There are times where atheists really get under my skin. This is not one of those times. Instead, this is one of the times where I wonder why some of them are so insistent in hating any and everyone who is not onboard with their dogma. This particular example comes from the United Kingdom where a group of humanists decided that the holiday season was reason enough to become shining examples of how Ebeneezer Scrooge could have turned out. These humanists, using a UK news website as a platform, launched a scurrilous attack on Samaritans Purse, and specifically Operation Christmas Child.
For anyone who does not know, Operation Christmas Child is an outreach of Samaritan’s Purse that provides gifts for young children at Christmastime. They do this by asking for people to pack shoeboxes full of small Christmas gifts, toys, and basic hygiene items. These packed shoeboxes are sent to dozens of third world countries and give to kids who have nothing. As part of this effort, Operation Christmas Child works with local churches and usually puts a special devotional booklet with each shoebox. This is the act of kindness and generosity to which the UK humanists are objecting.
Obviously, the Humanists UK are upset about the Biblical message that Operation Christmas Child presents, but the stated reasons are incredibly revealing. “Most people packing up shoeboxes don’t know they are used for anti-Muslim proselytising. Or that they are backing a pro-Trump, anti-gay message.” That is a direct quote from the article written by the vice-president of Humanists UK. This article appears to stem from a UK professional sports team packing a bunch of shoeboxes that Operation Christmas Child sent to Albania, which is primarily Muslim. If this humanist had bothered to do any research at all, they would have discovered that the shoeboxes also go to primarily Christian countries such as the Philippines, and Hindu countries like India. Operation Christmas Child is not sending a message of opposition to any one religion. Yes, it is, at least in some countries, proselytizing, but there is no direct target on Muslim countries.
Also, this professed reason reeks of abject hypocrisy. Humanists UK chartering document states that “The advancement of Humanism, namely a non-religious ethical life stance the essential elements of which are a commitment to human well-being and a reliance on reason, experience and a naturalistic view of the world;” Obviously the UK humanists are strongly opposed to religions. Now last time I looked, Islam was a religion. So why do the humanists care if two religions try to steal adherents from one another? Or is it that Christianity is their real enemy and they don’t actually care about Islam? It’s simply a club they can hit Christianity with.
This point can be clearly illustrated by the deafening silence that the Humanists UK exhibited when groups of Muslims were revealed to have been running rape gangs targetting vulnerable teenagers in multiple cities across the UK. While there are at least two Wikipedia articles on the subject, and dozens of news articles, I was unable to locate a statement from Humanists UK condemning this religiously permitted pedophilia, including on their own website. If it exists, I’ll happily retract this paragraph. If not, let me get this straight. Christians give toys to children and present them with the truth and they are awful, anti-Muslim people. Muslims rape teenagers and Humanists UK doesn’t care? Obviously, the Muslims are the ones hurting children, but it’s the Christians Humanists UK attack. The intellectual jumping jacks these people have to do to attack Christians must be absolutely physics-defying. I will, however, point out that the UK’s most distinguished atheist, Richard Dawkins, did speak out against the Muslim rape gangs so he, at least, is ideologically consistent.
Since the Humanists UK are so worried about Operation Christmas Child giving Christmas presents to children, perhaps they should do it themselves? If they care so much about children as they claim, maybe they should give of their time and money to give Christmas presents to kids? I don’t know of any humanist organizations doing this. Perhaps they exist but I suspect they don’t. If they did, Humanists UK would probably have directed people to them. Either way, the rank hypocrisy of this article is staggering. Humanists UK has revealed their hand. They are not opposed to religion in general, just Christianity.
In His Image 