To be honest I haven't done a lot in the way of volunteering, but that’s mainly from the fact the only times I saw anything about such things it was around the holidays and has too much of a religious feel. I really don't like to idea of doing something with an org that wants to promote religious values. Plus it isn't like I have to money stacked up or people close by in need.

I remember in the boy scouts we picked up trash at the school. The whole time doing it I was thinking why did we need to get together to clean a place we all go to anyway? And why are we doing something here, where are the people who need help? It wasn't like we went to a crapy school or anything, it was a very nice school. The only real reason was for some piece of shit badge...

Maybe if those people stopped making such a big deal out of things like that or get people who don't remind me of scary old church ladies I wouldn't be so turned off at all these "good works."

I know serval people who suggested I do things not to help people out but to put on shit for colleges. WTF are these people telling me all the shit people are doing is just to look good?!? fuck that...

A good listing of things that might help the people who need it would probably make me want to do something more then the empty giving for a badge or resume I have seen in the past.

i posted an alternative. read closer.

 burn 'em.

Either we're not doing a good enough job converying our message or you're not listening to our show and reading enough of our views.  How you and Fear could ever think that we'd allow our money to go to a prosylitizing org is completely beyond me.  

Thanks Sapient.

To help spread the word that atheists are charitable, I usually slip in a card indicating that the donation was from an atheist.

Woah. Sapient that's not what I'm saying at all... the aspect of donating through religious organizations was brought up and I was simply pointing out that one should take the time to find out where their donations go before they pick a charity... I mean come on - the same goes for a charity that might spend 90 cents of every dollar on fancy dinners for admin instead of helping people.  

 Your saying people should take pictures and/or catalog their donations.  Great.  I'm saying yeah... but just like the other guy said this could be counterproductive so "hey, not just sapient but all you people out there look into these organizations before you drop off your stuff because some christian organizations have 'spreading the faith' as their goal in addition to charity."

Thanks Brian.  You were the one that inspired me to make such a dedication of my time and efforts.  I truly believe that one of the strongest obstacles in our way is the grotesque misconception that being an atheist is equivalent to being without morals.  I myself used to subscribe to this delusion at a point in my life, and I believe if I had even merely been presented with evidence to the contrary, I would have become an atheist a LOT sooner.

If you live in central Virginia, please send me a PM if you are interested in this idea!

I can't wait to help out with this.  Please keep us posted on how its coming along.  I hope that there are a lot of opportunities in the greater Philadelphia area!

Purple Heart, ok, that's by soldiers for soldiers, i wasn't aware of them. Salvation Army, though? what kind of salvation do you think they're referring to? just go to www.salvationarmy.org and read their "About Us" page.

fair enough.

no charity whatsoever. i was going to go into a long seminar about why it's a waste of time and resources, but you all seem pretty wrapped up in this whole help-your-fellow-man thing (which is one of the main reasons i personally hate theists).

so, i guess that's that. it's been fun here, and i've learned an astronomical amount about science and religion (and rekindled my hatred of philosophers). let me know if you ever want to get into hurting your fellow man.

later.

Well, I think Sapient already knows about this, but I'll mention it here for people who need ideas.

 I have two volunteer positions that I hold currently - one is as a peer counselor for domestic violence services (this requires training, and the amount of training depends on which state you're in - in most states, I consider the training requirements to be below what they should be, they are generally fairly easy to meet). I volunteer from 24-48 hours a month for the domestic violence crisis line (a national organization, but handling local calls most of the time). The amount of effort such work entails varies from shift to shift and depending on the state you are in and what part of the state. I'm not sure how you can varify such work with Sapient, though.

In the work with DVS, there is a chance that you will run into some religious themes, in fact, that is almost unavoidable. DVS considers something called "spiritual abuse" to be a form of abuse that people deal with where people either are forced to adhere to religious practises that they don't want to, or where a person's religion is used to facilitate or justify abuse in their home. Obviously, such things are seen very differently from my perspective than the perspectives of the other volunteers in the program I participate in. However, I have found an easy way in approaching this by eliminating the spiritual aspect of my peer counseling and treating such situations as emotional/mental abuse situations (which is more realistic in what is happening in these situations). If the person asks me a question about how to approach something regarding their religion, I generally take it from the stance of them having the right to whatever religious practises they would like as long as others are not harmed in the process or forced into things they don't want. That is usually a good way to address whatever comes up.

