Atheist Volunteers

EARTHWARD has a new project. Here are the details:

"In our overcrowded world, it is not uncommon to have neighbors who, at times, may try our patience. Perhaps they party 'til the wee hours of the morning, or turn their dogs loose to fertilize our lawns. Most of us, however, probably have little cause for concern that our neighbors might attack our home and attempt to lynch us and burn us alive.

That is exactly what happened to the Kasali* family in February 2007. A mob of Christian youths from their village in Nigeria, who had somehow come to the conclusion that the Kasalis* were witches, descended upon their home, destroying everything in their path, and beat Mr. Kasali* severely on the head.

If not for prompt intervention by the traditional ruler of the village (who is coincidentally the Chair of our affiliate, Nigerian Humanist Movement) and local police, the family's school-age children would undoubtedly now be orphans. The mob had intended to hang the parents, and burn them with gasoline and rubber tires. Though the Kasalis* narrowly escaped death, their family now faces a serious threat to their livelihood. Mr. Kasali* has had to discontinue his regular work, due to his injuries and the need to make emergency repairs to the roof of his house, which was seriously damaged in the attack. So far, the family has barely survived by selling fruit from trees on their property. Unfortunately, most of those trees were also destroyed by the attackers.

With your help, we would like to help this family recover their losses, and resume a normal and self-sufficient life. Please contribute to the Kasalis* recovery if you can. For the duration of the project to restore the Kasali* family to self-sufficiency, they will have priority for any donations you make to our Nigeria Fund. If donations exceed the amount needed by this family, second priority will be for other families and individuals, in Africa, facing similar circumstances."

Earth's Atheist Resistance To Holy Wars And Religious Devastation

EARTHWARD is a nonprofit, nonpolitical, nonmembership public-benefit charity organization that provides humanitarian relief aid to civilian victims of religiously motivated violence ranging from acts of violence by individual extremists or terrorist organizations that claim religious justification for their actions to full-scale holy wars waged by religiously dominated governments.

Typically, aid is provided in a form dictated by the particular needs of the victims. Some examples are food, water, temporary shelter and medical supplies.

It should not be misconstrued that our aid in any way constitutes endorsement of the political, religious or ideological views of recipient victims, or condemnation of those of their assailants. We do, however, vigorously oppose violent means of achieving any objective and emphatically reject any attempts to justify such violent actions on religious grounds.