This will be handy: it's a long list of secular and atheist charities. Science, education, medicine, civil rights, fighting poverty and hunger…we have a lot of areas in which secularism is the best way to contribute.
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PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
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More articles by PZ Myers can be found on Freethoughtblogs at the new Pharyngula!
Godless givers, read this!
Category: Godlessness
Posted on: December 16, 2009 12:34 PM, by PZ Myers
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Comments
Posted by: Gyeong Hwa Pak | December 16, 2009 12:42 PM
But but but
My evangelical high school teacher said that atheist are incapable of doing charity and that only Christians does charity. A True Christian(tm) wouldn't lie, would he?
Posted by: Glen Davidson
|
December 16, 2009 12:43 PM
I hear you, though the "Interfaith Alliance" wouldn't exactly be secular or atheist.
Which really doesn't matter, if they're really committed to church-state separation.
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/mxaa3p
Posted by: Abdul Alhazred
|
December 16, 2009 12:55 PM
Not to mention mainstream charities that raise money for medical research without any religious affiliation. For example: The American Cancer Society, The American Diabetes Association, etc.
Posted by: TheMQ | December 16, 2009 1:02 PM
I would also add S.H.A.R.E., the Secular Humanist Aid and Relief Effort: http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?section=main&page=SHARE
Posted by: TheMQ | December 16, 2009 1:04 PM
And I wouldn't list the Center for Inquiry under the "promotes atheism" banner (although they do), but rather under the church/state section.
Posted by: Randomfactor | December 16, 2009 1:09 PM
When someone pulls the "only the religious found charities" crap, I point them to the American Red Cross. They can't believe it's not church-sponsored...
Posted by: Rob
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December 16, 2009 1:09 PM
@Glen, I think it's a larger umbrella of "nonreligious," not necessarily explicitly atheist, organizations. And my 2 cents: I've given to Kiva before and it's awesome. Also, they should add the Secular Student Alliance; they already do so much with so little funding.
Posted by: Nerdette | December 16, 2009 1:11 PM
Awesome.
For our wedding next July, instead of giving each guest favors, we are making a donation in their name to a charity they request (from the pool we give them). One or two organizations from this list will definitely be in that pool.
Posted by: CentralRoute | December 16, 2009 1:13 PM
There's also the Foundation Beyond Belief, Dale McGowan's new project: http://www.foundationbeyondbelief.org/node
It's a charity specifically created to increase, identify, and concentrate non-believers' charitable contributions.
Posted by: Celtic_Evolution
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December 16, 2009 1:17 PM
It was tough to try to explain to my 8 year old why I didn't want to put any money in the pretty red kettles next to the very nice, smiling bell ringers... not sure I could explain the Salvation Army's deplorable stand on homosexuality in a context she could understand.
Ultimately I explained to her that I choose to make my donations to other organizations that I think do just as much good if not more.
Posted by: CentralRoute
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December 16, 2009 1:29 PM
@Celtic_Evolution
Reminds me of explaining to the adorable kid on my front porch why I wouldn't buy any Boy Scout popcorn from him. The dad tried to bring me around, told me they're very inclusive - they even have a Hindu kid! I told them as long as gays and atheists are excluded, I couldn't give them any money. I'm sure that dad HATES me.
So glad I only have girls!
Posted by: necronomikron
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December 16, 2009 1:37 PM
Child's Play is a pretty decent charity.
They don't have a religious agenda, and they give toys and video games to children's hospitals around the world.
http://www.childsplaycharity.org/
Posted by: Techskeptic | December 16, 2009 1:41 PM
hey all, thanks for the extra links for the list. I'd very much appreciate it if you could post them in the comments section, so that when I get around to giving the list a refresh, all new suggestions are in the the same place.
Posted by: InfraredEyes
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December 16, 2009 1:51 PM
Donors to kiva.org can have their contributions credited to the Atheists, Agnostics, Skeptics et al. Lending Team, just to make the point.
Posted by: necronomikron
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December 16, 2009 2:22 PM
Personally, I dislike Kiva, to an extent. Their partners charge fairly high interest, and you don't see a penny of it.
