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Richard Dawkins, noted atheist and author of The God Delusion and The Greatest Show On Earth, is sponsoring a new dedicated bank account and PayPal facility to collect donations for non-religious relief organizations. The new account, to which, Prof. Dawkins will himself donate up to $10,000 to cover PayPal transaction fees, is being called Non-Believers Giving Aid and all the funds collected will go to disaster relief. Two organizations will be the beneficiaries of the donations: Doctors Without Borders and the International Red Cross. Money will be distributed evenly among the two organizations unless donators stipulate otherwise.While the effort was inspired by the disastrous earthquake in Haiti and initial donations will be aiding relief there, the new account is intended to be a permanent part of the Richard Dawkins Foundation and will remain available to collect funds to meet future emergencies.
The Non-Believers Giving Aid site offers this explanation of the need for a charitable fund specifically for the non-believing community:
"Preachers and televangelists, mullahs and imams, often seem almost to gloat over natural disasters – presenting them as payback for human transgressions, or for ‘making a pact with the devil’. Earthquakes and tsunamis are caused not by ‘sin’ but by tectonic plate movements, and tectonic plates, like everything else in the physical world, are supremely indifferent to human affairs and sadly indifferent to human suffering. Those of us who understand this reality are sometimes accused of being indifferent to that suffering ourselves. Of course the very opposite is the truth: we do not hide behind the notion that earthly suffering will be rewarded in a heavenly paradise, nor do we expect a heavenly reward for our generosity: the understanding that this is the only life any of us have makes the need to alleviate suffering even more urgent. The myth that it is only the religious who truly care is sustained largely by the fact that they tend to donate not as individuals, but through their churches. Non-believers, by contrast, give as individuals: we have no church through which to give collectively, no church to rack up statistics of competitive generosity. Non-Believers Giving Aid is not a church (that’s putting it mildly) but it does provide an easy conduit for the non-religious to help those in desperate need, whilst simultaneously giving the lie to the canard that you need God to be good."
Organizations involved with this effort so far, include Atheist Alliance International, Atheists United*, the British Humanist Association, the James Randi Educational Foundation, the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers, Pharyngula, the Reason Project, the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, the Skeptics Society and Unreasonable Faith.
* Correction: In my Jan. 15th article, Atheists & Humanists donating to Haitian earthquake relief, I wrote that Bobbie Kirkhart, president of the Los Angeles-based organization, Atheists United, said that the group's donations would be going to SHARE. That was incorrect. They will be going to Non-Believers Giving Aid.
Photo Credit:
1) Prof. Richard Dawkins
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Comments
As a Christian I'd like to thank Mr. Dawkins for what he's doing for disaster relief. I have read 'The God Delusion' and while I don't agree of course with some of his conclusions (life on Earth being due to "luck" for instance), I must admit he is an intelligent man and his actions for disaster relief show that he has a heart for people. Kudos!
I love seeing Atheists taking it back to them, we need more like this- thank you for writing this!
"Labeling any natural disaster as God's judgment is nonsense. True “judgment begins with God’s family” ~ 1 Peter 4:17...a tweet from Rick Warren.
Over the last couple of days I have read several articles from atheists pointing to Atheist Giving Aid, without exception they have all had something negative to say about Christian/religious charity organizations and that people should not give to these organizations. Rons post above illustrates the general tone of most Christians. Less worry that your contribution pushes some agenda and more just grateful that someone is giving through whatever conduit they may. To my recollection in all my 40 years I have never read of a Christian organization in a case specifically attacking another aid organizations because of their beliefs, and saying do not give to them. This isn't meant to rub the atheist’s nose in it …… just an interesting observation. And by all means regardless of your beliefs find a good charity that is well run (not saddled with high admin costs) and give, this one included.
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