The Atheist Next Door

On a recent flight, my seatmate asked me about my Skeptical Inquirer magazine.  After some discussion it became clear to me that my fellow traveler was not very religious.  When asked, it quickly became clear that we were both Atheists.

Further discussion revealed that my new friend works for Garmeen Bank, one of the worlds best NGOs.   This is an organization that shared the 2006 Nobel Peace prize with its founder Muhammad Yunus.

For those not familiar with the Garmeen Bank and its American offshoot the Garmeen Foundation, it provides microloans or microfinance to the poor in order to improve their lives.  For example, they may loan the equivalent of $40 to a single mother to buy a milk cow.  The mother would pay back the loan and improve her family’s standard of living by selling the milk.  Once the loan is paid back, the money can be used again to help another.  The reuse of money makes the organization incredibly efficient.

To me, it is not at all surprising that a godless Atheist works for charitable organization that helps some of the poorest people in the world.  This is someone who has spent years working in poor countries helping other.  Neither of us have ever been believer, so as some might speculate, it is not the case that my Atheist friend joined the organization as a believer and then became apostate.  Religion was never part of the rationale.

Footnote: If you think it was chance that I was wandering around airports carrying a copy of Skeptical Inquirer, then I have a peaceful wall in Jerusalem that I would be pleased to sell you.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 16th, 2008 at 2:47 am and is filed under Atheism, Atheist. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.