Posted by: CanonicalKoi
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December 16, 2009 2:35 PM
Yay! My favorite--Doctors Without Borders--made the list.
Posted by: https://www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawncr0FDc8gdl7yJBz0SJ15D0etcTIOtL0s
|
December 16, 2009 4:51 PM
I just added Hospice, with the reservation that my experience with them is limited to chapters in the SF Bay Area of California and Binghamton/Norwich NY.
No gratuitous godding in either case, nor any other that I know of so far; incredibly thoughtful, useful, and kind service for free. When my brother died last month, the Norwich group did him and my family a world of good. In fact they haven't stopped yet.
If anyone here has had similar or different experiences with them, I'd be interested in learning about that too.
Ron Sullivan
http://toad.faultline.org
Posted by: Rox
|
December 16, 2009 5:02 PM
The Richard Dawkins Foundation is holding a fundraiser until Dec 31 if anyone is interested in donating there.
The Salvation Army pisses me off so much. I didn't know about their official anti-gay stance until recently. Needless to say, they will never see another penny of my money ever again. Stupid guilt-wielding bell ringers...
Posted by: MikeM | December 16, 2009 5:30 PM
I'm not at all sure why Goodwill isn't on the list.
http://www.goodwill.org/
The retail store they have about 5 miles from my house is about as clean as a typical Target. It is so much better than the Salvation Army up the street, and they don't have the Godwhomper part.
Posted by: Brandon
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December 16, 2009 5:52 PM
Great list, but I would add Medicorps to the list.
Posted by: the_fishiologist
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December 16, 2009 6:23 PM
I support the Stephen Lewis Foundation (working to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS), Plan International (a non-religious child-sponsorship organization), the Canadian Cancer Society, and various local charities like hospitals. I feel that attaching your money to religion is just another form of missionary-ism.
Posted by: MikeM | December 16, 2009 6:32 PM
I've softened my stance on BSA. Maybe I'm wrong for doing so, but allow me to explain.
My 12 year old son is a member. The chapter is associated with a local Betsuin church, which is Buddhist. Most of the members of this church are atheists. Surprisingly, I know of at least one Jewish couple who attend regularly.
When the time came for my son to affirm his faith to get some sort of rank advancement, he came right out and claimed atheism. They advanced him anyway; they didn't care.
His troop doesn't have "a Hindu member"; it has many openly Christian, Buddhist and Atheist members.
That's why I've softened my stance.
Posted by: Happy Tentacles
|
December 16, 2009 7:43 PM
Glad that Oxfam made the list.
Posted by: akshelby | December 16, 2009 7:51 PM
There is also www.womenforwomen.org
which helps women in war torn areas. I could not find any mention of religious affiliation on their site.
Posted by: sasqwatch
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December 16, 2009 7:52 PM
I added 6 to his list off the top of my head. Plus one silly one, just to keep folks on their toes.
Posted by: LTeminus | December 16, 2009 11:47 PM
Anybody know of any aid organizations an atheist would want to look at if he wanted to go overseas and do some volunteering?
Posted by: nickgorton
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December 17, 2009 2:49 AM
Er, except they didn't vet their organizations that well. While Lambda, Lambda Legal, and GLAAD are all great organizations, HRC has a (well deserved) reputation for being focused on the needs of wealthy gay white men to the detriment to others.
For example, how is it possible for a company that provides health insurance that completely excludes medical treatments for transgender people to score 100% on the Corporate Equality Index? The transgender community has brought this up to HRC repeatedly, and yet they still refuse to hold corporations to a standard that really measures equality.
They do this of course because their corporate sponsors would be less likely to donate if they couldn't flash that 100% rating unless they provided real equality to their transgender employees. Plus HRC loves to show every year that the 'CEI works' in that more and more companies score 100% every year. And they are willing to sacrifice the health and even life of the transgender community in order to do so.
HRC is full of shit. Try these instead:
transgenderlawcenter.org
srlp.org
lyon-martin.org