A Catholic, a Baptist, and a Secular Humanist Walk Into a Soup Kitchen … - Katherine Stewart - the Atlantic
It turns out that Klein was wrong on the facts. There were plenty of humanist groups involved in relief efforts - clearing wreckage, raising aid for local relief organizations, donating money to survivors, and supporting food banks. As Dale McGowan pointed out in The Washington Post on June 27, perhaps the greatest irony is that in the very same sentence that Klein took a potshot at humanists, he extolled Team Rubicon, a veterans organization that happened to be the primary beneficiary of a post-superstorm Sandy fund drive organized by the secular charity, Foundation Beyond Belief.
It’s also worth pointing out the obvious: many secular humanists, atheists, and freethinkers contributed to disaster-relief efforts even if they did not do so while wearing hats and T-shirts that advertised their belief system. Had Klein made the same point about any other group—such as, “funny how you don’t see any organized groups of Hindus, Korean-Americans, or gay activists giving out hot meals”—his aside would have been so obviously offensive that it would never have made it past his editor.
Klein’s waffling response when called out by peeved secularists didn’t help too much. He took the criticism of his reporting as an opportunity to express some personal opinions on religious questions.
Now, it may be true, as Klein notes in his rejoinder, that “organized” secular groups are sparser on the ground than organized religious groups. But that may have more to do with resources than with beliefs. Currently, groups that organize themselves around a professed belief in the supernatural are entitled to a slew of benefits and preferences to which groups that organize themselves around nonbelief are not entitled. Unlike secular nonprofits, for example, houses of worship are assumed to be tax-exempt as soon as they form.