I was in 'town' yesterday (ie, a 65 mile drive south) and stopped by our favorite used book store. I found a really cool book Bringing Up a Moral Child. It's a reference on how to instill values without using religion as a guide/punishment. Lady that helped me check out RAVED about it, then waited for a few customers to get out of earshot and let me know she should be getting more parenting books that deal with the religious questions from kids in a non-religious household. She was super nice about it and put my name on a list for these books as they come in. We talked a little bit as we always do and it was nice to speak with an open minded person!
The version I got was 1985 but there is a newer version: http://www.amazon.com/Bringing-Mora...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269980641&sr=8-1
Two of my favorite non-religious charities are Doctors Without Borders and Heifer International. I know these are not what you are thinking about, but there are a lot of non-religious affiliated charities.
Yes Doctors without Borders is a great non-profit agency! I just checked out their web page to see if they specifically say they are secular and they do state that they "...operate independently of any political, military, or religious agendas". They originated in France, I wonder if that changes things, though I can't imagine that that wording would be problematic even here in the U.S.. I have heard of the other group you mentioned but don't know much about them. I think I remember that they provide livestock to needy families in poorer nations? I'm going to check out their webpage now. Thanks for the heads up!
OK. Just checked out Heifer International and they do state that they do work with faith based communities. Copied from their web-page; "Heifer International has worked from the very beginning with faith communities following all spiritual paths regardless of race, creed, or national origin."
I don't have a problem with this either but I would feel better if they included secular individuals/communities as well in this statement. I also could not find any info. on how much of their funding goes directly to families in need versus how much is used to function and to pay salaries etc. I try to be sure that any charity I donate to gives at least 70% of their monies raised directly to the families or communities they service.
I still don't see a group out there that does this kind of thing on an anonymous basis although the project I'm working on now comes close. Share our strengths, Great American Bake Sale is what we are working on now and we are fairly removed from the end result. Meaning our names don't appear on any lists that the benefitting community sees. The group I'd like to form would not keep lists of any kind. The person donating can help out in any way they like without fearing that their names would go on a list and that they would be forever hasseled to keep giving ang giving and giving. I, for one, am more likely to give to organizations that don't nag me incessantly once I've donated. I wish I had an unlimited supply of funds to give but the reality is, in this economy, that we can't do anything near the level that we have in the past since our income is much lower now than it was. I don't ever want our donors to feel guilty because they were kind enough to donate when they could but can't afford to donate on a regular basis.
This may be unrealistic since actively seeking donations does seem to be an effective method for the most part and a non-profit may go out of business if they quit pushing for donations but it is just a dream for now.
I give a lot to our local serving center. They work with faith based organizations, but are not faith based or religious. I like giving to them for a variety of reasons: it supports people in my community with food aid, a medical center, utility help and other things, it runs a store where clients can use vouchers to shop, and the public can shop; they give their excess donations to Goodwill or Salvation Army, they run a garden with 1/3 for clients to adopt and 2/3 for the food pantry (5000 of fresh organic produce last year) and they sponser Coats for Kids, among other things. They also provide disaster relief for hurricane victims etc.
I know that I'm a little bit slow posting this thought, after everyone else has moved on to other aspects of the discussion. But earlier when we were talking about whether people 'without religion' could raise kids with good morals, I had to chuckle about all the PK's that I knew back in school. They were the worst bunch of kids I knew. Even now, at my advanced age, some of them are still in prison, or at least spent a good part of their lives there. Yes, there's always that excuse that the pastor's family gets ignored because he/she is so busy with the congregation's problems. But I'm sorry, anyone with a job has problems to deal with, whether it's being a traveling salesman, or an overworked construction worker, or a stressed out accountant. You have to find a way to balance your life. So for me, that holds no water.
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I think that the problem might be that PKs are held to very high standards of outer conduct that have nothing to do with who they are as individuals or even their spirituality. The pastor's children are seen as a reflection of how good a Christian their father is so they are supposed to be always display. It isn't fair to either the children or their parents and I could see how some kids would rebel against such expectations.
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I think that the problem might be that PKs are held to very high standards of outer conduct that have nothing to do with who they are as individuals or even their spirituality. The pastor's children are seen as a reflection of how good a Christian their father is so they are supposed to be always display. It isn't fair to either the children or their parents and I could see how some kids would rebel against such expectations.
It may not be a problem linked specifically to the religious aspect of the parent's job. Any household that pushes a child in a direction that it's not comfortable with, represses the child's freedom to develop naturally, demands compliance with some demanding academic or other targets of achievement with strong condemnation of failure is likely to create a sociopath. 'Mom, I want to be an art teacher'. 'No, we want you to be an eminent surgeon and you will be grateful for all the money we spend on your education to makes sure you achieve our goal'.
I remain a little stunned by the tales of religious extremism in the US. When I was a young lad in England, many years ago, and trying hard to accept the teachings of the church, I was also led to beliefs along the lines that only Christians could do good and that all non-Christians were sad lost souls, condemned to eternal hell fire unless they repented. There were even suggestions that we kids should evangelise. It gave one a warm glow inside to believe that our little band of self-righteous believers was going to heaven one day and that we were better and more enlightened than the heathen mobs. However, I soon matured enough to see that this was all baloney based on writings that have no proof behind them and distorted interpretations by leaders and extremists. Those views of mine fed on the insecurity of fearing that the teachings were flawed.
The extremism that I am reading about here looks like the deep brainwashing of minds that have remained immature into adulthood. Those people must be spiritually very insecure and in real fear. Their aggression is no different from that of extreme Muslims, Seikhs, Hindus or Jews. They destroy any real credibility of their faith and are a threat to the peace of the world.
