EDIT: I know I sound like a jack ass. I swear I'm not as dumb as my words imply.

What I meant to ask was if anyone has any suggestions to tactfully deal with the "credit to god" comments when doing good stuffs for peeps?

I manage and operate the official "dumped dogs I find in brackenridge park" program.

I need to join snipsa or another humane society to better serve the pups I find.

Trash makes me crazy, so litter clean up would rock!

I know all the part-time residents in brackenridge (they give me the 411 on the dumped dogs) and it hurts my soul that every time I talk to them they tell me either that I am an "angel" or "god bless you". Christmas was particularly rough.

When I was trying to get them warm clothes back in october when the rain started it killed me that the only place for me to send them was a church down town. Salvation Army is worse. I haven't yet checked into this new Haven for Hope, is anyone aware if it is completely jeebus-fied?

we all get our share of the god bless yous and what not. i've learned that most aren't saying it in hopes "god" will actually bless you. its just a phrase that's become common place. like when you sneeze lol. took me a while to convince my GF it was ok for her to not say anything after i sneeze. my point is that they see your doing something good and are applauding you. take it for that. and by the way i applaud you on your work. may the flying spaghetti monster bless your life.

if it were me id take the animals or clothes or what have you anywhere they will take em. your not doing it for religion but for the less fortunate and the churches do the same. in that sense you two have the same goal. if they find out your not a believer and are still nice to you then you my friend just helped our cause.

id join the litter cleanup as well. i wouldn't get far with my pinched nerve but id walk as far as i could till my leg collapsed... good times it will be!

I have been considering this for quite a while. My brother has been an addict in/out of prison and homeless all of my life. He would do horrible things to get drugs and then ridiculous crap once he was high.

With out fail, each time he would call from jail/prison, he would go on the entire time about the bible and god. I understood that this was just the way he was and with mental illness and/or addiction you learn to smile, listen and never turn your back.

These people in the park use the same language my brother did. I always thought that it was the redemption part that was the appeal of religion, but it feels more like they are trying to convince me that they aren't dangerous... If that makes any sense?

Numerous times different ones have talked to me about various things and almost always take the story to god. They are always quite specific. "I know that god has a plan. All I can do is pray. I felt the spirit. I know he hears me."

I'm not about judgment or any of that business, I am just a realist. While I am scared to death that people are going to hate me because I don't believe in god these people have learned that the best bet to gaining on people is to invoke the jeebz. You know, like when that catch an "unlikely" suspect... "He was the deacon of a church, yet he still tied up, tortured, and eventually murdered all of those people."

I know this is probably elementary to you all. =(

Avery -- I'd love to do some community service with you... and I know a lot of other atheists/agnostics that would as well. Let's set a good impression on these highly impressionable minds!

I am altruistic, I think community service is a great thing to do if your "intention" is pure...that is do it because you have a "desire" to offer a type of service to a particular cause. However, to "do it" in order to elevate yourself or a group to "mainstream societies" skewed ideas of what "good is" seems conformist.

SO the event is over, and I'd like to give everyone a run down.

First Day:
Pretty much chaos. Over 750 protesters that were screaming for our heads and one arrest. Only about 5 trades but a lot of discussion, which led to a "debate" I had with a Christian in front of the crowd http://www.youtube.co... .
Here's the thing though, after the really irrational people left, we had some great discussions with agnostics and people who were Christian "light".
About 10 interviews which all went pretty well

Second Day:
Things calm down for the most part. Just about 200 or so people showed up, with about 20% of them worth talking to. About 20 book exchanges

Third Day:
A number of church groups came. Some gave the same tired arguments, but a number of pantheists and agnostic types came that we're open to our ideas. 20 books were exchanged and all went good.

