Search results for: Secular Week of Action

Etan Blass

Last April, as America’s National Day of Prayer approached, many of the millions of Americans who do not pray wondered where they would fit in. Then one day, in a post called “Don’t Just Pray – Choose to ACT!!” American Humanist Rabbi Adam Chalom argued that the humanist alternative to prayer is action, and that we should schedule a day in our communities when we all take action in some way to improve the lives of others.

This message really struck me. So often, when we hear that a family member is sick, or that a neighbor lost his job, or that innocent children are dying of malnutrition in Africa, our instinctive first response is: “I will pray for them.” But here Adam was arguing that, if we truly care and truly want to help those in need, “I will pray for you” cannot be our first response. Our first instinct has to be to do something. Our first response has to be to take action.

I believe this view is one that essentially all Americans, religious and secular alike, intuitively hold. If my neighbor’s house is on fire, even if I believe in the power of prayer, my first response will not be to ask God for assistance.  I’m going to call the fire department and do all I possibly can to help my neighbors to safety, and then, only once I have done all I can in my power to take action, if I am the praying type, only then will I ask God to take it from there. And so action is non-denominational. The devoutly religious and avowed atheists alike agree not only that action is paramount but that it precedes any other response.  

For this reason, the idea of preceding the National Day of Prayer with a National Day of Action, with its ability to motivate and unite Americans from all parts of the faith continuum, really resonated with me. And so eventually I got up the courage to e-mail Adam and say, “Let’s really do this! Let’s make this as big as it should be!”

Once Adam and I began discussing when to hold the Day of Action, we realized it would be hard to find one day when everyone would be available to take action. And so at some point Adam suggested an even better idea: “How about we do a Week of Action?”  We’re hoping that having one week every year when we all make sure to take action in some way to improve the world can bear substantial fruit.

The real “big break” for the National Week of Action was when I contacted Foundation Beyond Belief. In order to take this “little idea that could” and ensure that it would become the big idea that really made a difference, involving FBB, with its Beyond Belief Network of volunteers, was just what we would need to take this initiative to the next level. FBB has been at the forefront of humanist-led charity and volunteering for several years, and I’m so grateful Brittany Shoots-Reinhard and her colleagues at FBB have taken the lead role and are working so hard to ensure the success of this event, so that we end up with as much positive action as possible.

Please join us in choosing to act sometime between April 24 and April 31, 2014, by taking a need in our communities, our country, or our planet and finding some way, large or small, to address it.

Looking for ideas of ways to take action? Check out our Week of Action website for ideas and events. You can also register an event, or share your plans for taking action on Facebook or Twitter.

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Thanks to everyone who has signed up and affiliated with our Light the Night walk team so far. We’ve now concluded our promotional Registration Week, but we’re still signing up new teams and walkers, so if you have yet to affiliate, please consider doing so!

Registration Week was very successful. Between July 7 and 14, we added 237 new walkers. We now have more than 670 walkers signed up, and have raised nearly $30,000—$60,000 after it is matched by the Stiefel family! Not quite enough to get Hemant Mehta and PZ Myers tattooed, or Todd Stiefel a mohawk, but as we approach the dates for this year’s walks we’ll keep encouraging kindhearted freethinkers to join up with challenges and incentives. And who knows—maybe the bloggers will cut their hair and get inked anyway!   

A big congratulations to Kim Ellington of the Triangle Freethought Society for winning the Kindle Fire in the raffle drawing, and to Mike Mei of the Chicago Area Secular Student Alliance for winning the American Express gift card for signing up the most new members! The Fellowship of Freethought and CFI Indiana also both had impressive registration numbers over the course of the week. 

Remember: You can still join a team in one of 60 current cities, start your own team, or donate. For more information, check out our LLS page or email Brittany.

The ongoing fight against cancer calls for the collaboration of every member of the human community. To do our part, Foundation Beyond Belief is a proud “Special Friend” team partner with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) for the Light the Night (LTN) walks. FBB will serve as a rallying point for members of the freethought community interested in forming teams and participating in this massive project to support afflicted individuals. This year, our honored hero is atheist writer and journalist Christopher Hitchens, who was tragically lost to complications from esophageal cancer last December.

Beginning July 7 with an announcement at the 2012 Secular Student Alliance Conference, we will be initiating LTN Registration Week. From July 7 through July 14, we will be doing a series of promotions to encourage new membership with the LTN affiliates. We won’t make our goal of raising $1,000,000 unless we get a lot more walkers; we need more people to join our teams! If everyone rallies together, we can do this.

With 80 affiliated teams, toward our goal of 100, we have the most teams of any active LLS partner. Now, we’re beginning the process of encouraging new members to join their local teams: We are issuing a challenge to you to get 5,000 new people to join teams during this week. Please join a team (you can do so through our team website), and if you are already on a team, please ask your friends, family, and members of your local freethought groups to join your team!

An anonymous donor will give $1 to LLS for every new walker registered during Registration Week.  Furthermore, if we meet our goal of 5,000 new walkers, LLS will receive $10,000, thanks to matching by the Stiefel family!  

In addition, every person who is signed up for a team by July 14 will have their name put in for a drawing to win a Kindle Fire. This includes people who have already registered for a team prior to Registration Week.  Additionally, the team captain who gets the most number of new members signed up to their team during Registration Week will receive a $50 American Express gift card!

To join an existing team, or register a new one if you can’t find a local chapter, visit our Registration Guide. Together, by putting our humanist values in action, we can make a difference in lives marred by cancer.