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Churches have been very good at providing coats etc. at winter for those in need and essential needs such as food. What is to become of these services and how will they be replaced in the wake of covid?

It is my concern that many of these services may vanish with less people willing to support churches humanistic endevors as they simply will not have the money to contrubute, and will less likely go to church anyway( a plus) . I understand that many of these services such as "family planning" are abused for the purpose of evangilistic purposes. In addition, government funds are diverted to these programs even though the churches use them specifically to indoctrinate more people. I am not defending these outrageages.

This being said churches have provided services to the needy that other organizations do not provide. What does our future hold for taking care of the needy? There are some atheist organization that do help the needy in a similar fashion, but humanist simlly do nit at this time have the organization to do this on a large scale. It is my fear that not only will this vaccum not be filled but it may lead to even more government backing of churches and they havenalready recieved bail outs from the government for cchurches that already were close to shutting thier doors before covid. There is also the problem of Churches like the Morman chucrh that recieved government monsy in the millions. They may not have noticed it as it is a drop in the bucket of their 3 BILLLION ( American) worth.

Churches could be held in more esteem for their services than ever as there are many like myself that are unemployed due to the virus. This could possibly hold up religious organizations that would have folded and not provided any services with or without government aid or like the mormans simply make them richer.
Just a note. The government aid that is given is not accounted for from churches, as long as they have a program that the government approves on paper that is all that is required. The churches are not like other non profits required to report what they do with the money. They may aldo indoctrinate as they wish.

So where do we go from here? What can we do tostop the abuse from churches, stop the government from funding without oversight and actually fill the needs of the needy?

DavidLaDeau 8 May 18
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2

If the government taxed the richest, and companies too, at the 1960 levels (when the middle class was booming) then the government itself could do that work.

Plus, as LBJ put it, if a company re-invests in it's employees and production, it won't be taxed on the profits it doesn't make (paraphrased). So higher taxes on companies should re-route the money sent to the shareholders and C level asshats, back to the employees who need it. And then they wouldn't need a handout to scrape by.

2

There is no reason good works have to be attached to religion. Locally the best food shelf and clothes closet aroune is completely secular.

g

1

Don't confuse charity and church.

1

If any of this vanishes it will come back later under different names.

5

Oh oh oh! I know! Let's change our socio-economic norms so charity such as this isn't needed.

1of5 Level 8 May 18, 2020
4

Instead of teaching religion in school, children should be taught ethics and philosophy. What I love about having no religion is that I can choose my own values. AS a humanist, I aim to not cause pain to other people or animals. I want to help others, not to secure a place in heaven but for the warm and fuzzy it gives and working toward my goal of leaving the planet a little better in my corner. Adopting a nihilist attitude to atheism does not bring meaning or fulfillment to life. In fact you might as well end it now. When churches no longer organise soup kitchens, non religious humanists will take their place.

6

Tax the churches, they should never receive federal funds, that is, taxpayer dollars, nor should these parasites be allowed a tax-free status.

ooh, I like that! Churches are parasitic!!! I'm going to use that from now on.

Churches are granted tax-free status because they're defined as being charitable organizations when, in fact, their charity often consists of them hoarding that money for their own purposes while periodically handing out sandwiches or blankets or whatever as a token gesture. The Vatican bank didn't make billions by donating their income to charity.

3

What I often ask myself beyond COVID is how effective will the secular/atheist movement be at providing alternatives to churches in providing the same services. It's something that will hopefully improve as religious affiliation is decreasing around the world.

3

Every senior center & most nursing homes, plus random stores, have donation boxes for clothing, food, even dog food....why would you think it is only churches?

In my area all those boxes do go to churches.

@DavidLaDeau I haven"t been in a church except for weddings & funerals in years. In my area, especially at Xmas,every place has donation boxes, overflowing. You talk like there are a finite supply of donation boxes from a single source?

5

Contrary to popular belief, churches do less for people than you might be led to think. That being said, those who do good things should be praised for admirable work they do.

2

I donate many things but never money.

5

I will preface my thoughts with only having a local frame of reference, but I suspect it's not much different throughout the USA. Without trying to discount the individual acts of kindness a church may engage in, I rarely see a church that is really helping those outside it's membership unless attempts at indoctrination are part of the exchange. Nothing makes me see red more than vulnerable people being taken advantage of in this way, making assistance that they desperately need dependent upon drinking the Koolade, and I would struggle to support enlisting our churches to fill the needs that are going to need met. My town also has a very large NPO that is, yes, faith based in that the founders are very religious and I am sure they feel they are doing God's work, but they are not tied to a church specifically and proselytizing is not part of their agenda. It started as a tiny little food bank endeavor, and with community support, has grown to be quite the impressive community organization. They not only have a huge food bank, but will go out and collect donated items such as furniture, appliances, even cars, and match them with community members in need. I would rather like to see more of these organizations become viable and supported. I don't think our government dollars should be going to churches in any way. If they are struggling through this, they should accept it as God's will and shut the doors.

A home, good income, decent standard of living are all barriers to religion. I don't see any US religions fighting for a higher minimum wage

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