When people discuss compassion and charity online it's often said that there are no atheist charities. This stems from a common misconception that atheists are not giving and care nothing for their fellow man. The truth is that nonbelievers have just as much empathy as anyone else. As many of us see it, there's no one to help our fellow human beings except ourselves.

In fact, there are many atheist charities and charities founded by nontheists. Some of them avoid using the word atheist to avoid having the stigma attached to it affecting the operation of their charity. Others cautiously use a related term, humanist, in the charity's name. Fortunately, there has been more dialogue going on and it has become somewhat less acceptable to bash anything and everything associated with atheism so a few brave groups have used the word in the names of their charities.

If you'd like to learn more about some of these organizations, read on.

image created by the Out Campaign