Young Australian Skeptics

We have the good fortune of being born in one of the best countries in the world; this is not just some xenophobic rant – but a truth that many of us do not fully appreciate. We live in a country that has relatively low crime, low amounts of poverty and there is enough food for almost everybody and our air is clean from smog. We live in a locale where many of our neighbours live in perpetual poverty, individuals struggling to live day to day, yet there are some within our country who are not as fortunate as us (people who can afford the luxury of reading blog posts, or even having access to a computer).

Thankfully there are many within the community who help those in needs, yet a large portion (most of the one I am aware of anyway) are based from Christian groups such as; Rosies, St Vinnie’s or the “Loaves and Fishes” mission. I am confused as why there aren’t any more secular groups – for those of non-​​religious affiliation seem to be highly unrepresented in these charities.

I am sure that many of those who help out in the charities are of secular origin (indeed I myself help out at the Rosies mission on Friday nights); it just seems odd that charity seems to have made exclusive to those groups that have religious intention. The reason why Christian groups are so involved with charities is because offering alms is a requirement of their faith, unfortunately so is evangelism.

An example of this is one night that I went to the Woodridge train station to assist at a Rosies mission (Rosies is a street mission who supply hot beverages and food to those who are homeless), and I encountered an elderly aboriginal man. The man refused to speak to me because he was afraid that I was “gonna preach to ‘im”, this shocked me but I also got me thinking. Why should Catholic and other religious sects be the only ones who set up these organisations – it only seems to spread a feeling of unease within the community, because everyone is wary of proponents of other faiths trying to convert them.

I am not saying that these missions should stop their good work, they are doing a good thing in assisting those who are homeless or in poverty – what I object to is the labeling of such organisations under religious figureheads. For isn’t it enough that we are helping those in need, we don’t need to prey upon those who are already fragile – what we need is charity without banners, religious affiliation should not be a requirement of good action – we just need to get our act together in promoting a humane society without preconceptions of faith.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 at 9:15 am and is filed under Atheist, Keith Logan, Philosophy, Religion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.