Having faith in humanity drives charity

FLO MARTIN

One of my closest family members and I sit on opposite sides of the

“great political divide” -- she, a staunch conservative Christian and

I, a staunch liberal Christian.

The two of us love to “spar” about topics related to political and

religious issues. Our topic for the past two days is one of my

favorites: charitable giving. Who shows charity these days?

Christians? Non-Christians? Believers? Nonbelievers? Agnostics?

Atheists? Who regularly extends a helping hand?

Two weeks ago, a fellow working as a Neighbor for Neighbors

volunteer here in Costa Mesa mentioned that most of the volunteers

who participate in this annual event, are affiliated with either a

service organization, such as the Lions’ Club, or with a local

church. I found out online that the UC Irvine chapter of the Circle

K-International participated as a cleanup crew at Canyon Park. All

eight of the volunteers working on the property in my neighborhood

belonged to a Christian church.

My sparring partner -- and believe me, she’s really good at it --

first stated that we never hear of atheist groups helping to feed the

poor in Africa. I countered that secular groups are very visible

worldwide in their work for the poor and needy. I also suggested that

secular groups are not necessarily atheist. Medecins Sans Frontieres,

which translates to Doctors Without Borders, is secular, right? So is

the International Red Cross, right? So is Amnesty International,

right? So are the Lions’ and the Kiwanis Clubs, right?

The Google search engine found a variety of websites in support of

secular involvement in charitable work. I sent a whole slew of these

Web addresses to her.

For example, the Taking It Global organization listed more than 20

categories of charitable work, such as providing access and rights to

education, fighting child labor, homelessness, hunger and famine,

pollution, poverty, fighting for women’s rights and Youth Rights. The

site also offered links to charitable organizations according to

region -- Africa, Asia, Middle East, Europe, the Americas, and

Oceania. Africa alone offered 1,168 links.

A comment heard last week during the documentary, “The Jesus

Factor,” (Public Broadcast System’s “Frontline”) disturbed me and, lo

and behold, the comment was online:

“At issue, the Compassion Capital Fund, which is designed to help

organizations successfully apply for federal grants. Of the $100

million that the Department of Health and Human Services has given to

the agency, ‘no charities run by Jewish, Muslim or other

non-Christian faiths’ have received money from the fund,” Clarence

Page wrote in the Chicago Tribune, May 2.

She countered with a website of her choosing, which quotes George

Barna. He describes the differences between the churched and the

unchurched :

“[The nonchurched] see themselves as outsiders and often take

refuge in that status,” Barna wrote on WorldNetDaily on May 6.

“Evidence of this arms-length approach to life, beyond their refusal

to participate in church life, includes lower levels of voter

registration, less money donated to nonprofit organizations, fewer

nonprofits supported, lower levels of media usage, and less

engagement in community service activities.”

Her final comment on the issue allowed for some flexibility. OK,

she wrote, “the majority” of charitable organizations are

faith-based. She had backed away from the initial “never” but still

felt that she had come out on top. In light of what the Neighbor for

Neighbors told me two weeks ago, “majority” is OK by me.

Which brings me to my last biggie. Several years ago, my pastor

announced to his church family that Orange County ranked fourth from

the bottom of all counties in the country (yikes) in percentage of

personal income given to charities. How very sad. Last year he

commented, “I’ve got good news. This year Orange County ranks dead

last.” (double yikes)

We’re living in gorgeous homes (the majority of us anyway); we

drive fancy-schmancy cars; we rock and roll in our boats, or should I

say, yachts; and we vacation in the far corners of the world. How

come we don’t much lift a finger to help the needy or feed the hungry

or support the poor.

We clench fists around our stuff. We zip wallets up real tight.

Thank God that my neighbors and my family know -- there is great joy

in giving and even greater joy in serving.

* FLO MARTIN is a Costa Mesa resident and retired high school

teacher who lectures part-time at Cal State Fullerton in the Foreign

Language Education program and supervises student teachers in their

classrooms.