catsittingstill (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
catsittingstill) wrote2010-01-23 03:55 pm
catsittingstill) wrote2010-01-23 03:55 pm
I made a donation today to help Haiti
I found an article about the Richard Dawkins Foundation's collecting paypal donations to send to Doctors Without Borders and the International Red Cross, and made a donation. No big deal, except in the process of finding it I came across another article.
It's what I've come to think of as typical--saying basically that if an atheist gives to an atheist charity the fact that there is some faint hope of fighting the pervasive prejudice against atheists by donating means that donation doesn't count, and besides, your conscience comes from God and how can atheists be so dumb that in spite of experiencing their conscience they deny God. The usual.
He's got me all wrong. I gave through an atheist organization because I turned down the heat and gave up soda pop to scrape together money to be able to help people out. I emphatically don't want it squandered on gilding and limousines, or--God help us--on solar powered talking bibles.
Your mileage may vary. If you feel that what a Haitian child with two broken legs who hasn't eaten in week really needs is a solar-powered talking bible, by all means fund it. But I hope that I--and most people!--have better sense.
It's what I've come to think of as typical--saying basically that if an atheist gives to an atheist charity the fact that there is some faint hope of fighting the pervasive prejudice against atheists by donating means that donation doesn't count, and besides, your conscience comes from God and how can atheists be so dumb that in spite of experiencing their conscience they deny God. The usual.
He's got me all wrong. I gave through an atheist organization because I turned down the heat and gave up soda pop to scrape together money to be able to help people out. I emphatically don't want it squandered on gilding and limousines, or--God help us--on solar powered talking bibles.
Your mileage may vary. If you feel that what a Haitian child with two broken legs who hasn't eaten in week really needs is a solar-powered talking bible, by all means fund it. But I hope that I--and most people!--have better sense.
no subject
Erm...the desire to help someone in need comes from our ability to imagine being in need ourselves. It's this fascinating concept called "empathy". We don't reach out to help people because we think the Sky Father will give us candy afterward (or at least not spank us); we do it because we know how much it sucks to need help and not get any.
no subject
Plus, we arise from generations of beings who where more likely to have grandkids if the tribe thrived than if it failed. Tribes with many empathetic members were more likely to thrive so any genetic component for empathy or valuing empathy in others was selected for.