Thursday, November 19, 2009

Atheists Helping the Homeless




          Over the last decade of two, atheist groups composed of individuals who are proud to come out and say that we don't believe in a god or the supernatural. The benefit of all of these best selling books, billboards, and other media grabbing phenomena, is 1) to let all of the unbelievers who feel alone in their disbelief know that they are not alone, and there are many rational thinkers like themselves out there, and 2) to let the general public know that we are a significant part of the population, that we do deserve respect, and that we are not going anywhere.
          The next step, which was also the overarching there of the 2009 Texas Freethought Convention that I attended last weekend, is that we create real communities for atheists and freethinkers  to be a part of, and to lend our support to each other, which is in itself a huge reason that people stay a part of their local church communities. And, we are doing it. Hundreds, if not thousands of atheist communities are emerging throughout the country, not just to get together and talk about religion, or not believing in a god, but to interact, have fun, and create real communities of likeminded individuals. I'm really happy to see that we now have a camp quest here in Texas! I mean, I has really happy to hear that announcement at the Convention.


          This brings us to another area that we, as atheists need to be focussing on. We need to be contributing to our surrounding communities. We need to show the the population at large that atheists are good, compasionate people. Show people how rational, secular morality, without rules passed down from some holy book, creates moral, compassionate, good people. And I'm happy to see that is happening around the country. I'm seeing more atheist groups doing community cleanups, charities, helping the homeless, etc, and openly saying that we are atheists and we care. The logo lo the left above is, and I'm proud to say, is representing a local group here in Austin, Texas called Atheists Helping the Homeless (check out their website). I am happy to say that they are doing wonderful work in helping the homeless in Austin, Texas. It's starting out small, but it is growing, and as atheist organizations, and the general public, learn about it, it will grow and grow. Here is a video talking a little about what they are currently doing:

          I urge anyone who can spare a few dollars to help them out, and if you have the opportunity, emulate this type of thing in your local towns and communities. Most atheists that I know are charitable people, and do care, and help out. But, unlike religious organizations, we don't say that we are atheists when we do it. That's all good, but it is good to start doing things like this, as openly atheist individuals, because of the false belief that is popular that atheists are immoral, and don't care about others.
          So, come on fellow atheists and freethinkers, step up and show that atheists are compassionate people who do care about their communities and other human beings in general. But, mainly do it just to help out your fellow human being. Also, check out the Atheists Helping the Homeless website and donate a few dollars, if you can spare it. The more support they can get, the more they can do to help.

Here is a video of their last giveaway on November 8th:

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