Search results for: Dale McGowan

By Ed Brayton, FBB Media Relations Coordinator

Last week, Foundation Beyond Belief launched Pathfinders Project, the precursor to a Humanist Action: Ghana that will work to alleviate pressing problems in communities with few resources around the world. As the media relations coordinator for FBB, I sent out a press release that was mostly ignored. One outlet that did pick up on the story was Glenn Beck’s The Blaze, where Billy Hallowell wrote a mostly fair article about it.

Hallowell has actually covered FBB and the atheist movement quite a bit and has typically done a good job of it. Some of our leaders know and like him, and he seems to return the favor. I give him credit for covering us and the work we do. But I do want to quibble with one bit of framing at the end of his article:

It will be interesting to see if a secular form of proselytizing unfolds on these trips or if the effort in launching the Humanist Action: Ghana has a more existential and internal rooting (i.e. simply showing that atheists are good people too).

This is what we call a false dichotomy because those are not the only two possible reasons we might have for doing what we do. More importantly, it seems to presume that there must be some ulterior motive, a less-than-sincere purpose for engaging in not only this particular project but in all that FBB does. So let me offer up some better reasons why FBB does what it does, starting with the organization’s mission statement:

To demonstrate humanism at its best by supporting efforts to improve this world and this life; to challenge humanists to embody the highest principles of humanism, including mutual care and responsibility.

This is hardly a new idea. Go back to the leading figures of Enlightenment humanism and you will find a good deal of focus on the ideals of compassion, empathy, and service to others. Thomas Paine famously said “my country is the world, and my religion is to do good,” and that our duty is to display “justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures happy.” You will find similar sentiments in both Humanist Manifestos I and II.

To be a humanist is to recognize that there is no solution to our problems other than ourselves. No deity is going to come down and provide us with clean water or sustainable agriculture, or make ignorance and illiteracy disappear, or mediate our conflicts with one another. We are the only ones capable of addressing those problems and, quite frankly, it’s time we got on with it and got it done. That’s why Dale McGowan founded FBB in 2010. When Dale spoke to the Triangle Freethought Society in 2011, this is how his talk was described:

Secular volunteers work to improve the world not despite but because of what we hold true. In the absence of a supernatural protector, we are all we have. That’s the humanistic imperative—empathy and compassion, followed by an urgent sense of responsibility to help those who share my fate but not my fortune. I simply must do what I can.

Hallowell’s concern about secular proselytizing fails to recognize one of FBB’s core values. FBB raises money not only for secular charities but for religious ones as well through our Challenge the Gap grants, as long as they use those funds to do something good rather than to proselytize. That caused some controversy only a few months after the group formed, when it awarded a grant to Quaker Peace and Social Witness. Some in the atheist community were upset about that, but Dale defended it and explained why FBB continues to support selected religious charities in the good work that they do.

So the first reason to do it is to show that it is indeed possible for nontheists to see good work being done in a religious context and to support and encourage it. Far from a contradiction, some of us think that’s humanism at its best…

Not all religious expressions are benign, of course. The more a religious tradition insists on conformity to a received set of ideas, the more harm it does. The more it allows people to challenge ideas and think independently, the more good it does. Religion will always be with us in some form. It’s too hand-in-glove with human aspirations and failings to ever vanish at the touch of argument or example. So I think one of the best ways for humanists to confront the malignant is to support and encourage the benign, the non-dogmatic, the progressive.

So I would argue that concerns about secular proselytizing are misplaced. In one sense, FBB is mirroring Francis of Assisi, who told his followers that they should always be witnesses for Christ and that sometimes they should even use words. Our goal is not to turn the people we help into atheists or humanists, but it is done in the hope that those we help will be moved, and have the ability, to pay it forward and help others to whatever extent they can.

We do not do what we do in order to be told how wonderful we are or to convince people to reject religion or become atheists. We do it because it’s the right thing to do, because no one else is going to do it. And because a world with less starvation and disease, more education, and more concern for human rights, justice, and fairness is a better world for all of us to live in.

There’s a sense in which this is progress. A few weeks ago, Joe Klein and TIME magazine were telling the world that atheists and humanists don’t do anything to help others at all. Hallowell recognizes that we do good and has even helped promote those efforts, for which we thank him. But we hope that in the future he will do that without questioning our motives and goals in the process.

