Atheists are “on top” at Kiva.org

[and-justice-for-all]

-- Found this on the reason projects forum, thought it was interesting:

"The charity topic reminded me of Kiva.org. Kiva is a microlending organization through which one can make microloans (as little as $25) to individuals around the globe. When they re-pay the loan, you can either withdraw the money or re-loan it. It’s a great concept, since it both helps others AND requires them to take responsibility for their wellbeing—concepts that work well for most humanist-, atheist-, and Buddhist-minded folks.

The BEST part of all is that the #1 loaning community (in terms of members, loans, and dollars) is the Atheists!!! (The Obama supporters and Christians flip-flop in 2nd and 3rd).

I think it would be AWESOME if The Reason Forum could at least give a nod to Kiva, if not outright encourage TRF members to visit Kiva.org and consider making a loan."

http://www.reasonproject.org/forum/viewthread/12380/

Here is the link with ATHEIST on top: http://www.kiva.org/community

[Warpy]

1. I'm not surprised.

I discovered Kiva in 2007 and try to lend every month. The repayment rate is astonishing--these are the world's poorest people.

That fellow atheists are the big lending group comes as absolutely not surprise to me. We do things like this because of who we are, not because we're trying to buy our way out of judgment by some malevolent, naked Santa Claus on a cloud.

[Synnical]

7. I found Kiva about the same time as you

Via DU.

I was going to withdraw my money until I learned of the Ag/Ath group. I pinned myself to that group and left the money to re-loan.

Sadness, the "partner" that I initially loaned money to, well, the return rate is not so good, the global economy and all. But, I still have not withdrawn my funds.

Will definitely re-lend.

-Cindy in Fort Lauderdale

[NMMNG]

2. But atheists don't care about people!

You need religion and god to make you care about people and do good things for them. It says so in the Bible.

[Jokerman]

3. This should be on the front page of DU.

For the site itself more than the group statistics.

I'm not at all surprised to see the Atheists on top but I had no idea this site existed. This sounds like a fascinating idea.

Thanks for the links.

[moggie]

4. Well, if you want to be competitive...

As long as this competitive aspect is just a bit of fun, fine, but the important thing when helping people (whether via micro-lending or conventional charity) isn't whether you're number one, of course. And before we crow about how well we're doing at kiva, I'll point out that, per capita, the "Kiva Christians" team has leant substantially more.

Is anyone aware of good research into comparative rates of charitable giving among theists and atheists?

[and-justice-for-all]

5. I am not sure what our charitable rating is...

since we are so scattered and tend to just DO IT as individuals and not organizations.

The Reason Project has a thread on this, http://www.reasonproject.org/forum/viewthread/12176/

[JNelson6563]

6. Great stuff!

Thank you for posting this! :toast:

Julie

[moggie]

8. The group messages can be pretty annoying

Lately, the group has been discussing circumcision. Though "ranting about" would be a better word than "discussing", as seems inevitable with this subject. Of course, you don't need to read the messages.

Now that Kiva have started lending to US entrepreneurs, it'll be interesting to see how well they do for loans compared to developing-world people.