Atheist Evangelism

[The Grand Nudger]

That proverb has always struck me as silly and useless - EVERY good man is in a position to be compelled by evil, but being in such a position doesn’t mean that the man will necessarily be compelled to do evil. Simply because someone’s religious convictions inspire them to volunteer at a soup kitchen today doesn’t mean they’re going to bomb an abortion clinic tomorrow.

I don’t much care about the motivations behind helping the needy.

Boru

Yeah, people can do bad all on their own - but the thing..I think...that bit is meant to express (like the spectacle of the congregation in twains take) is that a religious compulsion may be no more or less effective at creating good or bad outcomes, hence the preamble about good people doing good things bad people doing bad things - but it's incredibly effective at making good people think that the bad outcome -is- the good one.  

IDK, pragmatically, I'd love to be able to say that motivation doesn't matter - but the rcc is instructive in this regard, not that it would even be operative in the case of our hypothetical nominal christian who helps the needy.  They aren't motivated by any christian faith to do so, and my objections to christian motivations wouldn't apply to whatever it is that compels them to do so.