Pathfinders Project is a yearlong international service trip (July 2013–July 2014) sponsored by Foundation Beyond Belief. As they carry out their service work, the Pathfinders send us occasional reports about the projects, the places, and the people they meet along the way. Pathfinders Project Director Conor Robinson shared this inaugural report after the team’s launch in Los Angeles.

As I write to you, I am sitting on a plane to Cambodia. To the right of me are Wendy, Ben, and Michelle. Ahead of us, Bridge of Life School, Angkor Wat, intercultural exchange, challenge, and growth. Behind us, two fantastic weeks of service and training in Los Angeles.

Ben and Wendy arrived on the 16th of July, just in time for a screening of God Loves Uganda at LA’s LGBTQ film festival, Outfest. The film documents the aggressive actions of missionaries from American conservative Christian organizations such as IHOP, the International House of Prayer. Efforts by these organizations were among the factors that led to the drafting of legislation that seeks to criminalize homosexuality in Uganda. This legislation has not passed yet, and likely will not because of international pressure, but the homophobia behind it remains. Fortunately, there are organizations in Uganda that are promoting reason and compassion, organizations like Saint Paul’s Reconciliation and Equality Centre, led by Bishop Christopher Senyonjo, which provides a safe environment, contraception, and basic medical treatment to Ugandans with HIV and AIDS regardless of sexual orientation. The schools where the Pathfinders will be volunteering are also of critical importance in raising the next generation of Ugandan children. Schools such as the Kasese Humanist Primary School and the Mustard Seed Secondary School help children understand that all humans, regardless of race, culture, religion, or sexual orientation, are interdependent and valuable.

The very next night, Wendy, Ben, and I had the opportunity to see another important documentary at the Topanga Film Festival. There we watched Elemental, a documentary that follows the stories of an inventor who makes more efficient machines by observing efficient structures in the natural world, an environmental scientist on a pilgrimage to clean the Ganges, and an activist fighting to preserve the rights of indigenous Canadians living on land being destroyed by tar sands drilling. All in all, the documentary underscored the importance of the clean water work we will be doing in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Over the course of the following two weeks, Ben, Wendy, and I volunteered with the Westside Food Bank and TreePeople. Our work with the Westside Food Bank was a matter of sorting good fruit from bad and separating non-perishable food items by type, so that the items may be distributed to local social service organizations. In our work with TreePeople, we first tended to trees planted at Washington Elementary School to provide shade in the otherwise urban desert of Compton, and then helped to weed invasive species and water native ones as part of a habitat restoration project in the Santa Monica Mountains. 

The three of us also participated in one of Heal the Bay’s beach cleanups, an experience that illustrated the consequences of our consumption habits. When we first arrived at the beach alongside dozens of other volunteers, we didn’t think there would be anything for us to do. The beach appeared pristine. But when we got on our hands and knees and looked closely, we discovered millions of individual Styrofoam beads, all that is left of cups and plates after they make their journey from the gutter to the sea. Above the tideline, we also found fragments of plastic bags trapped under the leaves of the succulents that grow there. No matter how gently we tried to pick them up, they would often disintegrate between our fingers. Not your typical day at the beach.

The volunteering we did with each of the three Los Angeles organizations was simple but meaningful. The advantage of such uncomplicated volunteering tasks is that they allow for conversation. Incidentally, so does Los Angeles traffic. We bonded.

When we weren’t volunteering around Los Angeles, discussing cultural sensitivity, hiking around Topanga State Park, or cursing traffic on Pacific Coast Highway, the 10, or the 405, we were spreading the word about Pathfinders Project on Internet panels and in interviews. I encourage you to check out our “Meet the Pathfinders” panel that was part of FTBConscience, or our interviews on The Pink Atheist and Sgt. Skeptic podcasts. We also chatted with the folks at A-News, but that podcast isn’t up yet.   

Michelle arrived the morning of the 28th, just in time for a round of video interviews with Foundation Beyond Belief’s videographer, The Secular Human, and the Pathfinders Project launch party at Center for Inquiry–West’s Steve Allen Theater. The event featured hilarious and rousing performances by Gary Stockdale and Eric Schwartz, beautiful a cappella singing from Voices of Reason, and a Pathfinders Project panel moderated by our very own Dale McGowan. Major thanks to Bob Ladendorf and Jim Underdown of Center for Inquiry–West for letting us use the space, and to all of the supporters who came to join us in celebration! We will be posting pictures and video soon.

