Comments on: They Need Volunteers… but Atheists Need Not Apply

By: A disciple of Christ.

A disciple of Christ. — Sat, 07 May 2011 00:57:50 +0000

I don’t agree with that church, on turning away volunteers.

But why don’t you all start your own food banks, instead of spending your time complaining about how others run theirs? No matter how wrong their methods may be.

Complaining feeds no one.

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 20:03:10 +0000

What a surprise.
The same people who drone on about how atheists have “no morality” prove once again how little the care about actual charity and goodwill. And WE’RE the immoral ones.

By: BD

BD — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 21:44:57 +0000

@Kelley: I’m atheist, and I’m not looking for a handout… you might want to check your statistical sample size…

BTW, did you personally ask the thieves if they were atheist or Xtian? You just assumed that if they were morally deformed enough to steal from a food pantry they were not only not churchpeople or Xtian but were atheist? Hhmmmmm…

By: Kelly Martin

Kelly Martin — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 05:37:16 +0000

I volunteer at two food pantries and I think they are not looking for atheists because of the theft problems at food pantries by volunteers. The church has always been responsible for taking care of the poor but lately it is not always possible to find Christians to do it. We have had theft problems from volunteers that asked to become volunteers for reasons other than charity. Instead of going to get food once a month they can now go more often to volunteer and take food home with them. I have seen it and it isn’t just for them. They tell their friends to come in on the days they are volunteering and hook their friends up with hundreds of dollars worth of free meat and food.

This comes out of the donations that hardworking people and corporations donate to help the poor. It isn’t meant to be abused by a few bad apples.

Now maybe atheists have morals but I have not met one that wasn’t looking for a handout.

For me I volunteer out of true charity. True charity is something given freely of the heart with no thoughts of recompense or recognition. The minute I expect to get paid or free food etc. It is not charity.

If you have never volunteered in a pantry you may not realize how hard it is. You don’t stop for your 2 hour shift until the last person is served.

Food pantries are run by volunteers interested in doing charity work.

By: Stephen Fraser

Stephen Fraser — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 18:45:37 +0000

This just means Christians can be as idiotic as anyone else…

By: Mike Mellor

Mike Mellor — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 16:18:29 +0000

Don’t feel bad about it. Bensemann probably wouldn’t take gays or blacks either. Never mind Jews Muslims Buddhists Hindus (don’t know why I’m capitalising those names, years of brainwashing I guess) body piercing tattoos the list goes on–

By: Richard Wade

Richard Wade — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 05:34:59 +0000

Dani,
No offense taken, but is your comment just your interpretation of the news story that we have all read, or do you actually have specific inside information about Bensemann’s intentions, and which priority is on top for him, increasing membership or feeding people?

I wouldn’t want to be unfairly jumping to conclusions about him, but one more opinion from afar is of no help in getting at the truth. So is this actual knowledge of yours?

The bottom line from the story seems to be that people were left hungry when there was help available. One way or another, I hope that Christians and atheists in the Christchurch area and around the world can work together to get the job done.

Edit: Reading your comment again, I think you were saying that you think that Bensemann was not specifically excluding atheists as unsuitable for delivering the food; he was just getting his two priorities, promoting membership and feeding the hungry, in an order that seems upside down to most folks. I think that you could be right.

To be clear, I’m not offended by the possibility of him excluding atheists per se, I’m offended by his upside down priorities. We must help people by whatever means presents itself.

By: Dani

Dani — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 04:00:27 +0000

Uhm well I’m sorry to say that this message has been severely misunderstood and misinterpreted… Not being a member of a church doesn’t equal being an atheist. I’ve been going to tons of different churches since becoming Christian and never once have I been an actual member. That’s because usually churches will require that you be baptized or go through some sort of process before you are an “official” member.
What the manager of this project was trying to do was get the people who frequent a church who are not members to officially join. Doesn’t mean it’s right, but he certainly wasn’t excluding people because of their beliefs.

This is one of the biggest problems I have with atheists. I know in this case it was a misunderstanding, but too often they will jump to conclusions or make mindless accusations without listening to the other side of things.

With that said, I hope I didn’t offend anyone here, and if I did, I’m sorry because I really just felt like this needed to be known. Thanks :]

By: Norma

Norma — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:23:12 +0000

Nothing prevents atheists from starting their own food pantries and doing “good works.” I don’t know how it works in NZ but in the USA most food pantries are about 90% funded by government grants and the original intention (after WWII) was to keep farmers afloat. The churches (usually) volunteer do the management, buying and distribution. There are rules about evangelizing because it’s a Faustian arrangement. It certainly isn’t what God instructed us to do. It seems a small request that the volunteers at least be of the faith doing the distribution. Even so, I’ve seen Muslim students volunteering at ours (the schools all have graduation requirements for “volunteerism” which sort of defeats the concept).

By: Linda Vanier

Linda Vanier — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 00:27:19 +0000

Churches are in it for themselves.