Atheist Volunteers Snubbed By Soup Kitchen Will Restore Your Faith In Everything That's Good

[DeSwiss]

Huffington Post | Posted: 10/30/2013 4:31 pm EDT | Updated: 10/31/2013 11:31 am EDT



A director of a South Carolina soup kitchen told a group of atheists that she would rather “resign” than have them volunteer at her organization.

Upstate Atheists, a Spartanburg, S.C., group that focuses on helping people in need, recently offered to help out at the Spartanburg Soup Kitchen, but their gesture was rebuffed by the Christian nonprofit, even though they had agreed to not wear their T-shirts or advertise where they were from, the Spartanburg Herald-Journal reported.

"This is a ministry to serve God,” Lou Landrum, executive director of the soup kitchen, told the paper. "We stand on the principles of God. Do they (atheists) think that our guests are so ignorant that they don't know what an atheist is? Why are they targeting us? They don't give any money. I wouldn't want their money."

While the group was upset about not being able to contribute to the organization, they weren’t deterred. The volunteers decided to, instead, dole out 300 care packages on Saturday to the homeless –- right across the street from the nonprofit that rejected them. Through an online fundraiser, Upstate Atheists was able to collect $2,000 to buy socks, gloves, deodorant, toothpaste and antiseptic wipes and other items, according to the Christian Post.

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See also: Atheist Charity snubs religious volunteers

- It's unsettling to learn that someone in the field of community service is actually helping you with warm food, a place to bathe and a place to sleep safe and unmolested not because they care for humanity and empathize with your plight, but because they're trying to impress the BIG GUY so they can get a good seat in heaven. Well, if he'll check his Bible he'll find that won't work either.

[MADem]

1. Lou Landrum is an idiot. Has she gotten any pushback about her stupidity yet?

The Catholic "feeding centers" I've encountered don't put a religious test on volunteers. They're just grateful for the help.

[SheilaT]

2. I call myself a non believer.

I actually have very strong beliefs, but they don't seem to fit within any organized religion, so that's how I define myself. I was raised Roman Catholic, for what that's worth.

But I am a strong believer in helping one another. I want to help out doing good things, such as feeding the poor or homeless. I have some good friends who are members of a local church (Presbyterian, in case that matters) and their church is very involved in the local interfaith thing that also involves feeding the homeless. Next week is that church's turn to feed the local needy. I am happily involved. I'll be the team leader this coming Sunday and also the following Saturday.

It gives me great satisfaction to help out others. I think I understand that only a few small differences separate me from them. Perhaps only a trivial few things different could have meant I'd be on the other side of the serving line.

To think that atheists can't help out . . . I'm totally gobsmacked. It's not religious belief that matters. It's the willingness to help others. I do understand that traditionally it's the churches that do these things. As a non-believer, non-joiner, I've found a connection that allows me to help out. If I did not have the specific friends I have who are connected to a specific church, I might not have been able to do this. There needs to be a way to allow those not connected to a church (or other faith organization) to do these things. It would involve a large re-thinking of how we do these things, but it needs to be done.

[Enthusiast]

3. How very Christian of them.

They made the baby Jesus cry.

[Snake Plissken]

5. I actually feel sorry for these shit for brains, knuckle dragging, createns; but not as sorry as ...

I feel for God ... if heaven is really full of them.

[grahamhgreen]

4. Kick for humanity

[ctsnowman]

6. A link to their financials.

http://dynamodata.fdncenter.org/990_pdf_archive/270/270530812/270530812_201112_990.pdf

[DeSwiss]

7. They're operating at a -$33,502 deficit.....

...but they're turning down nonbeliever money? Okaaay. Money's not good enough even with "In God We Trust" on it? So you're supposed to love your enemies but not take their money? They're to turn the other cheek, but not accept a band-aid if its an atheist's band-aid?

- What religion is this again???

[ctsnowman]

8. $29,910

Is pretty good money for a part time job too. I guess gods work is expensive.

[starroute]

9. I'm reminded of the poem Abou Ben Adhem

One of those hokey old 19th century things that still contains a strong element of truth. My mother used to recite it to me when I was little.

Abou Ben Adhem
By Leigh Hunt

Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An angel writing in a book of gold:—
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the presence in the room he said,
"What writest thou?"—The vision raised its head,
And with a look made of all sweet accord,
Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord."
"And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so,"
Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low,
But cheerly still; and said, "I pray thee, then,
Write me as one that loves his fellow men."

The angel wrote, and vanished. The next night
It came again with a great wakening light,
And showed the names whom love of God had blest,
And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.

[LostOne4Ever]

15. I have always loved that poem (nt)

[cbayer]

10. Good for them for doing this.

It makes the soup kitchen director look even more ridiculous.

[trotsky]

11. Ridiculous?

Hardly.

To her, and to large number of Christians (quite probably a majority in her area), she is taking a strong and admirable stand for Christ.

Sure, she looks silly to a secular liberal like you or me. But we are a minority (and a very tiny one at that in some areas).

[okasha]

12. I do wonder, though,

why the atheist group made an issue of their atheism when they volunteered. I have helped out with several food programs, Catholic, Episcopalian and others, and I never felt any need to tell the organizations I'm a pagan. Nor did those organizations ever feel any need to ask me about my faith.

Edited to add: An agnostic friend has frequently volunteered at the same sites, and has never felt compelled to declare her agnositicism, nor has she been asked.