I have to sign off now or face the ire of the flight attendants. But before I do, I’d like you to consider this: On our flight there is a large Korean-American Christian missionary group from Orange County, California. I’ve spoken with the pastor and the pastor’s son about their work and the work of Pathfinders Project. In having such a conversation, the comparison between missionary work and our work cannot be avoided, and it shouldn’t be. Although initially put off by what I told them, ultimately the pastor and his son were impressed and even slightly chagrined about the lack of secular service involved in their itinerary, and the absence of ulterior motive in ours. Perhaps on their next trip they will incorporate more service alongside their proselytizing. Either way, I know they have an altered view of atheists and humanists as a result of our conversation.

We are making progress already, and we haven’t even begun our work in earnest. Please support us in this work by donating to Foundation Beyond Belief or directly to one of the Pathfinders, each of whom is fundraising $10,000 individually. We cannot do it without you.

Less than four years after our founding, Foundation Beyond Belief’s humanist members, supporters, and partners have achieved an incredible milestone: $1 million in charitable giving. Combining donations to our Humanist Giving program, the Humanist Crisis Response program, our Small Grant awardees, and our Leukemia & Lymphona Society Light The Night International team, Foundation Beyond Belief’s humanist community has unlocked the seven-digit achievement.

“What moves me most about reaching this goal is the way it’s been achieved,” said Dale McGowan, FBB’s founder and executive director. “Our goal was to encourage individual humanists to make compassionate giving a greater part of their humanist identity. And though we’ve had some very generous large donors, most of this million-dollar achievement has happened five and ten and twenty dollars at a time—over a thousand individual humanists giving what they can each month to make the world a better place.”

Here’s what a million dollars can do:

• Support gender equality around the globe
• Create access to safe drinking water in developing countries
• Promote peace and protect the most vulnerable victims of war
• Bring humanist education to schoolchildren in Uganda
• Fund blood cancer research and compassionate patient care
• Provide shelter, food, and medicine in response to disasters in East Africa, Haiti, Japan, and the United States
• Protect fragile ecosystems and endangered species

It would take a million words to thank you, our members and supporters, for coming together and proving that the humanist community is compassionate and actively engaged in improving this life for all people. And this is just the first million. Every month, FBB members donate about $18,000 to our carefully screened beneficiaries and programs—and that number is constantly growing. We’re already well on our way to raising a million more in the name of compassionate humanism. We’re glad you’re along for the ride.

Not yet a member? Join now for as little as $5 a month and help us raise the next million! Special thanks to Ensomniak for creating our “Achievement Unlocked” meme.

Foundation Beyond Belief Executive Director Dale McGowan has a response in the Washington Post to the TIME cover story in which Joe Klein claims it’s “funny how you don’t see organized groups of secular humanists giving out hot meals” after a disaster:

The response to the tornadoes from the secular humanist and atheist community was organized and overwhelming. The members and supporters of Foundation Beyond Belief, the secular humanist charitable organization I direct, provided 100,000 meals to victims in the wake of the Oklahoma tornadoes through the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma and raised an additional $22,000 for Operation USA. Perhaps the greatest irony of the Klein piece is that Team Rubicon, the outstanding organization he praises in the same sentence that bashes humanists, was the primary beneficiary of Foundation Beyond Belief’s fund drive after Superstorm Sandy.

In addition to FBB, groups including Atheists Giving Aid, Oklahoma Atheists, the Atheist Community of Tulsa, the Lawton Area Secular Society, the Norman Naturalism Group, FreeOK, and the Oklahoma State Secular Organization lent their considerable energies to the effort in Oklahoma. Some raised funds—nearly a quarter million dollars in 10 days—while others gave untold time and energy on the ground. They organized volunteers, resources, and blood drives, teamed with local businesses to feed relief volunteers, and drove bulk donations around the city to distribution centers. They helped clear the rubble of homes, comforted survivors, took people into their own homes, fed them, and clothed them.

Click here to read the full response.

At 3:01 pm CT on May 20, a massive F-4 tornado decimated the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, OK. Scores of severe injuries and deaths have been reported, and intense work is under way to find and rescue those trapped in the rubble.

The Humanist Crisis Response program of Foundation Beyond Belief has opened a donation drive in response to this disaster. Our staff worked through the night to assess the disaster situation and the relief organizations responding. This morning we have selected Operation USA and the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma to receive our donations. These organizations were chosen for their long records of outstanding work, their high ratings and transparency, and their current direct work in the disaster zone addressing the primary needs of food, shelter, and medical aid.

