reducing religion
June 18, 2007 3:34 PM   Subscribe

What are charitable organizations working to reduce the influence of religion in the world? I'm thinking of the more active missionary-equivalent types.
posted by klue to Religion & Philosophy (21 answers total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 




This thread on atheist charities linked to SHARE (Secular Humanist Aid and Relief Efforts).

About 1/3rd of the way down this thread is a post by Lynne that links a bunch of humanist charity organizations.
posted by junesix at 4:04 PM on June 18, 2007


The Center for Inquiry does great work.
posted by scody at 4:04 PM on June 18, 2007


Are you looking for an organization whose mission statement is to combat religion itself? Or would you accept organizations which try to fix problems that result from religious beliefs or from conflict between religions?

What's your definition of a charity? Do political organizations count, or are you looking for groups that are more directly philanthropic?

You're probably going to have a hard time finding a traditionally defined "charity" that's dedicated to reducing religiosity. You'll have better luck with something like Doctors Without Borders, which intervenes in religious conflicts.
posted by lemuria at 4:09 PM on June 18, 2007


Response by poster: 'Charitable' might not have been the best word of choice. What I mean is non-profit organizations working to dereligionize people for their own good (from the organization's perspective).
posted by klue at 4:17 PM on June 18, 2007


The Richard Dawkins Foundation? It looks like they believe themselves to be charitable, at least.
posted by lemuria at 4:57 PM on June 18, 2007


Like, de-missionaries or something? Someone who would knock on every door in your neighborhood and say "Hi! Have you considered that existence is essentially meaningless and that when you die nothing will happen other than your body withering and rotting?" I like the idea, but I really don't think there's any such organization on a large scale.
posted by LionIndex at 5:00 PM on June 18, 2007 [1 favorite]


One typically "dereligionizes" people by teaching them the basic concepts of scientific thought, formal logic, and rational thinking. This training is inimical to fundamentalist branches of religion, be they Muslim, Christian, or another. Less fundamentalist religions are sufficient flexible in practice that this training would not suffice to affect their faith, but many people might argue that the damage of those religions is correspondingly less harmful (perhaps even a net positive) to the progression of rational and civilized behavior in humankind.

Accordingly, you might consider looking for nonprofit organizations that help instruct people in how the world works according to scientific principles and how to think logically, rather than looking for organizations which overtly assault religion. Religion is too strongly entrenched across the world to be even slightly harmed by those type of frontal attacks, in my opinion. Here, skeptics is one of the main keywords in locating those organizations online. Possibly the most famous nonprofit along those lines is the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, although there are other local and global organizations of a similar intent.

If you want to be a bit more active in opposing religion, a nonprofit which replaces God-based beliefs, yet retains the sense of place in the universe concept that a great many people crave, there are a number of humanist or freethought organizations which to be found on the net. The one I'm most familiar with is The Humanist Society. As the beginning of their latest Manifesto states, the supernatural is not a part of the belief system: "Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life that, without supernaturalism, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity."
posted by mdevore at 5:01 PM on June 18, 2007


Googling "humanist charity" pulls up more humanist organizations that might interest you.

I was going to start up an agnostic charity, but I just couldn't decide one way or the other.
posted by lemuria at 5:08 PM on June 18, 2007


Also The Skeptics Society and Skeptic magazine.
posted by matildaben at 5:25 PM on June 18, 2007


Communists?
posted by smackfu at 5:29 PM on June 18, 2007


I'd like to throw out a variant on the op's question: What about non-religious organizations that fill the same sorts of roles religious groups do, but without the religious baggage? A friend of mine (who I like and respect despite our differing beliefs) went off to teach at a Christian summer camp this week, and it got me thinking about how I wish there was a supportive, positive place for kids like that camp but without the Christianity. Does such a thing exist? Not a big deal for me now, but if I have kids someday...
posted by Alterscape at 5:36 PM on June 18, 2007


Are you thinking about something like Why Does God Hate Amputees?
posted by SuperNova at 5:37 PM on June 18, 2007


I wonder if that's what religious-affiliated universities think they're doing.

Given that such a basic scientific idea as evolution is not taught as fact in several of those universities, whatever they may think they are doing and what they are doing is quite distinct. Other examples abound.

Redirecting back to the original question: it is in such matters the original questioner can help fight the curious beliefs of the fundamentalist religion-based universities by contributing to nonprofits which help educate people away from such nonsense.
posted by mdevore at 5:37 PM on June 18, 2007


Rational Responders
posted by callmejay at 5:40 PM on June 18, 2007


Mod note: a few responses removed, please try to stick to the question or take religious debates to METATALK
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:31 PM on June 18, 2007


I second callmejay's suggestion of the Rational Response Squad (aka Rational Responders). They were the ones behind the Blasphemy Challenge, which you may have heard of.

And in response to Alterscape: check out Camp Quest, the secular summer camp. (And if you're interested, read about some recent controversy regarding it here.)
posted by Marla Singer at 9:03 PM on June 18, 2007


(Actually, the article on the Camp Quest controversy is here. The other link goes to a discussion of the article and controversy. Sorry about that.)
posted by Marla Singer at 9:06 PM on June 18, 2007


You might also consider donating to the Internet Infidels, "a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to defending and promoting a naturalistic worldview." They don't actively engage religious people in an effort to "deconvert" them, but they do provide an invaluable resource on the internet in the form of an extensive free archive of naturalistic, counter-religious writings, and a discussion forum with many thousands of members. I've participated in the discussion forum for several years, and have seen several members who came into the forum as Christians looking to prosetylize to us heathens, only to wind up discarding their faith.
posted by Marla Singer at 9:20 PM on June 18, 2007


Less religion, moreso superstition and the paranormal: The James Randi Foundation.
posted by Martin E. at 6:06 AM on June 19, 2007


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