Overall:
20+ interviews, including tv shows in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Spanish programs showing clips of the event
42 exchanges (because we ran out of porn)
And a lot of great conversations

Here's all the links we've found discussing the event

http://www.youtube.co... - debate
http://www.kens5.com/... - kens5 3/3/2010
http://www.barcelonan... - Spain
http://media.brisbane... - Australia
http://www.huffington... - Huffington Post
http://www.associated... - Associated Content
http://au.christianto... - Christian Today
http://www.woai.com/n... - WOAI
http://scienceblogs.c... - Science Blogs (Pro-smut for smut)
http://www.youtube.co... - Fox News Channel
http://www.paisano-on... - Paisano
http://www.foxsananto... - Kabb Fox local 3/1/2010
http://www.flickr.com... - Pics of monday
http://www.mysananton... - Express News
http://www.kens5.com/... - Kens 5 3/2/2010
http://www.wnd.com/in... - WorldNetDaily
http://www.kens5.com/... - Kens 5 2/26/2010
http://foxsanantonio.... - Kabb Fox local 2/25/2010

TO OUR CRITICS:
We got the word out about atheism. We're challenging their beliefs, and we're doing a damn good job of it.If we can get 5 % of those people to just read one book regarding atheism after talking to us, then we've done our job. The amount of freethought groups that try to be sensitive to religious belief has gotten atheism no where, and the Atheist Agenda is taking a different rout to spread reason and rationality.

I meant to post the link, but a Saint Mary's student threatened you guys violence from him and his "homeboys" - but doesn't do that now since he's "saved".

lmao

Sounds like people actually thought you were a threat to the entirety of Christendom. As if their mystical psychopathic sky daddy couldn't take care of himself.

Yes but, again, for the most part people DID want to talk to us and lots of good talking ensued. Sure the coverage could have been considered poor. Of course when was the last time atheism recieved good coverage except from other atheists.

And I take issue, Tara, with the statement that you "mentally hiss at them like a vampire because I think WOW this person can't think for themselves BUT I still have respect for what they believe."

That makes no sense and is completely contradictory. That would be like me saying "Dude you're a fucking idiot, but I don't think you're an idiot." (I wasn't calling Tara a fucking idiot)


ATHEISM by it's very nature is a disrepect for religion no matter which way you cut it. This is why I brought up the atheists bus and billboards vs. bibles for porn and I must reiterate my previous statement from another post: Atheism is goign to make people angry no matter what for the simple fact that it has anything to do with atheism.

Bibles for Porn could be construed as counterproductive and I wouldn't completely disagree. However simply being an Atheist is construed as counterproductive. It would be easier to just go ahead and pretend I believe. That way I wouldn't OFFEND anyone.

But that's not me.

By saying I mentally hiss at them I was trying to be funny but also I do think that most Christians think with the masses. I guess to me it's dissapointing because they're going strictly on faith and hope...not reality. I say most and not all. And no, I didn't think you were calling me an idiot here. So it's not contradictory because I DO have respect for their religion. To each is own. I don't call their set of beliefs "smut". If I am asked a question about what I believe then I will tell them BUT I don't go around trying to push my beliefs on others either. And it's not the same saying "Hey you're an idiot but I don't think you're an idiot". I may not believe in what you do BUT we can still be friends.

That's fair. However it wasn't "Beliefs for Porn" it was bibles for porn. No one was saying their beliefs were smut; they're beliefs are merely ridiculous (something I told them often, prefacing it with," there is no better way to say this so"....). It's where they derive they're beliefs from that could be called smut...in an ironic and satirical way. That's an important distinction to make because most Christians I would imagine seem to at least try to derive their morality/empathy from only the good things in the bible while either dispatching, ignoring, or remaining flat out ignorant about all of the awful stuff.....except hating gays.....oh well ;P

There was one very friendly and (i believe) quite courageous christian girl I was speaking with who said the one thing that bugs her about her religion/ faith (after speaking to us) is that guys like us seem to know more about what faith and morality, the bible and what it says, than her fellow believers. I know this tends to be seen as true in our circle. The last person I expected to hear it from though, was a christian.

i know a lot has been said about the soft-sell and catching more flies w/ honey and the like. and i agree its necessary to show all sides of atheism. I don't think anyone who participated in Smut 4 Smut did so to win over the religious. (if they did, that's a bit naive). That's obviously not the goal as those folks are already entrenched. you can catch more flies w/ honey but there's no honey that's gonna compete w/ what they've been told and convinced themselves of. S4S def got middle-of-the-road people and people who just never thought about it much to think about it more. and if just one of those people starts thinking about their non-beliefs, then that's way more than i accomplished this week. and it definitely got people talking, which is never a bad thing.

to sort of switch gears:
on the community service/volunteering thing, I definitely want to get out and do something like that, especially if its humane society stuff or animal rescue. that's a cause i get behind so if anything get's organized, please post a discussion about it. thx.