Donations will be forwarded continuously during the emergency period. FBB retains no portion of donations. All donations to and through Foundation Beyond Belief are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

The staff and board of Foundation Beyond Belief would like to express our deep condolences to the victims of this terrible tragedy and their families and to encourage humanists in this country and around the world to do anything they can to help them put their homes, businesses, and lives back together.

Dale McGowan

Executive Director, Foundation Beyond Belief

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Thanks to everyone who voted in our recent board election! We’ve assembled a fantastic new slate of volunteer directors who will help determine the Foundation’s path moving forward. According to Executive Director Dale McGowan, “The Foundation has been incredibly lucky from the beginning in the board members we’ve had. Our founding board set us on course beautifully for the first three years, and we’re delighted to have Jerry, Mandisa, and Clare joining us for the next three.”

In this month’s FBB board election, you elected the following individuals to the FBB board of directors:

Trish Hotze Cowan. Trish has been honored to serve as a member of the board of Foundation Beyond Belief since its inception. She is active with the Ethical Society of St. Louis (serving as Sunday School Director from 2005 to 2011) and enjoys being involved with the larger Ethical Humanist Movement through the American Ethical Union. She is currently the national advisor for the AEU’s annual teen conference and assists with the national religious education and family conference as chair of the AEU Religious Education Committee. Trish’s greatest joy is raising her two critical thinkers, Porter and Jessie.

Jerry DeWitt. Jerry was a Pentecostal minister in Louisiana for 25 years and recently earned the distinction of being the first graduate of the Clergy Project, supported by Richard Dawkins and Dan Barker. His ministerial background provides a broad understanding of the religious lifestyle and its effects on personal well-being, and he strives to be both a dramatic and entertaining speaker/activist with a heartfelt compassion for those struggling with their negative religious experiences. Jerry has great fondness for the “Challenge the Gap” initiative at the Foundation, and is particularly interested in helping to guide this unique project.

Hemant Mehta. Hemant Mehta is the author of The Young Atheist’s Survival Guide and creator of the popular FriendlyAtheist.com blog. He previously served as chair of the Secular Student Alliance before joining the board of Foundation Beyond Belief, an organization he has been with since its inception. He is also a National Board Certified high school math teacher in suburban Chicago.
 
Zachary Moore, PhD. Zachary Moore was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, but got to Texas as quickly as he could. He is an active leader in the freethought community of Dallas/Fort Worth, serving as the executive director of the Fellowship of Freethought in Dallas, coordinator of the Dallas/Fort Worth Coalition of Reason, and treasurer for Camp Quest Texas.

Clare Wuellner. Clare was formerly with the Center for Inquiry in Austin, where she worked and collaborated with other secular organizations, helped design pro-science educational resources, and garnered the attention of local and national media to help spotlight and criticize the Texas State Board of Education. Trained as an entomologist, Clare is a skilled researcher, writer, and educator. Through her efforts to partner with the Clergy Letter Project in the interest of promoting acceptance of evolutionary theory among religious believers, Clare is passionate about finding common cause to serve the greater good. Clare would like to help the Foundation continue to make a positive impact on the growth and development of our community. 

Mandisa Thomas. Mandisa is the founder and current president of Black Nonbelievers, Inc., an organization based in Atlanta. Their mission is to provide socialization and support for other atheists and nonbelievers primarily in the black community who would otherwise be shunned by family and friends. She has been focused on creating community centers that provide financial assistance, educational resources, and creative outlets from a secular perspective. Her organization also sponsors a recovery group for members who are still overcoming religious beliefs, a resource that is sorely needed in the black community. Mandisa is interested in helping the Foundation identify optimal fundraising approaches, as well as helping expand awareness of the Foundation within the black community.

Kate Miller of Charlie’s Playhouse has played a crucial role in guiding the Foundation’s work from Day One. She has now stepped down after a full term on the board to focus on other projects. We will miss you, Kate!

We are running a year-end fund drive to cover Foundation Beyond Belief’s operating expenses so we can continue to screen and feature the best small, secular-friendly charities, organize our growing volunteers program, and help our member organizations raise money for worthy causes.

In addition to giving, we have a BIG favor to ask. Share our donation page on Facebook and ask people to donate to our year-end drive, and we will enter you in a drawing to win $50 worth of merchandise at our Café Press store. You MUST tag the Foundation Beyond Belief account in the post or a comment on the post in order to be entered.

