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COLUMN By ELAINE FRIEDMAN
http://www.HumanistNetworkNews.orgJuly 19, 2006
Two weeks ago Warren Buffett, the world's second-richest man, stunned the world by announcing that he will begin donating $37 billion of his fortune to five foundations. Five-sixths of the money will go to The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, run by Bill Gates, the world's richest man.
The Gateses credit Buffett with having inspired their thinking about giving money back to society. Guided by its belief that "every life has equal value," the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation "works to reduce inequities and improve lives around the world" by aiding the fight against diseases and improving US libraries and high schools.
While news of Buffett's announcement has been broadcast worldwide, it has not been widely circulated that Buffett, as well as Gates, is an atheist. Indeed, some of the most generous philanthropists, beginning with Andrew Carnegie, have been or are free thinkers.
In a world in which private philanthropy trumps public programs -- the Red Cross' budget is $3.4 billion, a little more than one-tenth of The Gates Foundation's assets of $29.1 billion -- the contributions of free thinkers to the greater good have been and continue to be vital in building a better world.
Buffett has stated that he agrees with Carnegie's belief that "huge fortunes that flow in large part from society should in large part be returned to society." Carnegie, who gave away $7.2 billion as measured in today's dollars, was one of the first Americans to consider philanthropy a moral imperative, famously stating that "The man who dies rich dies disgraced."
Believing that "only in popular education can man erect the structure of an enduring civilization," Carnegie created the Carnegie Corporation of New York in 1911 to promote "the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding." Through his corporation Carnegie not only supported international peace, security and development but also founded hundreds of libraries and cultural institutions while giving away millions in grants.
What may have seemed like Carnegie's "Christian charity" to some was nothing of the sort.
Carnegie was a skeptic from a young age. Returning from church, his mother once said to Carnegie, "You would have enjoyed the sermon today; there wasn't a word of religion in it." <1> Before he died in 1919, he stated that he abjured "all creeds" and was "a disciple of Confucius and Franklin." <2> A Catholic weekly stated that when Carnegie was challenged about his many gifts of church organs he replied that he did this "in the hope that the organ music would distract the congregation's attention from the rest of the service." <3>
While Buffett and Gates have been more reticent about their atheism, they have never tried to hide it. In Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist (Doubleday 1995), Roger Lowenstein writes that Buffett "...did not subscribe to his family's religion. Even at a young age he was too mathematical, too logical, to make the leap of faith. He adopted his father's ethical underpinnings, but not his belief in an unseen divinity" (p.13).
In a Time magazine article, Gates said that he has no evidence of anything about the human soul and that "Just in terms of allocation of time resources, religion is not very efficient. There's a lot more I could be doing on a Sunday morning."
Perhaps the most openly free thinking living philanthropist is George Soros, who openly stated that he did not believe in God on the December 20, 1998 broadcast of 60 Minutes. Building on the philosophy of an "open society" espoused by Karl Popper, Soros founded and has donated more than $5 billion to the Open Society Institute (OSI). The OSI aims to shape public policy to promote democratic governance, human rights and economic, legal and social reform.
A significant portion of OSI's money has gone to supporting global democracy and a range of progressive causes. Soros has not been reticent in expressing controversial views, including his support of doctor-assisted euthanasia and reformation of U.S. drug laws. In fact, he recently pledged to give $10 million to US cities to build comprehensive public drug-addiction treatment systems.
It is no surprise that such initiatives have angered conservatives. Conservatives often mention Soros' atheism when complaining about his support of progressive causes, affirming that one stems from the other. In an attempt to insult Soros, John Carlisle of the conservative Capital Research Center called him "a devout secular ideologue." Damning criticism indeed!
Ted Turner, creator of CNN and TBS, is an atheist philanthropist who was named the 1990 Humanist of the Year. Turner has used his fortune to create foundations that support international cooperation and protect the environment. Perhaps his most well-known effort is the United Nations Foundation, which Turner created in 1998 with a commitment of up to $1 billion. The UN Foundation works to educate opinion leaders, policy makers and the general public on the work of the UN and to build global cooperation (while also encouraging the United States to pay its dues.
While Turner has never hidden his distaste for religion, his views became more widely known during his divorce proceedings from Jane Fonda, when both Turner and Fonda stated that one of the major reasons for their divorce was her conversion to Christianity and his continued espousal of atheism.
Free thinkers need not have billions to make a difference. The Institute for Humanist Studies provides funds to humanist groups worldwide through its Grant Fund. Fulfilling its mission of encouraging society to adopt humanist values and ideas and make humanism an influential world view, IHS has awarded $850,000 in grants over the past six years to humanist organizations around the world. "These grants have supported programs that have effectively amplified our efforts to bring about a more humanistic world. The Grant Fund has been our most successful and important contribution to humanism," said IHS president Larry Jones.
Future issues of Humanist Network News will showcase how the recipients of IHS grants have promoted humanist values and ideas in their part of the world.
Elaine Friedman is the editor of Humanist Network News, the weekly ezine of the Institute for Humanist Studies.
Notes
<1> Burton Jesse Hendrick, Life of Andrew Carnegie, 2 vol., 1932, repr. 1989.
<2> Quoted in Joseph McCabe, "Andrew Carnegie" in A Rationalist Encyclopedia: A Book of Reference on Religion, Philosophy, Ethics, and Science, 1948, repr. 1971.
<3> Ira D. Cardiff, What Great Men Think of Religion, 1945, repr. 1972.
http://www.humaniststudies.org/enews/?id=252&article=0The Institute for Humanist Studies (IHS) promotes humanism, a nonreligious philosophy based on reason and compassion. Reproduction of IHS content is subject to terms of use.
http://www.humaniststudies.org/terms.htmlFrom Humanist Network News, the weekly e-zine of the Institute for Humanist Studies:
http://www.humaniststudies.org
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