 Also, DVS isn't always an entirely secular organization in other ways. My supervisors with DVS, as well as the head of our area are both very religious people. As such, my direct supervisor calls myself and the other volunteers under her, "angels" (and she uses it as an acronym, but I can never remember what it means). I tend to accept this due to not wanting to cause conflict when I have bigger things on my plate as a volunteer. Outside of my direct crisis line hours, I have been working on editing a manual that this branch uses in order to accomodate some better views on domestic violence and how to deal with certain issues more practically. I've also been trying to account for information that was left out of the original manuals so that future volunteers have better information to go on. My edited version will take a while to put together, but will be presented to my supervisors several months from now, and I don't want to create unnecesary tension that can ultimately get in the way of me helping more people.

 My other volunteer position is volunteer, and charitable, but I do it more for my own entertainment. It gives me a weekly "break" from my day-to-day activities. I volunteer at a local museum working directly with the collection, cataloging, archiving, and doing the paper work for artifacts. What I do is something I'm allowed to do partly based on my background. I've taken enough archeology/anthropology and history that it was impressive enough to give me the opportunity to do things that the average person on the street wouldn't be able to just walk into a museum and volunteer for without some background, though, some museums offer training programs to do thesse things. The training is likely going to vary based on museum type and location. I find this work to be extremely fun, most of the time, and I get to learn quite a bit each time I go to do more work there. I'm sure it would be easy to document such a thing as long as you do so in a place where you're not affecting artifacts with a flash camera. Keeping track of things in a museum does mean that you encounter religious content - mostly because we can't erase that from history. Therefore, I've handled religious artifacts, and learned about how they affect the local history. Regardless, the museum itself is not run with a religious theme, most of the time (though they had an extremely old nativity up for christmas), and what I do encounter is stuff I just deal with because it is a part of history

 The other thing I do, although it doesn't necesarily directly fit into this realm, is my activism work, which often entails another form of peer counseling that I do through email - and is usually sexually related. I can't be sure how many hours per week I spend doing it, as this varies, but I do my best to answer all email and tend to people's expressed needs. That being said, although I've recently been 'outed' in my town as a sexual information and rights activist (and also been 'outed' for my job), I still would like to keep my home/volunteer positions and my activism at least somewhat separate in order to keep from losing my volunteer positions.

 Also, I'm not big on making all the stuff I do a big deal. It isn't something I like to put out there for all people to see, as I see it as nobody's business, and not something that should matter much to most people. I hate cameras, and am not sure how public I want to make my volunteer work, even online. I do know that the picture thing ... eh ... I'm not big on cameras, lol. Oh, and I can't take pics of me at dvs anyway, as the location is private and that would be a breach of confidentiality since they are centered at the local shelter which has to remain as mysterious as possible

 Anyways ... I'm rambling now.

 Oh, yeah, and I used to volunteer at a local homeless shelter - they are usually very amenable to clothing and basic supplies being donated, food donations, and time from people. There's usually someone at the shelter that you can talk to in order to see what things you can do. Just volunteering to do yard work, clean rooms, etc. are often very much appreaciated. You can also often volunteer to prepare meals for people, and just interact with individuals anyway.

Ok, enough rambling, it feels kinda odd talking about this stuff.

Laters! 

In addition, they make sure to brainwash kids in their orphanages. A friend of our family was raised in one and got a good healthy dose of "God hates gays."

They are a very recent addition to my shitlist.

-Triften

This is a great idea that has been a long time coming!

 Hate to lose your support, but I could honestly give a fuck. 

I donate my time, my money and my body for causes I believe help people all the time anyway. We may as well get a modicum of recognition for it.

