In my hard-working Amnesty International group, there are two Episcopalians, four Jews, and a whole bunch of atheists. We used to have two nuns, too, but they moved.
Atheists support other groups, they don't hang together except sometimes in specifically atheist causes, just as brunettes per sedon't meet (except, arguably, at the bleach counter.) The one way in which atheists as atheists, work to help people is by fighting for humanity against what they feel are the harmful effects of religion-- and this only makes sense, if you think about it. You may think their cause is a poor one, but the active atheists think they are helping free people from the forces of darkness and superstition and helping them to better lives.
I am an atheist. I support Amnesty International, which works for religious freedom for all. I support Medecins Sans Frontiers, which is religion-blind. I support a local shelter for battered women-- religion-blind. I support two environmental groups-- non-religious -- and the Fellowship of Reconciliation, a religious organization that I support mainly because I know some of the (religious) people associated with it, and know that they are very good people with good hearts who try to do good works.
Atheists don't gather as an identity-group once a week in a church or synagogue like those who show up in church on Sunday.
There are fewer atheists in prison than there are members of any other religiously-identified group.
I have the feeling you feel that atheists care less about humanity than do religious people. Is this the case?
Do you know that very few atheists "profess" atheism? Why do you suppose that is?
This is very much a here-we-go-again issue here. |
