Atheist Outreach = Missed Opportunity
I’m not a fan of organized religion. Atheism is just kind of where I fell into with my personal beliefs. However, I’m not a douche bag. If someone wants to believe there’s a teapot behind the moon, thats great! Keep that out of government policies and I am A-OK with it.
Over the past few years, several Atheist organizations (I know, I know) have purchased billboards and bus ads to “promote reason and logic”. It is things like this that make me hesitate to participate or donate to said organizations. If all it took to shake a mans faith was a fucking advertisement, people would change religions 5 times on any given road trip. Our ideals and convictions run deeper than marketing.
Obviously these organizations have money. Advertising is not cheap. And for a group of people as slandered and hated as Atheists are, one would think these groups should use their funds to show the world how to do good without the need for a divine pat on the back from some celestial father figure that is constantly judging. We can do good without fear or promise. We apparently have the funds to do so as well!
We can sit on the internet and in debate halls and bitch and moan about all the evil organized religion has done: child rape, perpetuating the AIDS epidemic, stalling scientific progress, etc. Or we can take our collective funds and do things to COMBAT these evils. Why not do what churches do well, but better? Why not send “missionaries” (though we’d have to find a better term) to impoverished areas to educate people on safe sex? Why not distribute condoms to AIDS stricken areas? Why not feed the hungry? Why not set up secular shelters for the abused and homeless? What the fuck is a bus ad going to do to make the world a better place?
Some of the richest self professed Atheists (Bill Gates and Warren Buffett immediately come to mind) have made it a point to give selflessly to charity. I think we should follow in their footsteps, and give what we can to fix what we see as the evils perpetuated by organized religion. This is not accomplished by belittling, condescending and poor marketing.
