EARTHWARD
Frequently Asked Questions
Turn your vision earthward –
'Tis we must lend a hand.
Samuel P. Putnam
| Q: | What is EARTHWARD? |
| A: | We are an atheist/agnostic run non-profit charity created to provide humanitarian relief to victims of religiously motivated violence. We are incorporated as a non-profit organization in the state of Nevada in the USA, but we are an international organization. |
| Q: | Why do you call yourselves EARTHWARD? |
| A: | EARTHWARD stands for Earth's Atheist Resistance To Holy Wars And Religious Devastation. |
| Q: | Do you only help atheists? |
| A: | No. We do not discriminate against victims based on religious belief, nonbelief, or affiliation (nor on the basis of sex, age, race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation). |
| Q: | Do officers draw salaries? |
| A: | No. We are entirely run by atheist/agnostic volunteers. |
| Q: | Why are you run only by atheists/agnostics? |
| A: | There are many in the Atheist/Agnostic community, who would like to contribute to such a cause, but are reluctant to donate to religious organizations, for fear that their gift would be diverted in part or whole to support proselytization of victims, and other religious activities. They find great comfort in knowing that their EARTHWARD donation will not be used in ways that undermine their ethics. |
| Q: | Do you proselytize to victims? |
| A: | Absolutely not. We consider the practice to be unethical and exploitive and we are concerned about the effects of similar actions practiced by some religious charities. |
| Q: | How do you determine whether or not an act of violence is religiously motivated? |
| A: | If the perpetrators, themselves, justify their actions in religious terms, we consider it a clear case of religiously motivated violence. The situation is less clear if no specific religious justification is claimed for the act(s) in question, but the perpetrators have a history religious atrocities. We are not particularly disturbed, however, by the possibility that we might "accidentally" help someone who is a victim of violence that is not primarily motivated by religion. |
| Q: | But this is such a big problem! Aren't your goals too ambitious? |
| A: | As they say, a journey of 1,000 miles begins with one step. We will start with small projects, focusing on helping individuals. At first, we may have to simply send money to other organizations who are local to the problem. As we grow in numbers of people and funding, so will our efforts. |
| Q: | What have you done so far? |
| A: | Please see our Projects page (which will be online soon) for that answer. |
| Q: | How do I donate? |
| A: | Please see our Get Involved page for that answer. |
| Q: | How do I join? |
| A: | Please see our Get Involved page for that answer. |