Chairity wont allow atheist to help.

[Mister Agenda]

And you don't see the difference between an atheist meetup group wanting to be a... group where atheists can meet up, and a...

Christian charity wanting to be a place where Christians can provide charity? No, I don't see a difference.

then turning around and insulting those same volunteers- who went on quietly to do another sort of charity work- as having the devil with them, and accusing them of offering no money?

Went on quietly? Whiskey tango... They,re milking this for all it's worth - which isn't much.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyath...-homeless/

http://www.goupstate.com/article/2013102...?p=1&tc=pg

It would have been much quieter if they hadn't been turned away. They even offered to do it without wearing their club t-shirts.

But if bigots are handing out free publicity, who are the upstate atheists to turn them down?

One is a club for like-minded individuals, the other is a charity for the hungry. I don't believe the distinction is too difficult for you to grasp. It's a private charity and they are within their rights to turn away any voluteers they choose...and the volunteers who are turned away are well within their rights to draw attention to the rejection.

Maybe the Spartanburg Soup Kitchen should rename itself the Spartanburg Christian Soup Kitchen, and have a little honesty in their advertising.

[Optimistic Mysanthrope]

Religion is a voluntary association, skin color isn't. Big difference.

I disagree whole-heartedly. I can't speak for anyone else, but I can no more choose my beliefs (or lack thereof) than I can choose the country of my birth. Again, I can only speak for myself, but I would consider it disingenuous to just "decide" on a religion, and an insult to those who truly did believe

[Mister Agenda]

No, you're assuming, and I'm actually researching. I quoted their website as saying that they're open to atheists, humanists, etc. They're excluding theists from membership.

Oh noes! Theists not allowed to be members of an atheist club! The horror! It's like atheists not being able to be members of a Christian church, and...that would be pretty much an exact equivalence. And you don't hear us complaining that we can't join your churches.

I've since found an announcement regarding their care package giveaway which specifically says they'll accept theist help. Call me a skeptic, but do you think it's possible that they added in this bit og hypocrisy as a CYA measure?

Given their previous cooperative charity work with theists, that seems unlikely. Too bad, that would have been really convenient for your stupid point, but I'm glad the fact that it's ungrounded speculation didn't slow you down for a second. I'd hate to start thinking you have a sincere streak so late in the game.

The earliest mention of this I can find is the Friendly Atheist post. Do you think he was contacted by the atheist group, or the soup kitchen? Unless you can find something earlier than this which was more likely initiated by the soup kitchen, the evidence indicates that it's the atheists who are publicizing this, and the soup kitchen was likely responding to a request for comment.

They're publicizing being turned down, as they should.

Actually their first offer had them wearing atheist t-shirts. When turned down, they said they'd do it without the shirts. But, they had already made it clear that getting their message out was part of their motivation.

Clearly, not a big enough part that they weren't willing to forego it as long as they could still help people. Volunteers wear t-shirts representing their churches or other civic organizations for this kind of volunteer activity all the time...and I don't believe that you're unaware of that.

Oh please, the Christians are clearly doing much, much more than the atheists in this case.

And apparently trying to do their part to make sure it stays that way. It won't work though. Organizing makes it easier to do charity, and we're equalizing things on that front. I'm looking forward to hearing what you'll spew when our rate of giving matches or exceeds the rate of theists.

If they asked if they could wear t-shirts that say Jesus Saves to your event, would you be suspicious that their intent was preaching?

Enough to ask them for reassurance they weren't going to preach. Not enough to turn them away just for that. I wouldn't even ask them not to wear their t-shirts. Want me to find an image of an atheist group and a church group working together on a charitable project, each wearing their respective t-shirts?

I disagree. Who started it is indeed a valid point. The atheists - and you -are trying to publicly make a really good charity look bad.

Because charities can do no wrong, and if they do, we should keep quiet about it.

If you think helping people is more important than differences in belief, you wouldn't do so. (Although I wouldn't be surprised if the negative publicity actually raised donations for the soup kitchen.)

