. . . In the aftermath of recent hurricanes local churches, southern Baptist church ect. have banded together to reach out to hurricane victims christian or not, how come I never see agnostic groups band together and reach out to hurricane victims to help out?
There are many good points already listed, but let's also not forget that the organized groups we don't have don't tithe the shit out of a flock of unquestioning servants amassing wealth in the hundreds of billions of dollars and need ways to justify ourselves as a tax-free entity.
What agnostic groups? You think we all get together once a week and fail to pray together, in a gang? Plenty of people gather together or help out individually without mentioning religion. Some of them may be believers and others not, but it has nothing to do with their being helpful to hurricane victims or others. In addition there are secular relief organizations. Do members need to announce their religious beliefs or lack thereof to help effectively?
Why do people have to gather together to declare they don't believe in any gods in order to volunteer? What a ridiculous concept. You may as well ask how come there are no organizationa for lefthanded people, or stamp collectors, or bbq chefs, or dogsitters, or single mothers, or shrimp lovers, or beatles fans, gathering to help hurricane victims. I am guessing volunteers include plenty of southpaws, philatelists, backyard cooks, puppy-watchers, unmarried mamas, prawn preferrers and fab four favorers, but they feel no need to offer their help under those particular auspices.
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Maybe we're not into self-promotion in that kind of way. The eleven largest charities in the UK are non-religious; The Salvation Army comes in at number twelve. I support the charities I do because they are worthy causes and not to gain publicity for my worldview.
So I suppose me organizing relief efforts using my business as a meeting place to send u-haul trucks down to Louisiana after a hurricane does not count? Seriously, should I have advertised it as a atheist fundraising event? Would this have satisfied your question? The Red Cross did not question if I was an atheist, they were just glad we got a truckload of stuff and money there from a town in Ohio.
Maybe because church groups draw attention to themselves for their own agrandisement and to try to bring glory on their organization while seeking their own reward in the afterlife. Classic look at me and what I've done because I'm so good and you're not.
Well, damn. Should have read the replies before posting.
I make donations to charities every year and I do volunteer work. I don't need a church to direct my activities, nor do I feel a need to have my charitable activities mentioned in a newspaper article.
"Local churches....have banded together to reach out..." I know it seems strange for a religious person, but Atheists and Agnostics don't have "churches" to band together. We don't meet to see what our clothing looks like and talk about all the sinners that didn't get out of bed on Sunday. There are Humanist organizations and this website may be considered about as close as we unchurched people come to a group. If you spend time on here, you will find that we are hardly a cohesive unit. But many non theist volunteer to help, quietly, because many church groups would ban them if they declared their lack of religion openly. And the Humanists do have organized groups and charities that help with disaster relief. So just because you don't see it splashed on the news, doesn't mean there are not non-believers there helping.
That is total nonsense. If you have a look there is a group here that does regular voluntary work just as I do and that is caring. Just because they are an organisation doesn't meant that lone agnostics do not care or don't help.
according to this guy's bio, he is a Christian and he is here trolling.
I think it's because the churches want to be seen doing whatever they do.
"Hey, god!! Look at us! We're helping!!
Can we get into your club now?"
As far as agnostic or atheist groups, I don't know of any. Even if I did, I wouldn't join one.
Besides, if atheists or agnostics are helping anyone, they're doing it because they want to, because it's the right thing to do.
To paraphrase the late, great Groucho Marx,
I wouldn't join any club that would have me as a member.
Plenty of secular groups do good works. They usually are not bluntly labeled as "atheist and agnostic," so maybe it is just easy to miss noticing.
My local Satan promoting black magic group offered to supply up to 1,000 freshly cooked christian babies, but the churches declined our offer.
. . . yesss, good, good
. . . from the bottom of my heart, sincerely, thank you, thank you
God appeared to me in a dream and told me not to get involved. I'm only doing His will.
We don't have a preexisting cohesive structure that allows for such things. I'd endeavor to guess that most of us donate individually or volunteer with various organizations.
I do good on my own. I don't need a group. But if there were a group of atheists/agnostics in my town doing charitable work, I would join up.
Secular charities are far bigger overall in Europe than the Christian ones, (I suspect that may be true even in the US.) and they are by default none religious. To paraphrase the old saw. Agnostics and Atheists are not organizations or movements, in the same way that not playing golf is a sport.
I think IF you look deep enough and with unclouded eyes you may well find that Atheists and Agnostic, for the greater part, are the "Silent ones" working in the backgrounds simply because they desire NO publicity, etc, etc, they do it because it IS the right thing to do.
Maybe because Agnostics and Atheists care not to advertise it all over the place when they do something that is good. In short, what we do is not your business.
Because such attempts at organization are often met with arson of meeting places and public denunciation by loving groups looking to hog the glory of ‘good work.’
..Because tax exempt groups formed to promote the lack of belief in a mythical being are few & far between.
...Because those wishing to help or donate, do, without using it to advertise their brand of myth..
Hands that do are far better than hands that pray ~
Because most of organizations that try to band together the atheist spectrum fail. Because the non belief in divinities is the only thing that ties us, without a cosmic nany we won't band together just to oppose cosmical nanys.
So it is easier to find agnostics in organizations that the primary goal is not the agnosticism.