Atheists Care: Help Support FreeSAY’s Food Drive!
A recent study titled “Do You Believe in Atheists? Distrust is Central to Anti-Atheist Prejudice,” done by the University of British Columbia discovered that atheists are one of the most distrusted groups of people. According to the survey, atheists were as distrusted as rapists. This prejudice is based on the misguided notion that atheists are immoral.
FreeSAY has taken up the challenge of dispelling this negative stereotype placed upon atheists. We are holding a food drive in order to show that atheists can and do have a positive role in society. All proceeds from this event will be going to support the North York Harvest Food Bank which supplies a variety of food banks and kitchens across North York, including York University’s own food bank.
We will be accepting donations from Monday January 30th till Friday February 3rd in Vari Hall from 10:00am – 4:00pm everyday, with the exception of Thursday February 2nd where we will be in the Vari Hall Link.
Our goal is collect 500 pounds of donations! Come out and show your care by helping us reach our goal and supporting your local community.
Good without God
For some time there has been the misconception that morality is established through religion. This belief has subsequently inferred that those who are without religion are not capable of mortality and thus are deplorable beings. While the average individual, in our modern Western Society, might believe this outdated label no longer holds any clout, this is not the case. The Secular community themselves would like to believe that such a negative stigmatization would not be attached to a group that is heavily composed of and highly progressive and educated community, but
a recent study by University of British Columbia suggests the contrary.
Will Gervais of UBC recently published the study Do You Believe in Atheists? Distrust Is Central to Anti-Atheist Prejudice postulating that Atheists are the most distrusted group. The other groups that were represented in this study were Christians, Muslims, gay men, feminists and Jewish people. The only group that received a similar rating of Distrust were rapists. Yes, you heard correctly. Atheists are distrusted as much as rapists?
I myself as an Atheist find this study to be deplorable and highly misguided. This stereotype has been perpetuated by organized religion for far too long and it needs to stop immediately. From Albert Einstein to Noam Chomsky to Freud, secularists have for centuries helped contribute and change society. Fortunately The Centre for Inquiry (CFI) has just launched a campaign to help change this perception. Through their Think Again! TV campaign they plan on collecting videos from the secular community showing/telling what they do and what charitable or generous acts they have done to benefit society.
Are you interested?
As mentioned, CFI is collecting videos from local, national and international voices to defend our stance within the community and demonstrate how we are Good without God. If you are interested in helping with this project, They would be glad to feature you on our video.
Please keep the videos short (less than 1 minute) and keep the format as the following:
1. State your name and where you are from
2. State your occupation
3. What you do for charities, non-profits or society?
4. End with the statement “that is why I am good without god”
You can submit by either uploading the video to YouTube and sending the link to multimedia@cficanada.ca or you can put the video file into CFI’s Drop Box folder linked to socialmedia@cficanada.ca.
For more information about the this campaign visit CFI’s website at http://www.cficanada.ca/ontario/news/are_you_good_without_god_then_we_want_you/
To read more about this study visit CTV’s article here: http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20111201/bc_atheist_research_ubc_rapists_111201/20111201?hub=BritishColumbiaHome
