If you do a Google search for “atheist service organization,” the first link you will see is for the service page of the website for Boulder Atheists. It’s no wonder, either: it was founded as a service organization. They seek to help the public adopt a more positive attitude towards atheists by performing services to the community of Boulder, Colorado, as well as contributing to national and international projects of compassion.
For example, they encourage their members to give back to society by participating in blood drives in the local area. They also suggest that members make physical donations to a local homeless shelter. The group has also adopted a section of road in Boulder that it cleans once every three months.
Some international organizations that Boulder Atheists supports include Doctors Without Borders, the International Red Cross, and Nonbelievers Giving Aid.
The website for Boulder Atheists is simple and concise – which I think are good things – as well as professional looking. They have managed to create a site that is very attractive on a low budget.
This group deserves praise and support.
Atheists Helping the Homeless
Atheists Helping the Homeless is another organization that supports the Nonbelievers Giving Aid project. They operate out of Austin, Texas, and their purpose is to help others simply because they want to, rather than because they want to preach to or convert anyone. In fact, they don’t preach anything to any of the people that they provide assistance to.
The activities of this group are another demonstration that compassion is an innate part of human nature that everyone shares, no matter their background. I hope that other groups of nonbelievers follow in their footsteps and bring this simple concept to their community.
International Humanist and Ethical Union
I became aware of the International Humanist and Ethical Union when I saw that it was a supporting organization of the Nonbelievers Giving Aid project, which is led by the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science. It is an umbrella organization for groups that support its mission “to build and represent the global Humanist movement that defends human rights and promotes Humanist values world-wide.”
Some of the activities that this group conducts are organizing international humanist conferences, leading public relations campaigns, engaging in dialogue with international bodies such as UNESCO, and providing support for budding humanist groups in developing countries.
One thing that I like about this organization is its apparent diligence in monitoring world events that are relevant to humanist goals and ideas. For example, the IHEU has made its members aware of the fact that the UN’s Committee on the Rights of the Child has recently focused on child witch hunts in Nigeria.
I encourage everyone that reads this post to take a look at the home site for the International Humanist and Ethical Union to see what they are all about.
