(March 16, 2016 at 10:26 pm)Godschild Wrote:

(March 15, 2016 at 8:49 pm)Nay_Sayer Wrote: Yet you're doing it because you actually want to help anyone but to score brownie points with your sky genie.

FSM weaps.

At least we help whatever you perceive the reason why, you shouldn't weep, at least the believers of this world do something about those who are in need. Of course you could be weeping for yourself because you stand around doing nothing.

GC

Is this a general reference to atheists?

Should I remind you what I was doing just over a year ago, GC?

Should I mention the hundred plus hours I did, unpaid, as a student, when we had wild fires in Australia?  Should I mention the stench of the burned corpses, the screams and agony of those I was working with at that time?  Should I mention putting off my expensive studies to help out?

Don't you know that doesn't count because it wasn't for fucking jay-sus.

(March 16, 2016 at 10:26 pm)Godschild Wrote:

(March 15, 2016 at 8:49 pm)Nay_Sayer Wrote: Yet you're doing it because you actually want to help anyone but to score brownie points with your sky genie.

FSM weaps.

At least we help whatever you perceive the reason why, you shouldn't weep, at least the believers of this world do something about those who are in need. Of course you could be weeping for yourself because you stand around doing nothing.

GC

Oh right... I get paid a pittance working for the developmentally disabled in a not-for-profit environment because I don't believe and I stand around doing nothing. I wake up at 4:30 AM every morning so I can walk to the transit station at 6 AM to take the bus across town to work because I'm doing nothing. I volunteer as a SART advocate because I do nothing. I carry sweaters, handiwipes, toothpaste in my backpack to hand out to people in need because I'm doing nothing.

On this forum alone, we have non-believers who rescue animals... and a doctor, who, possibly to her own detriment, rushed to Africa to take care of her fellow humans. We have teachers and activists and parents; we have people who volunteer as AA sponsors and members of the military. There are scientists and novelists; artists and musicians... all because we all stand around doing nothing.

Fuck you, GC. I know it's not the first time I've said it, and probably won't be the last, but your condescension, arrogance, and total willful ignorance need to be put in their place.

I'm glad this thread got necro'ed. And I can understand the Christian angst about it, too.

/said the guy who spent well over a year volunteering at a food bank

(March 16, 2016 at 10:26 pm)Godschild Wrote:

(March 15, 2016 at 8:49 pm)Nay_Sayer Wrote: Yet you're doing it because you actually want to help anyone but to score brownie points with your sky genie.

FSM weaps.

At least we help whatever you perceive the reason why, you shouldn't weep, at least the believers of this world do something about those who are in need. Of course you could be weeping for yourself because you stand around doing nothing.

GC

*sigh* So when I make donations of (literally blood) and cash it's nothing? How about volunteering time, is that nothing too? I admit the charities I support aren't atheist, just secular. Must I find one doing work in the name of atheism for it to count?

(March 17, 2016 at 12:59 am)Jenny A Wrote: *sigh* So when I make donations of (literally blood) and cash it's nothing? How about volunteering time, is that  nothing too?  I admit the charities I support aren't atheist,  just secular.  Must I find one doing work in the name of atheism for it to count?

You do not belong to a religious organization that did all the work for you. Shame on you.

I can't do much physically due to my disability, but I support several charities with donations through the year:

Doctors Without Borders
The Prevent Cancer Foundation
The Jimmy Fund
Child's Play

I guess they don't count because I don't have an alterior motive. Curse my utterly selfless desire to help my fellow man!

(March 17, 2016 at 12:59 am)Jenny A Wrote:

(March 16, 2016 at 10:26 pm)Godschild Wrote: At least we help whatever you perceive the reason why, you shouldn't weep, at least the believers of this world do something about those who are in need. Of course you could be weeping for yourself because you stand around doing nothing.

GC

*sigh* So when I make donations of (literally blood) and cash it's nothing? How about volunteering time, is that  nothing too?  I admit the charities I support aren't atheist,  just secular.  Must I find one doing work in the name of atheism for it to count?

Agreed. Charity in the name of anything other than charity has an unsavory ego-attachment involved. If your concern is about ticking a box for the afterlife, how sincere is it?

I don't need a deity to tell me to help my fellow human in order to reach out. I do it, because, well, empathy drives me to it.

But hey, if it takes religion to make GC and others donate time, goods, and money to help their fellow humans, at least we know religion is good for something.

Whether that good is outweighed by the evil it presents to humankind is another question.

I don't donate to cancer because it seems that movement has gotten so huge, I kind of wonder where the funds actually go, because, hey, we still have caner.

I have had good friends with cystic fibrosis, so I have donated money to those charities because it personally affects me. Sorry if it's less genuine because no God.

Godschild Wrote:

Nay_Sayer Wrote:Yet you're doing it because you actually want to help anyone but to score brownie points with your sky genie.

FSM weaps.

At least we help whatever you perceive the reason why, you shouldn't weep, at least the believers of this world do something about those who are in need. Of course you could be weeping for yourself because you stand around doing nothing.

GC

That nonbelievers don't help people is a fantasy adhered to by certain theists who can't deal with the fact that they don't have a monopoly on compassion, generosity, or kindness. They like to point to things they can accomplish because of their overwhelming numbers, and overlook how much more they could do. There are more churches than homeless people in America, if each of them tried to help one homeless person get off the street, there would still be about 100,000 churches left without any homeless person to help. Many of them complain about government welfare when they have the numbers to make it unnecessary if they really wanted to end poverty in America as we know it.  

Atheists are about 2% of the population in America, they could be twice as generous as Christians without having a tenth of their impact. I only wish Christians were as much better than us as they like to think they are.