 Honestly, as a libertine, I think the ONLY way to help people is via charity. I'd be a damn hypocrite not to support this. I firmly believe that humanity is responsible for its own "salvation", and that we sink or swim as a species, together. While I wish not to abide a government taking from me to support the world in a squanderous inefficient manner, I will give you the shirt off my back if you need it. In that regard, I guess I just have my priciples.

I don't do it because I'm an atheist. I don't do it because of my political beliefs. I do it, because it makes me feel GOOD to do it.

I feel great when I give blood. It may be in part because I'm light headed due to the loss of blood, but I do sincerely believe part of it is because I know what I just did could help somebody else - and that all it took from me was a half hour and having to eat a sugar cookie and drink a GatorAde. I'd hope they would do the same for me, for the same reason. 

 I think you're just a bit paranoid about a good natured project, Dr.Fear. 

However, if you feel strongly enough to withdraw your support, that is your perogative. I wouldn't have it any other way. We ARE moving forward with this project though, either way. We obviously hate to lose your support, but we were certainly never in this for the money. Subscriptions don't cover the bills as is. 

Please, Brian, there are so many groups that need money. I just got back from the Board meeting of the Secular Coalition for America. We need to somehow find a huge new source of reliable revenue and donations just to make our budget. Lori is our only full-time atheist lobbyist. Please, throw your support to an existing group!

Note: The Secular Coalition for America is a new 501(c)4 advocacy organization whose purpose is to amplify the diverse and growing voice of the nontheistic community in the United States. http://www.secular.org/

The Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia is having two fundraisers. We need $10000 (ten thousand) for our Winter Holiday Display (a "Tree of Knowledge," 30-feet tall, to compete with the 50-foot tall menorah and larger-than-life nativity creche on Federal grounds on Independence Mall) right here in Philadelphia, near the National Constitution. Also, FSGP needs to raise $1000 for FSGP Rep Travel Expenses for my trip to the Atheist Alliance International convention in DC from September 28-30.

The FSGP Winter Display info is here: http://tinyurl.com/2ytpmy

The Internet Infidels can barely afford to keep our discussion board operational, and the only group we donate to is the Secular Coalition for America because we're a founding member, and all member groups must commit at least %1 of their annual budgets in order to be on the Board. (MAAF was just voted in, this weekend.)

So to Brian37, none of these groups have funds to hand out. SOME other groups such as the Institute for Humanist Studies have grants for particular programs. http://www.humaniststudies.org/fund/index.html

BUT I am not trying to deter you from actual activism. I'm just saying that (like the rest of us) you have to do your own fundraising.

You can try to use your new website as a organizing point for real-world grassroots charitable work. And if you do some in the Philadelphia area, I can invite readers of the FSGP discussion board to join us. I'll help too, schedule permitting.

Just a quick drunken suggestion:

When you get to the hands on natural disaster recovery phase, perhaps a T-Shirt that says:

 "I see god doesn't love you, don't worry, together we can beat him"

This is something I can get behind.

Another thing we can do is what me and my girlfriend did this past Halloween. We went to the local pharmacy CVS (I don't know if they're a national chain) and told them we planned on bringing candy and toys to the kids at the hospital nearby, i.e. the pediatric ward. CVS gave us little halloween baggies for the candy, a bunch of candy, some toys and some stickers. We dressed up in costumes little kids would like (she was Snow White, I was a Catholic Priest... though I didn't tell them my real costume was a Catholic molester... meh, I have a lame sense of humor) and went to the floor and gave out the packages. Little kids in the hospital on Halloween are bummed out, since they know their friends are out trick or treating. It's a secular festival for little kids, and it's a holiday I get a kick out of as well, so it was fun. The kids faces brightened and the whole vibe of the floor changed. We plan on doing it next year, and I bet the CVS or phramacy near you would be willing to donate should anyone else want to do it.

What made it odd at first was that people kept asking me which Christian organization we were with. In other words, people assume only Christian organizations would come into a hospital on Halloween to give out presents. I think it'd be another good place for Atheist charity to work some "magic" so to speak.

