Charity

Just recently a believer mentioned that religious charities are dedicated to helping the poor and he challenged me to name any atheist charity that provided a similar service. When I was unable to do so, he felt that he had gained the high moral ground and gently implied that religious people were naturally helpful, while atheists were more likely to be selfish and uncaring.

Since then I've done some checking and, as far as I can tell, all of the following could be described as "secular" charities with no religious agenda: Red Cross, Oxfam, UNICEF, Save The Children, Doctors Without Borders, and The Gates Foundation. It might be a handy list to have if you should be asked a similar question.

During the time spent looking for those names, I made one other interesting discovery as well...

Just how much church money goes into charity work? I've always assumed it wouldn't be much because most charities are funded by the Government, but I was extrememly surprised when I visited this site maintained by the St Vincent De Paul Society in Australia.
http://www.vinnies.org.au/content.cfm?table=content_listitems&p...

On the "funding" page we are told that money is raised through the sale of donated goods, cash donations from the public, and cash grants from the Government - but the real surprise came at the bottom of the page where it is clearly stated: "The Society does not receive any direct funding from the Catholic Church."