The O Project

The O Project was conceived by Hamish MacPherson in 2005. Its mission is twofold:

To champion the contributions that humanists and other non believers make to wider society in the fields of social justice, equality and human rights.
To promote good relations and cooperation between believers and non believers.

This isn’t about trying to convert people to atheism; rather, the project aims to increase good relations and respect between religious and non-religious people.

There are atheists who think religious thinking warrants no respect whatsoever. In many cases, they are correct. But I do think you can respect certain aspects of various religions as well as many of the people who believe in religions.

Currently, The O Project is working on an endeavor called 100 100 100:

First we will gather the names of 100 SUPPORTERS of the aims of the O Project, both humanist and religious
Then we will get 100 BELIEVERS AND HUMANISTS engaged in dialogue
Finally we will get 100 humanist VOLUNTEERS – taking on new voluntary work

Worthy goals. If you’d like to help out, some more information is here. You can also befriend the Project on Facebook and MySpace.

Check out a video discussing the type of dialogue the project aims to support (It includes an excerpt from a posting I wrote a while back):

[tags]atheist, atheism, The O Project, Hamish MacPherson, Humanist, Facebook, MySpace[/tags]

Richard Wade

I just signed up to be in the 100.
ONLY 43 LEFT TO GO! ACT NOW WHILE SUPPLIES LAST! THIS OFFER WILL END SOON! FREE POSITIVE EXPERIENCE WITH EVERY SIGN-UP! HURRY!
Mike C

Alright, I’m in. I think I’m their first religious supporter. That’s disappointing. I’ll have to blog about it and try to drum up more interest.
Mriana

I think that was great, Hemant. I loved what you and Bishop Jack Spong had to say, plus a couple others. As a non-theist and Humanist (Spiritual Humanist, if you prefer) who gets accused of being an atheist so often for my views, I can empathize.

I just finished a paper concerning C.S. Lewis misconception of an atheist, when in fact he was actually a non-theist the years he claimed to be an atheist and his attempt to stereotype atheists after he returned to Christianity. It’s things like that that perpetuate untruths, when in fact, as one person in the video stated, “We have so much in common”. Lewis’s critizisms of atheism and Humanism struck a bad note with me, esp when his mentor W.T. Kirkpatrick (“Old Knock” to Lewis) was a Secular Humanist.

Even then those who should have known better, didn’t know a thing.
Hamish

Hey Hemant, thanks for the post. And the continued inspiration!

Richard – only 34 left so tell your friends!