Atheists Helping the Homeless

Over the years I've done a bit of working with homelessness charities and even took a few homeless people into my home but it never occurred to me to start an atheist program to help the homeless. Some folks in Austin Texas are doing just that.

Check out their public service announcement video.




You can find their website at AHH - Atheists Helping the Homeless.

For suggestions some on what you can do to help the homeless, check out the links below written by formerly homeless person and atheist, yours truly.

From Your Hand to the Homeless - a list of easy to carry and very inexpensive things that would be appreciated by homeless people near you.

How You Can Help the Homeless Without Spending a Dime - a list of ways you can help homeless people in your community without spending any money.

What to Buy if You are Homeless - a list of items many homeless people could find truly life-changing plus some food for thought.

My Favorite Thanksgiving Recipes

Holiday foods are this atheist's major reason to celebrate the fall and winter holidays. There are some things people seldom make at other times of the year or which the ingredients to are scarce so I try to enjoy them while I can.

Today, I thought I'd post links to a few of my favorite holiday feast foods. These are all my own recipes because I love to tinker with food and take it to the next step.

Truffled Mashed Potatoes with Romano Cheese and Hollandaise Sauce
Bourbon Glazed Sweet Potatoes
Home Made Cranberry Sauce with Merlot
Basic Stuffing
Rosemary Roast Turkey

It's kind of a financially poor holiday for me so I won't be making any of these today but I can share the recipes with you.

For Thanksgiving

Because Thanksgiving is almost here and someone's bound to suggest atheists can't celebrate it I'd like to direct you to my list - Ten Things One Atheist Is Thankful For.

It kind of gets on my nerves that people suggest that it's "sad" to see atheists around Thanksgiving because we have no one to be thankful to. I have hordes of people to be thankful to!

Feel the Love - New Anti Equal Marriage Ploy from Catholic Church

I just had to link to this - Catholic Church Threatens To Stop Feeding Homeless Over Gay Marriage.

The bizarre thing about this is that all of the Catholics I know personally are not against equal marriage. In fact, several are staunchly for same sex marriage!

Squidoo Bus Ad Duel Updated

I just updated my Squidoo duel on atheist bus advertisements. I added an explanation of why some bus ad sponsors might choose to be anonymous and an explanation as to why I think the ads say God and not Allah.

Check out the changes and weigh in on the duel module at Should Atheist Ads Be Allowed?

Why I Don't Need to Constantly Re-Examine the God Myth

I was recently looking through my blog comments because I just realized I didn't have my blog set to notify me when I get them. A while back, I got a comment that I'd like to answer now.

Jonathan said...

Interesting post - I wonder though, what has lead you to believe that God is not real? Or, keeps you from examining whether or not God is real?

The same thing that has led you to believe Zeus and pixies are not real has led me to believe God is not real. Do you have to examine the idea of whether or not fairies are real on a daily basis? Or how about whether or not Bacchus is real?

What makes you think I haven't examined all sorts of mythology, including Christian mythology? Why do so many assume that the only way a person wouldn't believe exactly as they do is if he or she is either stupid, defiant, or has never been exposed to their particular mythology?

Think about why you don't believe in Islam or Norse deities - you can tell, just from their construction, that they are myths, legends - the stuff of fantasies. Am I right? This analysis is backed up by evidence in the physical world and in the very laws of nature. Those religions are little more plausible than Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. Did you need to extensively examine Santa Claus to determine his unreality or did it become embarrassingly obvious once you reached a certain level of maturity? Examine your mythology objectively and without dogma and see how it stands up. Or, if your belief gives you vital comfort and fulfillment, don't examine it because you will probably lose it.

Is your virgin born, resurrected Jesus all that different from virgin-born, resurrected savior gods such as Dionysus (Grecian), Krishna (Hindu), Mithra (Persian), or Tammuz (Sumerian-Babylonian)and several dozen others? Your own Bible references Tammuz in Ezekiel 8:14. Your myths are so similar to other myths which you have examined and found to be fantasy - how is yours so different?

I admit that it is a lot more difficult for religious people to see that their religion is based on myth. Their parents and/or other authority figures shore up their beliefs and support them as generations of parents and authority figures have. Those parents and authority figures are not lying, they've all been misled, too.

I was not born thinking God was real. If a person isn't taught that God is real while he or she impressionable then he or she will need to be convinced that God is a real thing rather than convinced that God is not a real thing. If you think about it, I'd bet you will see you were not born believing in the Christian God either.

If you truly feel a person must re-examine everything they don't think is real then why don't you do it all the time? Or do you? Do you re-examine Egyptian and Greek Gods and Goddesses, Bigfoot and Nessie, UFOs and aliens, Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny? Or was once or twice enough to make their unreality pretty clear?

Update on the Rape/Violence Threats

Well, I'm pleased to say that "Bob" hasn't contacted me again.

Associated Content's response was to delete the messages and block anonymous comments from my editorials.