How does one find a good expression of faith? One can usually cite the untold thousands of good and charitable works performed by groups affiliated with various and sundry religious groups. By extension, you can usually laud those individuals who donate of their time and wealth to support such groups. But, are any of those expressions that I have mentioned really good?
"What the hell are you talking about?" ... you may ask yourself. How can a charitable act be a bad thing? Well, I know this may seem odd, but it seems to me that those acts of charity don't really qualify as charity because of what motivates that charity. Those that give charitably as an act of faith would appear to doing a good thing. They provide the benefit of their expertise, their wealth, or even simply of their time to aid those who's needs for said benefits is both great and immediate. But I just don't think it is charity.
Charity, at least in my mind, is something that you do with no expectation or reward or recompense. So, is it just me or does this not hold true for faith based charities? Depending on the manner and variety of your faith, charity at the least fulfills a requirement of the deity of that faith or earns a reward from said deity. The flip side of the argument would seem to be that those in receipt of charity would logically be those in need of charity. In many circumstances the recipients of charity are asked to either participate in some religious expression or are encouraged to join in the community that embraces said faith. Now, don't get me wrong, but if you expect something beyond gratitude from the recipient of charity it seems less like charity and more like employment.
Another thing that bothers me is that these churches are considered charities themselves. These charities rely on the donations of their adherents in order to propagate their message. Again, it seems to me that anyone who pays to propagate their message are not doing charitable works, it seems to me they are advertising a product. If you were to look at it from an outsider's perspective, you would wonder why the churches don't pay taxes and the psychics do.
There is an even more worrying and questionable practice that seems to be taken to the Nth degree in certain christian sects ... the practice of prosperity theology. This dubious espression of faith implies that the rewards for giving to support your faith are not rewarded in the afterlife, rather they are provided in the earthly realm we currently occupy. Various christian preachers like Jerry Falwell, Oral Roberts, Pat Robertson have used this tactic to encourage their followers to support their church's activities. One preacher, Robert Tilton, famously employed this tactic to raise millions of dollars to support his ministry before coming to the interested notice of several US Attorney's General. Even the most unbiased viewing of the peccadillos of the various and sundry abuses of the charitable nature of the followers of these individual ministries. Not wanting this to sound like an editorial, but the charity of this escapes me.
There are charities out there that work in a religious vein that seem to have been able to be charities in the proper sense of the word, I am thinking specifically of the Red Cross and Red Crescent societies. Both groups work within the respective frameworks of their faith, but offer their assistance regardless of the recipient's faith.
To the atheist, charity is simply charity. The atheist does not seek God's approval or endorsement, nor do they require an expression of faith or gratitude to their deity. To the atheist the reward of charity is simple, and primal ... the reward is knowing that you have helped. Where the faithful seek meaning through expressions of their faith, the atheist find meaning in the simple knowledge that their effort, whether large or small, eased someone's distress. Why does this hold more truth than that faith offers? Because the atheist understands that we are social animals, and this social instinct, more highly evolved than in our primate cousins, is not an imperative imposed on us by a god. It is what and where our evolution as a species brought us to be. Charity is the best expression of ourselves that, if nurtured and cared for properly, will grow to offset the worst, most venial parts of our collective psyche.
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