Have you heard about all the great reasons to help FBB this holiday season?

1. In 2012 alone, we raised more than $500,000 for charities and disaster relief around the world.

2. We don’t keep ANY of the donations designated to our featured charities, so we need to raise the funds separately to run our charitable giving program, the Volunteers Beyond Belief network, and our Humanist Crisis Response program.

3. We expanded the Volunteers program to 23 teams who regularly put their humanism to work in their local communities by volunteering their time, blood, and skills.

You can help by contributing a one-time donation, becoming a member, or giving a gift membership.

4. Your donation will help us increase our membership, launch FBB Canada and FBB Australia, and begin a Humanist Action: Ghana to send humanists on service trips to developing countries.

5. For every $10 you contribute, you will receive an entry in a drawing for one of three signed, personalized copies of Dale McGowan’s latest book Voices of Unbelief, a hardcover anthology of atheist and agnostic documents that retails for $100.

Want to give more than $10? How about $500 to celebrate the $500,000 we raised this year? Other possibilities include $124.50 for the number of members we have (1,245), $28.50 for the number of volunteers in VBB (2,850), $75 for the nearly $750,000 we’ve raised for charities to date, or $100, which is the percentage of your contributions to the featured beneficiaries that goes directly to those charities.

Thanks for your support!

Click here to give a donation to Foundation Beyond Belief through our 2012 year-end fundraiser.

When you send a donation to a charity through Foundation Beyond Belief, 100% of that donation goes directly to a worthy organization that’s been thoroughly vetted by our charity researchers. That means we here at FBB don’t keep a cent from any of the contributions you give to charities through our Humanist Giving monthly donation program, to our disaster-relief Humanist Crisis Response program, and our international Light the Night team benefiting the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

But we do need to keep the lights on somehow. In order to run our charitable giving and volunteer programs, we rely on your generosity. And aside from that shot of serotonin you’ll get when you make a donation, anyone who donates $10 or more to our year-end fundraiser, OR becomes a member at any level by the end of the year, will be entered into a drawing for one of three signed copies of Dale McGowan’s latest book, Voices of Unbelief, a hardcover anthology of atheist and agnostic documents that retails for $100. You’ll be entered for every $10 you donate, or for every $5 in monthly donations you commit to.

And for even more great reading material, head over to Emily Has Books, where blogger (and former FBB intern) Bridget Gaudette is giving away magazines and signed books to people who give to our fundraising drive.

Don’t forget that you can also support FBB’s programs when you shop at Amazon—when you use this link to make purchases at Amazon, FBB earns a small commission.

During the last year, we raised money for 20 great charities, gave small grants to support two important projects, provided funds for groups working in devastated communities during the Colorado wildfires and in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, and launched our Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Light the Night team. Next year, we hope to double our membership, launch affiliates in Canada and Australia, and begin building a Humanist Action: Ghana working in several developing countries.

We hope you think our vision of compassionate humanism in action is worth supporting. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation.

On September 15, Women of Reason–Dallas will be hosting the Feminine Faces of Freethought (F³) Conference, and Noelle George will be the headlining speaker! This exciting event features many outstanding presenters and various panels, including a diversity panel, a parenting panel (on which Noelle will also be appearing), and a panel titled “What Atheist Women Really Want.” Childcare is free, but you must register for it in advance.

Noelle took up the helm as operations manager for the Foundation earlier this year, managing a team of eight FBB volunteer staff and interns. In her previous role as Volunteers Beyond Belief (VBB) program coordinator, she grew the program from eight original teams to teams in 18 US cities that have held more than 100 volunteer events in their local communities in the past year. Noelle has also managed the Foundation’s intern program since last year. Executive Director Dale McGowan says “Noelle George is among the most skilled and forward-looking leaders of the freethought movement. In the year since I began to work closely with her, I have been continually impressed with her intelligence, her exceptional skills, and her vision.”

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Registration is open for the Freethought Film Festival Foundation’s “Poker in the Church” freethought celebrity charity event. The event takes place Wednesday, August 1, 2012, at The Church, a nightclub in downtown Denver’s SoCo district. Celebrities of the freethought movement, including Ed Brayton, JT Eberhard, Margaret Downey, Sean Faircloth, and our very own Dale McGowan, will be playing to benefit Foundation Beyond Belief. Click to register as a spectator or player. 

Learn more about this event and the Freethought Film Festival at the FFFF website.