I want my life to matter. My chosen career path is in non-profit development because I want what I do to have significance.
I’ll readily admit that this desire/need began when I lived a life devoted to faith. But it hasn’t changed with my loss of faith. If anything, it’s gotten stronger because the motivation behind it comes from inside myself, rather than some deity in the sky.
So my question is… where are the organizations who seek to change lives that don’t rely on faith to do so?
I absolutely love Rescue Mission Ministries because of what they do. But where are the Rescue Missions that aren’t faith based? Where are the organizations that change lives simply because it’s the right thing to do? Where are the appeals for donations that don’t use “orders” from God as a motivation?
Where are the people who choose to have significance without faith?
I’m not writing this as an accusation, or even with the assumption that these types of organizations don’t exist. It’s just that I’ve never heard of them. And I want to.
PeaceCorps…Teach for America….and the other hundreds of non-profit org’s all around.
[Reply]
check out any AIDS non-profit, in many different countries.
[Reply]
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation?
[Reply]
Ahem…
(hope that helps)
[Reply]
Honestly… it doesn’t.
All (most) of those organizations don’t *do* anything. They raise money to allow other organizations to do them.
Or… they’re not cause specific enough for me.
Make sense?
[Reply]
Well, its going to be difficult to describe them black and white like that. I’m not sure how you get to “all” or even “most” (“many” may be accurate). I think the issue (at least for me) is how directly they spend their money. For example the FFRF does a job that I like. But the money is spent fighting legal battles, putting up bill boards, and other things like this. Its directly spent on these things, not dispensed through other organizations (like Oxfam), but the things they spend directly on, don’t directly help people in need.However there are quite a few others like PlanUSA, project peanut butter (secular but run by a religious dude), mercy corps and even donorchoose among many other issue specific charities that do in fact spend directly and help people directly. however by directly, IO mean injecting funds and personal into emergency departments, and things likethat which end up being more efficient overall (as opposed to getting their on army of people into a country and having to try to build trust while bypassing local authority – not very efficient)Besides, for me, raising money with a high efficiency, for other groups who do direct work still seems good. Doctors without borders is a good example of this. Besides, DWB funds MSf directly (MSF if doctors without borders, in french) who does the “dirty work”.
[Reply]
yak! My paragraphs!
[Reply]
If you’d use IE, you could leave normal comments like the rest of us.
I guess I still tend to see things in black and white. I look at that list, and I see a bunch of third party organizations… rather than those who directly provide support.
[Reply]
I’m a bit disappointed that you think (or I think you are thinking) that, if a church or religious organization is doing good for people, they are doing it because God “ordered” them to do it. I think the majority of people alive today who do good for other people would do it whether or not God existed, i.e., if they found out tomorrow that God did not exist, most would not wipe their brows, say “phew”, and go live self-centered lives.
In previous generations, the percentages of those doing good for God versus doing good for others may have been different, indeed inverted at some time, but still I think that the majority of people seeking to change others’ lives for the better do it because they see suffering and choose to lessen it. I believe most of those groups are religious because their roots were religious and originated with founders who wanted to lessen suffering because they wanted to follow in Christ’s charitable and non-judgmental footsteps, and because they were a compassionate sort.
There are groups like Catholic Charities, which does not give a fig whether someone is a certain faith or any faith at all, secular groups run by religious dudes, and groups bearing religious names but run by by non-religious dudes.
I’m sure there are people of no faith who help others in an organized manner. Perhaps it is because most of the people who give money (often in place of actually volunteering time) are also of a religious nature.
I personally believe that some people are compassionate by nature, but I believe others became more compassionate after finding their faith.
[Reply]
After I hit “submit” I looked back at your post, and I see that you mentioned people who make donations under “orders”. I think the majority of people tithe to their churches under orders, but those who give to orgs that help people usually do so because they are being faithful to what they believe God and/or Jesus wanted them to do from the heart. Some give for tax purposes.
[Reply]
“those who give to orgs that help people usually do so because they are
being faithful to what they believe God and/or Jesus wanted them to do
from the heart”What?!? or… we give to charities becuase we think they are doing good work in areas that we we feel need work and a deity has absolutely nothing to do with it.However, your statement may in fact be true, simply because most of the population of the world believes in one deity or another.
[Reply]
You don’t know me and I don’t know you, but I do think we have some things in common. We are both women and we have both known the Lord. I, too, followed Him and then walked away and lived apart from Him, like you are now.
Did you pursue NANC certification and if so, did you obtain it? Had you counseled women in the past? I’m curious, if you don’t mind. If you do mind, I apologize.
[Reply]
I did pursue NANC certification, but never completed it. I finished Track 1 and was about halfway finished with my exams.
I had also counseled women in the past, as part of a former job I had.
Why do you ask?
[Reply]
I stumbled upon your website when resourcing for my NANC exam. I found myself caught up in your journey. I’ll be checking in to see how you are. Your honesty is refreshing about your relationship, or lack of currently, with Jesus. Do you mind if I ask what your previous job was?
[Reply]