3 Ways Atheists and Latter-day Saints Can Work Together
Atheist Solidarity Day falls on June 21st (June solstice). The atheist holiday and awareness campaign seeks to promote unity among non-religious people and provide support for those who live in fear of exposing their disbelief in God.
With such a rift between ideologies, could atheists and Mormons ever work together?
At first glance, the chasm seems monumental. But several of atheism’s tenets actually correspond with core values of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Working together as a community, while respecting each others’ differences and similarities, can make a huge global difference.
1-Increasing Humanity’s Interdependence
“To develop and propagate a social philosophy in which humankind is central and must itself be the source of strength, progress, and ideals for the well-being and happiness of humanity” (American Atheists, “Aims and Principles”).
While Latter-day Saints believe in a Supreme Being rather than humankind alone as central, we do support similar values of progress, and ideals for humanity’s well-being and happiness.
President Dieter F. Ucthdorf related how his refugee family worked hard to create economic opportunities,
“It wasn’t easy, but the work kept us from dwelling too much on the difficulties of our circumstances. Although our situation didn’t change overnight, it did change. That’s the thing about work. If we simply keep at it—steady and constant—things certainly will improve.”
People in economically challenged countries do not have the work opportunities citizens of more developed nations do. One opportunity to raise their standard of living is through micro-finance.
I first learned about micro-finance (making a small loan to enable a person to increase his/her economic standing) from a 2003 article in BYU Magazine. I’ve since participated in micro-economic endeavors. My favorite is kiva.com. Kiva lets people lend as little as $25 to applicants in 75 countries. Combining multiple $25 contributions enables applicants to buy products for stores, acquire animals for resources, or pay tuition for educational pursuits. The applicant then repays the loan over a specified time period.
I joined the Kiva Mormons team (so my loans are counted as a part of that team.) Every time I contributed to a loan, I noticed someone from the atheist team had also contributed to the same loan. Together, we both make the applicant’s loan possible. The atheist team is the all time greatest contributing team to Kiva loans.
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Atheists, Agnostics, Skeptics, Freethinkers,…
29,274 members have lent $15,764,325 in 540,426 loansEarth Category: Common Interest Team since: Aug, 2008We loan because: We care about the suffering of human beings.
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Kiva Mormons
1,541 members have lent $1,762,700 in 61,587 loansWorldwide Category: Religious Congregations Team since: Aug, 2008We loan because: “A man filled with the love of God is not content with blessing his family alone, but ranges through the whole world, anxious to bless the whole human race.” ~ Joseph Smith
2-Charity and Compassion
“To encourage the development and public acceptance of a humane ethical system stressing the mutual sympathy, understanding, and interdependence of all people and the corresponding responsibility of each individual in relation to society” (American Atheists, “Aims and Principles”).
Brigham Young: I will here say to the Latter-day Saints, if you will feed the poor with a willing heart and ready hand neither you nor your children will ever be found begging bread … that the hearts of the widow and the orphan may be made glad … Relieve the wants of every individual in need in your neighborhoods” (Discourses of Brigham Young, pages 217-218).
Bonnie Parkin: “I invite you to not only love each other more but love each other better” (“Choosing Charity: That Good Part,” November 2003).
After a horrific tornado demolished Moore, Oklahoma, a news story caught my attention. CNN’s Wolf Blitzer interviewed Rebecca Vitsmun who mentioned she was an atheist. The atheist community came together and within a few days raised $125,766 (far surpassing the initial $50,000 goal) to help Rebecca and her family rebuild.
The Church of Jesus Christ strives to alleviate need around the world, as well. The Church’s varied humanitarian projects aid countless people. “Church humanitarian work primarily helps those in need who are not members of the Church. There are many people in virtually any community in the world who struggle to meet their basic needs. The Church seeks to help as many as possible.”
3-Religious Freedom
“To advocate, labor for, and promote in all lawful ways the complete and absolute separation of state and church” (American Atheists, “Aims and Principles”).
“We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may” (Articles of Faith 1:11).
Religious freedom protects the citizen’s rights to act according to conscience based on values of belief or non-belief. Religious freedom protects the rights of the atheist as well as the Christian.
In a recent letter to United States Air Force General Mike Welsh, American Atheists president David Silverman maintained his First Amendment position,
“It is the duty of every airman to defend the Constitution of the United States, including the First Amendment’s protection of religious belief or nonbelief. The proposed changes … would undermine the freedom of religion for minority believers and non-believers, a foundation of the promise of our nation.”
In an interview regarding his speech to the Chapman University School of Law, Elder Dallin H. Oaks reaffirmed,
“We need both religion for those who are religious and morality for those who aren’t. We need both influences in our society, but one can’t say to the other, ‘I have no need of thee.’ … What unites us in religion is far more important than what divides us in the capacity to speak up for religious freedom.”
Many people with different belief systems make profound differences in the global community. Working together to help all of God’s children increases effectiveness. As Latter-day Saints, we “believe in being…benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men…. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things” (Articles of Faith 1:13).
