In Sunday’s Hornell Tribune, I read an article with the following headline: "Atheists will be among friends at group’s annual convention." There is an organization called the Freedom From Religion Foundation that will be having a convention in Madison, Wisconsin. Atheists and agnostics from all around the country will be attending.
I’m not going to jump on this foundation for promoting atheism or agnosticism, but we as believers should be aware that they are out there. They are evangelizing – telling their story. We need to be able to defend our faith against their attacks.
But rather, I support the right of this group to meet. Freedom of religion isn’t just limited to my religion, and atheism is not a lack of religion, it’s not freedom from religion, as they might say. Atheism itself is a religion.
However, I will challenge her concerns with religion. I attended a Fall Missions Festival at the Hunt Baptist Church on Saturday night. They had speakers from about a dozen Mission Outreach programs. People who are offering free clothing, and greatly reduced groceries, school supplies, Christmas gifts, etc. All this in the Hunt, NY area – a very rural community. And as I look around this very rural community, and I see what the church is doing to help others, there is a noticeable lack of anybody else doing anything to help others.
Where is the Freedom From Religion group when they see people in need? What are they doing to feed and clothe their neighbors who are struggling? Are they helping with school supplies? One group we saw was soliciting donations of computers to be used in Africa in an initiative to greatly improve education in that country. What is the Freedom From Religion group doing to improve education in Africa?
While they believe that religion is an “evil”, it seems to me the charity of the church is helping where no one else is. Right here in Almond, it’s the church that runs the local food pantry (In fact, all but one food pantry in a 6 county area is located in a church or ministry building). It’s the church that has the only homeless shelter in our community in the form of our Samaritan’s Loft. It’s the church that’s helping people put food on their tables in the form of our Angel Food Ministry. It’s the church that is clothing the poor and feeding the hungry with free meals on Fridays through the Wellspring Ministries in Angelica. It’s the church that helps with an organization in Hornell called Faith in Action, reaching out and helping seniors with a very wide range of things – from transportation to medical appointments to home maintenance tasks – all free of charge to the recipient.
The church scored very high marks in national tragedy, as well. A few years ago now, when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the Gulf coast, the church responded in incredible ways. And I saw a report that of the main groups that responded, as far as the satisfaction levels of those who were being helped, the Church was way out in front. Only about half of the people served were satisfied with what FEMA could do. The Red Cross had a huge response, but the satisfaction of what they could do was only 65-70% level. The church was over 90% - over 90% of the people helped were satisfied with what was done for them. And these were people that came because they wanted to, because they saw a need, and their love for their fellow man prompted them respond.
So I don’t know what a nation without God would look like, but I wouldn’t want to live there. We need each other, we need the church. The comfort and compassion that the church gives is desperately needed. And we won’t see that kind of comfort and compassion from the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
I’m not going to jump on this foundation for promoting atheism or agnosticism, but we as believers should be aware that they are out there. They are evangelizing – telling their story. We need to be able to defend our faith against their attacks.
But rather, I support the right of this group to meet. Freedom of religion isn’t just limited to my religion, and atheism is not a lack of religion, it’s not freedom from religion, as they might say. Atheism itself is a religion.
However, I will challenge her concerns with religion. I attended a Fall Missions Festival at the Hunt Baptist Church on Saturday night. They had speakers from about a dozen Mission Outreach programs. People who are offering free clothing, and greatly reduced groceries, school supplies, Christmas gifts, etc. All this in the Hunt, NY area – a very rural community. And as I look around this very rural community, and I see what the church is doing to help others, there is a noticeable lack of anybody else doing anything to help others.
Where is the Freedom From Religion group when they see people in need? What are they doing to feed and clothe their neighbors who are struggling? Are they helping with school supplies? One group we saw was soliciting donations of computers to be used in Africa in an initiative to greatly improve education in that country. What is the Freedom From Religion group doing to improve education in Africa?
While they believe that religion is an “evil”, it seems to me the charity of the church is helping where no one else is. Right here in Almond, it’s the church that runs the local food pantry (In fact, all but one food pantry in a 6 county area is located in a church or ministry building). It’s the church that has the only homeless shelter in our community in the form of our Samaritan’s Loft. It’s the church that’s helping people put food on their tables in the form of our Angel Food Ministry. It’s the church that is clothing the poor and feeding the hungry with free meals on Fridays through the Wellspring Ministries in Angelica. It’s the church that helps with an organization in Hornell called Faith in Action, reaching out and helping seniors with a very wide range of things – from transportation to medical appointments to home maintenance tasks – all free of charge to the recipient.
The church scored very high marks in national tragedy, as well. A few years ago now, when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the Gulf coast, the church responded in incredible ways. And I saw a report that of the main groups that responded, as far as the satisfaction levels of those who were being helped, the Church was way out in front. Only about half of the people served were satisfied with what FEMA could do. The Red Cross had a huge response, but the satisfaction of what they could do was only 65-70% level. The church was over 90% - over 90% of the people helped were satisfied with what was done for them. And these were people that came because they wanted to, because they saw a need, and their love for their fellow man prompted them respond.
So I don’t know what a nation without God would look like, but I wouldn’t want to live there. We need each other, we need the church. The comfort and compassion that the church gives is desperately needed. And we won’t see that kind of comfort and compassion from the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
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