As for the T-shirts, what about having the some sort of Atheist Charity Group (or some name) logo on the front and Thomas Paine's famous quote on the back:

 "The world is my county,

all mankind are my brethren,

and to do good is my religion." 

I've always found that that quote really sums up what I feel it is to be a moral atheist.

-=Grim=- 

I am currently in negotiations a local news channel for a double-edged article. To plug the Multiple Sclerosis Walk I am participating in in April and possibly an on camera interview along the lines of 'Why is an Atheist working for a Charity'. Planning on hitting on topics such as 'Since we, as Atheists, only believe in one life, it makes the most sense to make THIS life as worthwhile as possible. No evidence of an afterlife means it's up to us to make THIS time worthwhile. If I am wrong, then I STILL have helpedpeople and soothed their pain.' and 'While Yes, I am going to die, my relatives, and millions of children are still going to be alive. And if my efforts can spare them some of the pain I have, and am, going through.. it just is the right thing to do. I don't need a 'god' to tell me what's noble or right. This desire comes from me. From myself. It's a natural human desire to help your fellow man. With the discovery of an 'altruism gene', it makes a lot of sense for us to help others out.'

 Off topic: I'm working on this project while on a drug called Provigil. It's a dopamine adjuster. It's to fight MS fatigue.

http://www.amren.com/mtnews/archives/2005/01/israeli_researc.php

'Ebstein suggested. “Dopamine probably plays a key role in pro-social behavior. People with the altruism gene may do good works because they get more of a thrill out of their good works.”'

Fascinating. Amazing what research reveals. Makes me wonder if this drug could actually promote altruism. I have been involved with the MS walk for years.. but I am highly motivated this year. This bears investigation.

Hoping to finish the interview with the tagline 'Helping your fellow man is not a factor of a god. It's a simple rational response to our planet and it's inhabitants.' I've been on TV before, and know how to give soundbite.

 Any suggestions, ideas, etc.. would be appreciated. Thank you.

First, I wanted to suggest a home at AtheistVolunteers.org .  It looks like this is still at the blog stage.  I think the value-added that AV can do is to make a site that allows for tracking of volunteer hours (like the good old http://www.usafreedomcorps.gov/)

I think it will be difficult to have coordination and administration of actual volunteer activities.  But what AV can do is be a one-stop-shop for all nontheist communities to track volunteer hours and activities.  If AV.org can present a tool that has a personal profile where people can input organization-hours-comments about volunteering (and maybe pictures), that will be a perfect way to promote volunteering.

As the number of profiles grow, AV staff could have highlight atheist volunteers once per month.  Sending this AV of the month to all nontheistic organizations press-release style would be a great way to provide the positive press you are looking for.  (Of course we would have to be careful to double-check the profile claims.)

The third step would be to start identifying AV reps from among the active volunteers.  They could represent their area of the country and point new AVs to volunteer opportunities.

Finally, we could start to certify charities - those that accept our AVs and have a good track record.  Those charities would enjoy increased referrals and then AVs could go to them across the country.

That is a more long-term plan that leads up to a activities and a website like maybe voa.org.  But I think it starts with a functional website to log volunteer activities.

 Jason

I just discovered this thread... and what a great idea Brian! Taking the positive pro-human approach and doing charitable deeds not only makes one feel good about their work, but it also takes the rug out from under the theist!

I wish I could get a statistic on atheists who own hybrid cars. I bet that atheists on average are more likely to own a hybrid than a theist.

Also, if you are looking for nationwide and continentwide stats, I have access to all kinds of statistics that compare charitable contribution rates between different countries and continents. We can cross compare those with atheism estimates for the same regions and come up with some solid numbers...

Sounds good. Ill do a bit of research and write something up. Ill probably post it at Goosing the Antithesis but Ill also give you a copy of the essay and let you do whatever you want with it

Sweet, D-cubed. You should write a little something about why you own a hybrid and how you justify it considering your atheism.

And regarding the Europe charity thing, yes I am aware of it. I actually have copies of the studies themselves, as well as detailed studies of atheism rates in Europe and America. I just gotta put it all together in essay form for RRS's project...