Which isn’t all that exciting. Then, there’s this. Deborah Freeman describes herself as a “borderline atheist”.

Are there also atheists who come to Limmud? I ask Adler and the others at the info desk. Sure, they respond and turn to the people standing in line. “Who is an atheist?” someone cheerfully call out.

“I’m a borderline atheist,” offers Deborah Freeman, a 65-year-old playwright from Manchester. She usually comes to Limmud for a day or two, gives a session on her plays and attends a few classes on the arts, or on Israel. “I find the Tanakh [the Hebrew Bible] to be an inspiration, but I don’t see God in it, rather stories about God,” she explains. “Here, I can delve and learn, but remain the me I want to be.” [Read more]

While this is nice and all on the surface, I don’t understand why one can be charitable aside from through religions and their synagogues/churches/mosques.

But hold on a second- “delve and learn”? While I regard education and the seeking of knowledge very highly, I don’t see how this is best done with ties to any religion. Judaism is known for allowing the believers to ask questions and seek knowledge. Though, you never get any satisfying answers. I can only assume she is referring to the supposed “moral lessons”. Personally, I find very little morality in these stories, except for what not to do when told to do something and vice versa.

That said, it’s nice that she can say this without people gasping in shock as if she just ate a baby. A tasty baby.

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Christians and atheists are fighting again — this time over who can raise more money for charity.

…

Three days later, an inspired member of Reddit’s Islam group created a FirstGiving page to raise money for the charitable group Islamic Relief.

As of Dec. 16, the 105,587 members of the atheist group had raised $32,802 of their $42,000 goal. The Christian group, with 9,017 followers, had raised $11,443 toward its $12,000 goal. The Muslim group, with 2,224 followers, had raised $360 of its $5,000 goal.

“At first I was worried this would turn into a big war … but this is a friendly thing,” Crymes said. “If it means that two communities that historically have animosity towards each other can tone it down for a while, that’s great.”

Gotta love Reddit! Enabling people to work together for a greater cause. And who says atheists have no morals? Oh yeah, many Christians (well, theists, really).

Source

* The Huffington Post is often filled with woo but Sam Harris writes good atheist posts. So I’m torn.

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There’s quite a thorough list of secular charities at Effort Sisyphus:

DonorsChoose.org: a simple way to provide students in need with resources that our public schools often lack.

Kiva.org: lets you connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world.

The Union of Concerned Scientists: The leading science-based non-profit working for a healthy environment and safer world.

American Red Cross: The American Red Cross, a humanitarian organization led by volunteers, guided by its Congressional Charter and the Fundamental Principles of the International Red Cross Movement, will provide relief to victims of disasters and help people prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies. The USA’s premier emergency response organization, over 91% of Red Cross spending is on charitable services.

Just to name a few. See them all.

Supporting Atheists United can be as easy as searching the web! GoodSearch.com is a fundraising search engine, powered by Yahoo, that allows users to pick a favorite charity that will benefit every time you use GoodSearch!Just go to GoodSearch.com and designate Atheists United as your preferred charity then:

Search the web with GoodSearch.com and each time you do a search, GoodSearch will donate about a penny to Atheists United!

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You can get the GoodSearch Toolbar to search from your desktop and support Atheists United every time you search!

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It’s funny when atheists get accused of not being charitable. They say, “We do God’s work and help out poor and needy.” Sure you do, why did your God allow it in the first place if He’s so good? That is my question.

At Kiva.org, the Irreligious team is raising the most funds. He continues:

Currently, the number 1 donating team on Kiva is “Atheists, Agnostics, Skeptics, Freethinkers, Secular Humanists and the Non-Religious.” Yes, that’s right. The team has over 3, 000 members. It made over 10, 000 loans. Wait for it, wait for it… The team loaned more than $300, 000. It is incredible that atheists were able to come together and work for a common cause to help developing countries prosper. A simple step to a better future for the entire world.

I never understood why religions were so commonly seen as doing charitable work while that’s just a portion of those who actually are. Atheists are more willing to get shit done because we don’t sit around and pray for it, waiting for something to possibly happen. We make our own destiny, to say the least.

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