Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'm going to be alone this Thanksgiving. My grown son and daughter are very far away and my fiance is deployed right now. So I thought I'd do something constructive with the day and volunteer at a soup kitchen. I looked for a non-denominational one, but I can't find one close enough to me. So, I thought about it and I decided that that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
If I go volunteer at a religiously-based one, it could work two ways. Either they refuse my help when they find out I'm an atheist (because if it's a religious soup kitchen I'm betting they will ask which church I attend), or they will allow me to help anyway, in which case maybe...just maybe some of them will realize that atheists aren't morally bankrupt, pedophilic, worthless baby-killers.
Kudos to you, and I'd love to hear how it plays out for you if you do volunteer with a religiously inclined organization.
My daughter's kindergarten class organized a food drive to put together Thanksgiving dinner for a needy family in our town this week. It was tough to explain to her that not every family would have a good meal on Thanksgiving if others didn't help them, but love her little heart.. she got so worried that there'd be a kid in the family that got their box who wouldn't have a dessert that she had me buy cake mix and frosting to send in with the box of stuffing she'd been assigned.
Kudos to you, and I'd love to hear how it plays out for you if you do volunteer with a religiously inclined organization.
My daughter's kindergarten class organized a food drive to put together Thanksgiving dinner for a needy family in our town this week. It was tough to explain to her that not every family would have a good meal on Thanksgiving if others didn't help them, but love her little heart.. she got so worried that there'd be a kid in the family that got their box who wouldn't have a dessert that she had me buy cake mix and frosting to send in with the box of stuffing she'd been assigned.
Awesome. Shows she's learned to use her head and actually think things through to a logical conclusion. Good for her, and good training on your part!
The thing about volunteering is to help those in need or to help those that provide services for people in need.
Doesn't matter if you and them have different beliefs.
The end result is the same. You feel good for doing it and the recipients feel good for having being helped by a kind person.
I think that most churches will appreciate the help. I'm sure they'll try to bring you from "the dark side" though! Good for you! Hey wait a minute! I thought that atheists didn't give a hoot about other people! You can't care unless Moderator cut: deleted for offensiveness is in your heart!!!!
The thing about volunteering is to help those in need or to help those that provide services for people in need.
Doesn't matter if you and them have different beliefs.
The end result is the same. You feel good for doing it and the recipients feel good for having being helped by a kind person.
I agree it shouldn't matter. It doesn't matter to me, but it certainly has mattered many times to the religious side when people like me are ostracized for not believing in a god.
I hope they don't care, because I'd rather spend my Tday doing something constructive that someone else will enjoy than home watching television.
I'm going to be alone this Thanksgiving. My grown son and daughter are very far away and my fiance is deployed right now. So I thought I'd do something constructive with the day and volunteer at a soup kitchen. I looked for a non-denominational one, but I can't find one close enough to me. So, I thought about it and I decided that that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
If I go volunteer at a religiously-based one, it could work two ways. Either they refuse my help when they find out I'm an atheist (because if it's a religious soup kitchen I'm betting they will ask which church I attend), or they will allow me to help anyway, in which case maybe...just maybe some of them will realize that atheists aren't morally bankrupt, pedophilic, worthless baby-killers.
Thoughts?
Right on, Mercury!
If it gets to be too much for ya, my door is always open.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
You can't care unless Moderator cut: deleted for offensiveness is in your heart!!!! 
