sure you’ll find people who are happy to have these conversations. If you you want to do informal stuff then tell your friends, or even invite them to come pass out sandwiches with you. If you want to do good via donations then you can find non-faith-based charities, write them and let them know that the reason you picked them is because they are not religious.
Nothing at all, and I never mention it when I give the guys some cash, but one of them is pretty thin and I try to give him enough so that if he does buy a bottle or a pack of smokes he’ll have enough left over for a bit of food, too. That particular guy I’ve also given cash and something to eat as well. My two homeless blokes I talk to I’ve been talking to for about two years, so I kind of worry about them. The thinner one disappeared for about a month and I was so glad to see him again, turned out he’d been in the hospital for something (or so he said, you never really know) but he seemed pretty pleased to see me and reassured me he was ok.
Neither of them know or would probably care about my atheism. I mostly make it a point to support secular organised charities in that regard. I just care about people, these guys don’t seem dangerous, they only know my first name, and…well, basically if I were on the streets I’d like someone to notice me. Too many people just walk on by or say something rude.
As an aside, I watched a Salvo here shoo off a homeless guy who was pretty harmless looking. That was just sad.
If you want to forward the idea of atheists as smug and condescending, that’d be a great statement to make in public!
I hate when people preach at me, or bring up their religion at me, or otherwise try to impress me with their holiness. It wouldn’t be any different for a believer to have an atheist do the same thing. If people are hungry, they want a sandwich, not a sandwich and a sermon (or even a sandwich and a statement). Just the sandwich. Conversations can happen naturally. People won’t think atheists are nice people unless we act like nice people.
Well, you’ve already done it. That woman will be telling that story ("… and he said, “Actually, I’m an atheist”. Still, he was doing the Lord’s work, so let’s pray for him.") to all her friends.
Why don’t you start a small non-profit that collects donations for food pantries? Push the atheist angle while collecting, to make the point, but never while distributing, so to avoid the accusation of proselytizing the the vulnerable.
“Goodies from the Godless”
“Non-Fundie Foods”
“Atheist Appetizers”
(I am not an atheist, but I am areligious. I believe that only atheists, who have no fear of an omniscient and omnipotent vengeful god, can truly be good. Atheists can do good only for its own sake.)
How is “‘I do something because it’s right, not because god told me to’?” more smug and condescending? Or pushy?
BTW, Skald – I don’t believe in God, so therefor I am not evil? Huh? I’m personally okay with the concept, but ya might wanna spin it a bit before the papers pick it up. Good PR will reduce your flying monkey budget.
Rewarding people for making bad choices doesn’t help them, it just subsidizes their bad behavior. The way to respond to a homeless person that will help them the most is to just walk on by and not give them a damn thing.