I wouldn't either, so your point flies away. It seems that by speaking up, the atheist group is helping the soup kitchen get more money as well as publicizing the Upstate Atheists to people who may not have heard of them. Win-win.

Actually, yes, I would slight a Christian group for the same thing, and suggest that they should start their own soup kitchen.

Why don't you go do that little chore then? I guarantee you there will be thousands and thousands of volunteers in church t-shirts at charities tomorrow. Go slight 'em! (he says, knowing that John doesn't have enough integrity to do so, but slightly hoping to be surprised for a change)

You know, I'm not really grateful to have my negative perceptions of Christians reinforced. I get a little lift in my heart when a Christian actually treats me as they would have me treat them, but it's so rare I can't conclude it a characteristic of Christians, just a characteristic of exceptionally empathetic people.

I want your best, not your worst, so here is the best I've heard on the topic of Christians persuading atheists of Christianity:

http://www.wikihow.com/Persuade-an-Athei...-Christian

---

A suspicion. Whoop-dee-do. It's a charity. It's for helping the less fortunate, first and foremost...or is it?

Doesn't seem to be for you guys. If it were, you'd applaud the soup kitchen for providing 500 meals every day, rather than focus on it turning away the help of 9 atheists for one day.

Turn the other cheek? Even Christians don't do that, and they're the ones who preach it.

[John V]

Oh noes! Theists not allowed to be members of an atheist club! The horror! It's like atheists not being able to be members of a Christian church, and...that would be pretty much an exact equivalence. And you don't hear us complaining that we can't join your churches.

No, you're complaining that you can't join our charities. You should've thought this out a little before sticking your foot in your mouth. I'm on record as agreeing that atheists should be able to exclude theists and vice versa.

[Mister Agenda]

Hmm, I didn't realize the thread was called "we hate christian charity!"

You might as well be. Here's a charity that feeds 500 people a day, but all you guys see is that they turned away ten atheists who offered to help for a day.

Well, Landrum, one paid employee of the charity, turned away ten atheists who offered to help for a day. I'm not so sure all the other people involved at the Spartanburg Soup Kitchen would agree with her.

[Captain Colostomy]

My issue is those recepients of said charity are being trivialized in lieu of a turf war. Fuck!!!!! Helping is helping, for chrissakes! This bullshit is pathetic.

[Brian37]

Oh noes! Theists not allowed to be members of an atheist club! The horror! It's like atheists not being able to be members of a Christian church, and...that would be pretty much an exact equivalence. And you don't hear us complaining that we can't join your churches.

No, you're complaining that you can't join our charities. You should've thought this out a little before sticking your foot in your mouth. I'm on record as agreeing that atheists should be able to exclude theists and vice versa.

No, we are pointing out your hypocrisy.

[John V]

It would have been much quieter if they hadn't been turned away. They even offered to do it without wearing their club t-shirts.

But if bigots are handing out free publicity, who are the upstate atheists to turn them down?

One is a club for like-minded individuals, the other is a charity for the hungry. I don't believe the distinction is too difficult for you to grasp. It's a private charity and they are within their rights to turn away any voluteers they choose...and the volunteers who are turned away are well within their rights to draw attention to the rejection.

Maybe the Spartanburg Soup Kitchen should rename itself the Spartanburg Christian Soup Kitchen, and have a little honesty in their advertising.

Maybe you should read their mission statement.
http://www.helpthekitchen.org/Our_Mission.html

[Mister Agenda]

The atheist group has nine people signed up for the giveaway.

What prevented those people from calling up and volunteering at the soup kitchen individually, without mentioning their atheism?

You mean sneak in hoping Landrum will assume they're Christians if they don't say anything. That wouldn't be very honest, now would it? The days when atheists are so afraid of the tyranny of the Christian majority that you can count on them to hide from you are over. I understand why you wish you could go back to pretending we're odd rarities you might only meet once in a lifetime, though.

[diego]

the 'soup kitchen' was simply being their normal christian self in this case, which i would expect.