Charity Disparity

The following article is about atheism and philanthropy.  Notice that of the $430,000 raised for cancer research in 2012 by “atheist groups,” $215,000 came from Stiefel (who is independently wealthy) and that a large portion of the remainder came from Christians.  No wonder Stiefel doesn’t want to entirely alienate religious people.  Obviously, he recognizes that they’re the ones who give.
CNN Belief Blog

4 Comments

  1. Actually, the vast majority of the rest came from freethinkers. Some came from religious people, and we are very grateful for their support and participation. The reality is we are all capable of altruism and we will make the world a much better place if we team together.

    Todd Stiefel

    1. Thanks for clarifying, Todd. I agree that we’re all capable of altruism. We’re just not all motivated toward it. Regardless of the source of the funds, I think it’s clear that we can’t count on atheists as they currently function to finance solutions to the world’s ills. Compare the result of this year-long fundraiser with Giglio’s four day campaign to end sex trafficking which raised 2.9 million. I’m glad you’re trying to raise funds for good things and that you seem open to dialogue with believers. What troubles me is the recklessness of the militant atheist agenda. Let’s ask the question, “What if the atheists won?” It’s a troubling vision at best.

      1. We are certainly far behind organized religion in regards to our networks. Getting burned at the stake for a few millennia tends to put a group behind. Of course, some of those who give the most money to charity are atheists or agnostics (Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, George Soros). While our organizations are still young, our individuals are giving powerfully.

        The “what if atheists won” is too simple. Atheists only reject belief in gods. That is only a counter-position to the theisms of religion, not to all of its other aspects. It is one piece of a large puzzle. Atheists can’t win without many other ideas winning out as well to replace the full package of religion. With atheism for theism would need to also come community for church, humanistic value systems for dogmatic value systems, freethought for authority/doctrine, science for scripture, etc. That full package would be an amazing gift for humanity as it would be the end of wars over whose scripture (or interpretation thereof) is more correct.

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