[DeSwiss]

14. This wasn't an individual offer of assistance....

...but an organization to organization offer. Given that they are both assisting the same target group, it would seem to make sense to join in their efforts for the good of the people being served.

Huffington Post Upstate Atheists, a Spartanburg, S.C., group that focuses on helping people in need, recently offered to help out at the Spartanburg Soup Kitchen, but their gesture was rebuffed by the Christian nonprofit, even though they had agreed to not wear their T-shirts or advertise where they were from, the Spartanburg Herald-Journal reported. link

In any event, it matters little given the fact that the response by the director was wholly inappropriate because it was totally un-Christian.

Luke 6:27-36 But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also. Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again. And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. link

[okasha]

17. Stipulating that the church representative acted like an asshole

and expressed bigoted views, it also seems as if the Upstate Atheists originally wished to wear their T-shirts at a church-sponsored event and advertise where they were from. Likewise it seems that they deliberately chose a fundamentalist church to "assist," when they would far more likely have been made welcome by UCC's or Episcopalians.

Publicity hounding on both sides, it seems.

[eqfan592]

19. If only it wasn't for the fact that they had previously volunteered at other soup kitchens...

...run by churches with no issues, then you might have a point. If only...

[okasha]

24. Actually, you just proved my point.

They were welcome at more liberal venues.

[skepticscott]

20. Yes, how dare they identify themselves?

How dare they openly declare their atheism? How dare they try to show people who have been led to believe otherwise that atheists and atheist groups are capable of acts of charity? The nerve. I'm sure the people being fed couldn't stomach the free food coming from the hands of atheists.

[Heddi]

21. It reminds me of when I lived & worked in South Carolina

I worked at a large regional newspaper at the time, and there was a woman there (Liz) that was open about being a lesbian...kind of. She referred to her partner as her "special best friend" and not "my partner" or "girlfriend" or "wife". Although they had been a couple for over 20 years, they had to keep a pretend 2nd bedroom furnished in case unknowing friends or family came over....then they could revert to the "friends and roommates" that was much more socially acceptable.

Liz was open about her partner with my husband and I. But not with everyone.

There was one picture on her desk of she and her partner in a very innocent pose. I think they were at an amusement park, each of them flanking some fur-covered mascot or another.

But the howls oh the howls of the religious (this was a place that had daily bible readings in the cafeteria).

"I don't know why she has to flaunt her lifestyle!"
"Who wants to see pictures of THAT at her desk?"
"I don't care who sleeps with who, but let's leave it at home in the bedroom instead of bringing it to work and spreading it all over the place"

etc etc

(of course these same people had no problem talking about their spouses or boy/girlfriends, pictures of wedding kisses and holding hands and partners at work picnics and no one bats an eyebrow to the lady who has a new boyfriend every weekend and is open about that, or the man who's on his 5th divorce. That's not flaunting. That's not keeping it in the bedroom. There's pictures on their desk but that's different.....)

Reminds me of that. Why do the atheists have to identify themselves as atheists? Because there's nothing shameful in that label.

Why couldn't Liz have identified as a lesbian with a life partner? Because there's nothing shameful in that label, either. But she couldn't identify as lesbian and keep her job. AMazingly, at a company with over 2000 workers she was the only one who was partially uncloseted. What a statistical anomaly she was....or not.

Yet mentioning that you are one or the other is often met with proclamations like the one your'e referring to. Oh the nerve of those Atheists...why do they have to FLAUNT their Atheism? Why can't they just PRETEND to be like everyone else? I mean, I don't care what you do in your own home but do you have to bring it here and SPREAD it around people who don't agree with that??

[skepticscott]

22. But of course this poster

had a knee-jerk reaction to smear and blame the atheists who were just being themselves, rather than to put the blame SOLELY on the anti-atheist bigots, where it belongs.

[Heddi]

23. It's the same excuses for bigotry you see everywhere

"Well if they'd just keep that stuff to themselves, no one would give them a hard time about it"
"this wouldn't be an issue if they wouldn't flaunt their sexual life in front of everybody"
"If she hadn't been wearing that short skirt, none of this would have happened"
"What do you expect to happen if you wear a turban this soon after 9/11?"
etc
etc
etc

I think it's called "blaming the victim" but I'm just not sure.

[Iggo]

25. Pretty sure you nailed it.

[gcomeau]

27. They specifically *didn't* make an issue of it.

They're an atheist organization so obviously when they made the offer the Soup Kitchen personnel would be able to tell from their name who was making it, but they offered not to in any way advertise who they were when they showed up, so only the Soup Kitchen itself would have been aware of it.

Of course they can do that because they're in it to actually help people, not as a public relations exercise like the other guys.

[TheOther95Percent]

13. I'm not a lawyer but doesn't federal law prohibit discrimination by tax exempt groups?

Didn't Bob Jones U lose its tax exempt status for racial discrimination? Isn't it against public policy to allow tax exempt organizations to discriminate based on a group's creed or lack thereof?

[okasha]

16. It's not legal to discriminate against beneficiaries

of a 501(c)3 charity. A church or other tax-exempt organization cannot ask the recipient of its charitable services about her/his religion or require the recipient to profess a particular belief or participate in religious activities in order to receive said services.

[Iggo]

18. One of these organizations serves the community.

The other one serves god.

[JI7]

26. so the religious are only helping because they want rewards from God ?