Is it normal to think that atheists underestimate christian charity?

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21 Comments

To start off with, I'm an atheist. Not the go-on-the-internet-and-bash-theists atheist, or the angry-about-religion atheist, just an agnostic atheist because I don't care.

To second, my parents are drug addicts. I spent most of my life in foster care and I don't plan on going back. Living in a section 8 piece of shit house smack dab in the middle of da ghetto with some hopped up adults who are shooting up in the living room as I speak beats the hell out of living in foster care. They get assistance for me, yes. They don't usually spend it on my welfare, no.

Recently I joined a Catholic church and it has made my life a lot easier. For the price of a few hours of my time a week, I get meals for that week, financial assistance, clothing, school supplies and much more than any food bank or charity ever gave me on a regular basis. Yes, I have even been baptized and I participate in all of the activities. It's no big deal to me, especially considering how much I get in return.

I'm sure I'll get crap about how it's so wrong for them to give only to people who participate or how I am such an asshole for taking their help and going there even when I don't believe, but put that shit to the side for a minute. Just a minute. How come atheists can bash religious people, but THEY don't provide me with half of the charity that this Catholic church does? Yeah, I know there are secular charities and yeah, I know many atheists are charitable, but to no degree are they organized and funded to the caliber that Christian organizations are.

No, I'm serious. You guys would be totally on board if I wanted to talk shit about how terrible they are. I see you guys at the gay rights protests, I see you guys defending poor women through the "Killing babies" protests at abortion clinics, but not one atheist, who often claim to me that they are logically and morally superior to theists, not one has offered to provide me and other poor families in my area with food for the winter, clothing for the new school year etc. Yeah, there are some secular charities, but none of them have given me nearly the consistent help that this church has.

I think atheists totally underestimate how charitable Christians and Christian organizations are. For that reason, I'm kind of tired of their shit talking. These Catholics may seem strange to me, but they do more for me than any other organization has. is it normal to feel this way?

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Based on 33 votes (19 yes)
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Comments ( 21 )
  • Goomats
    11 years ago

    It's sad that Christians are so commonly known for bad things like Westboro Baptist Church and some pedophile priests when Christians, over all, have contributed tons of love, medicine, housing, food, clothing and hope to SO MANY people over the years.
    Regardless on whether you believe God exists, you have to give props to the Christian church for these contributions.

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  • [Old Memory]
    11 years ago

    All people with CONCRETE belief systems underestimate many things.

    It taints their views on everything for better or worse, so they are bound to make mistakes left and right.

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    • MissyLeyneous
      11 years ago

      This. Belief systems must be flexible in order to see all sides of the issue or debate. This is why religion is such a hot-button topic. That and politics. :P

      Oh, and my title is Searching Religious Skeptic. I'm digging into meditation, self hypnosis, past life regression, and some other stuff. I've had a couple trippy experiences but I'm not sold.

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      • RomeoDeMontague
        10 years ago

        THIS^

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    • Anonymous Post Author
      11 years ago

      I appreciate you sharing this thought :)
      Which is the lame way of saying I like this post.

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      • RomeoDeMontague
        10 years ago

        Agnostic and atheist is not the same thing. I hope you realize this.

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  • Justsomejerk
    11 years ago

    Sure, as much good is done in the name of god as bad.

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  • CptBallbag
    11 years ago

    I dislike religious institutions and I disagree with religion as a whole, but religious people can do great things in union to help others and of course I have respect for that. Things like charity often require people to put their differences aside and focus on their similarities to achieve a common, compassionate goal.

    If you wanted to know, I am also an atheist.

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  • prasatko
    11 years ago

    If you think about the enormous wealth that the Catholic church has accumulated over the centuries, I would say it is much easier for them to offer a small part of it for charitable purposes... They can "afford" to be charitable much more easily than an average atheist group or individual.
    Having said that, I do not condemn or judge you for benefitting from their activities. There is probably no reason for you to refuse their help.

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    • Anonymous Post Author
      11 years ago

      I was not speaking exclusively of the Catholic church but of Christian charities as a whole. I highly doubt that the small Baptist church that provided my foster siblings with food had accumulated a ton of wealth over the centuries

      I would say that many local churches have the same capabilities of at least one localized group of atheists, being that atheism is one of the fastest growing "religions" in the world.

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      • prasatko
        11 years ago

        Well, you explicitly mentioned Catholic church in different places of your post, that is why I spoke about this church in particular.

        As for atheism, I do not think that this movement has any organized structure which could be compared with the way churches are organized. For example in my country they (churches) are financially supported by the state to a great extend, they get contributions from believers etc..all the things which do not happen in case of atheist groups, at least in my country.

        I think that it really depends on personal experience and on the culture where we live. For example, when I was a child I grew up in a socialist country ruled by the Communist Party and the communists did a lot of bad things but a lot of good things for some people, especially for their members and supporters...so this can be an example how atheists can also help their supporters in a similar way as churches help their supporters and members (as you said you had to convert). In my case, I think for example that communists had done a lot of bad things, but if I should compare what communists and churches have done to me, I cannot think of one positive thing done by the churches for me while I can think of a few good things that the communists had done to me in spite of the fact that none of my relatives had ever been a member of the Communist Party. By the way, I do not think that communists are a good example or representative example of atheists, I just wrote this probably bad analogy to illustrate the point that different personal histories of people growing up in different cultures might lead to completely different experiences. In my case, I received most of the support from atheists (not only communists!!!) and no support from churches or believers.

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  • dappled
    11 years ago

    I can't speak for all atheists but you're quite probably right. A lot of good work does go on in the name of the church. I have a little charity portfolio of ten charities I contribute to each month and Christian Aid is one of them, despite me not being a Christian.

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  • bananaface
    11 years ago

    Yeah. The church my friend goes to did a fundraiser so that she could afford to go back home to Africa and see her family and could come back to England after. They seem very supportive, and I think it's lovely. However, she also mentioned that no one else at the church aside from her thinks gay people should have the right to marry and all that. They certainly have good things about them, but they have bad points. I don't like it when people say it's all bad, or all good, there are bits of both.

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    • Anonymous Post Author
      11 years ago

      I can't say I completely agree with all of their philosophies, however, social issues aside, considering what they have done for the community as well as myself, I think they deserve a lot more credit than a lot of us give them. Most of them aren't militant abortion clinic protestors or outspoken anti-gay, unless you consider a bumper sticker here and there "pushing their beliefs on others" and yes, I have actually heard that before. But I have the feeling that you got my drift.

      I'm sure you can understand from my personal background that in my mind, actions far outweigh words and opinions.

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      • bananaface
        11 years ago

        Yeah, definitely. It's nice having an opinion and saying what should happen, but doing something about it definitely outweighs just talking about it.

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  • KatieLiz
    11 years ago

    Stopped reading at 'agnostic athiest'.

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    • Anonymous Post Author
      11 years ago

      Stopped reading at "KatieLiz".

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  • 1000yrVampireKing
    11 years ago

    From what I know agnostic and atheist is not the same thing. Agnostic is thinking there is a possibility a higher creature might exists but are very skeptical. Atheist is the rejection, hate of god or the belief that any deity exists.

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    • 1000yrVampireKing
      11 years ago

      No deity actually exists*

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  • [Old Memory]
    11 years ago

    i tend to agree

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  • wolflover87
    11 years ago

    they do...trust me.
    Atheists are like the racist people of faith, most of the time.
    Yeah and by the way i am catholic too...

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