CJ Werleman wrote a piece for Alternet about how atheists should learn a lesson from Pope Francis when it comes to dealing with poverty and since it slams atheists, Salon was eager to reprint it:
When the Pope washes the feet of convicts while calling for greater efforts to lift up the worlds poor, he makes it possible to establish meaningful partnerships with other moral communities, secular and religious. Of course, when Francis speaks about the idolatry of money and growing income inequality, you know, the things Jesus spoke about, you can set your watch in waiting for someone on the Right to accuse him of being a Marxist. Hello, Rush Limbaugh.
Atheists like to talk about building a better world, one that is absent of religiosity in the public square, but where is the atheist movement, as defined by the some 2,000 atheist groups and organizations in the U.S., when it comes to dealing with our third-world levels of poverty? Not only is the atheist movement absent on this issue, it is spending thousands of dollars on billboards that make atheists look like assholes, at the same time Catholicism is looking hip again. The Pope has changed the perception of the Church in the minds of millions while the atheist movement has been sucked into the Rights fictitious war on christmas.
Ill give him that Pope Francis walks the walk on poverty, saying no to the Papal palace and making outreach to the poor and criticism of capitalism run amok an important part of his legacy.
But whats with trashing atheist groups for not dealing with the same issues?
Why accuse atheists of spending money on billboards instead of the poor when most of those billboards were funded by the organizations, their donors, or billboard-specific groups to further their stated missions? Why not just accuse anyone who spends money on anything thats not charity of the same thing? (By the way, the Catholic Church spent more money to fight marriage equality than most of those atheist billboard campaigns combined. Just sayin.)
And while the Pope has done a lot of good shining a spotlight on poverty, what exactly have other Catholics done to advance the cause? Maybe if they werent giving out so much money to victims of sexual abuse, they could be giving millions of dollars to the neediest among us instead.
Still, Ill play Werlemans game. Why dont atheists do more for the poor? Well, to get the excuses out of the way, we dont have the infrastructure, numbers, or outreach ability of the Catholic Church, nor do we have some sort of doctrine that demands we pay attention to one particular social issue over another.
But we havent ignored the poor altogether, as Werleman wants people to believe.
On the microlending site Kiva, the atheist team has loaned out over $13,000,000 to the poor more than any other group in the world.
Members of Foundation Beyond Belief, which Im on the board of, have donated more than $1,400,000 to causes that have nothing to do with promoting atheism, many of which benefit the poor. Weve ever sponsored the Pathfinders Project, a yearlong international service trip to help those less fortunate.
Atheist groups have collected tens of thousands of dollars to support relief efforts in countries devastated by natural disasters, most recently raising more than $100,000 for people affected by Typhoon Haiyan.
Atheists have offered to volunteer at soup kitchens, too, though the Christians running those places wanted nothing to do with us.
Most importantly, individual atheists give to the poor on their own, even if its not as easily quantifiable as it is with churches.
Werleman mentions none of those things, though. Hes too busy complaining about random billboards to notice when atheists do precisely the sort of outreach he wants us to be doing.
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Christian Org. Declines Atheists Help in Feeding the Poor for Thanksgiving
A Missouri Christian organization has turned down a local atheist groups offer to help distribute Thanksgiving meals to the poor because the faith group says the two wouldnt be a good fit.
Volunteers with the Kansas City Atheist Coalition have worked with the Kansas City Rescue Mission over the holidays for two years, but this year the Christian group has decided to include religious materials with each of the 500 meals that will be delivered, The Kansas City Star reported.
The Kansas City Atheist Coalition stated on its website: Kansas City Rescue Mission has decided to use the meals they deliver as a chance to proselytize to its recipients by inserting religious literature into the meals. They informed us that we would not be a good fit (emphasis theirs) for volunteering with them, and declined to respond to any further inquiries.
Julie Larocco, a development officer for the Kansas City Rescue Mission, told the Star the group is unapologetically Christian and that their work has always been faith-based in nature.
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