One of the obvious problems with donating to charities is that one can only help so much before running out of money. There are so many groups worthy of support that few people are wealthy enough to support them all to the degree they might wish. What if there was a way to help others by loaning money?

If you haven't heard of Kiva, it is a popular microlending service where donors can support entrepreneurs in poor countries via small loans. Even small contributions, when pooled, can be very effective. Interestingly, the largest lending team on Kiva is the the Atheists, Agnostics, Skeptics, Freethinkers, Secular Humanists and the Non-Religious.

A little more than a year ago, I posted about why atheists should avoid Chick-fil-A restaurants. I'm happy to report that I have not spent one cent at a Chick-fil-A since writing that post. Many of the responses to that post were positive, but some protested that they like the food too much to stop eating it. Well, now you have another reason to rethink your reluctance to exercise the power of your wallet.

According to Metro Weekly, the Pennsylvania Family Institute has been sponsored by Chick-fil-A. Why should we care? The Institute is an anti-gay organization.

It is hard to imagine that this news will sway many people who refuse to stop eating at Chick-fil-A. After all, we already know that they support the Christian extremist group, Focus on the Family. So their support for anti-gay bigotry is already fairly clear.

Still, maybe some people will be inspired to pay more attention to what they are supporting with their money. We can always hope, right?

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In a convoluted article written for The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH), Regina Brett reflects the mixed feelings and often inconsistent attitudes many moderate Christians have regarding outspoken atheists. Her article, "Atheists Don't Have to Share Religious Beliefs, But They Also Don't Have to Share Ill Will, Either," suggests that should probably just be quiet, even if we have some good points to make at times. If only we weren't out to ruin everyone else's fun, perhaps we could be tolerated.

I'm not a parent, and I've honestly never had any interest in being one. If I was, I think I'd want to raise my children in such a way that they would learn about various religions, the arguments for various religions offered by their proponents, and the arguments against religion offered by atheists. I would hope that my children would grow up to be atheists; however, it would be important to me that it was their decision - made freely and in an informed way - rather than mine. This means that I would not attempt to raise my children as atheists.

For those of you who have children, I would imagine that one of the biggest challenges would be the knowledge that children who are not brought up to be religious will likely be tormented at school for not embracing Jesus (or whatever mythical figure was preferred in their location). If you are a parent who is raising your children without religion, is this something with which you have struggled? If so, how have you resolved it?

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New Year's Eve means different things to different people, but one of the common themes with the way it is celebrated in the U.S. involves reviewing the past year. We are encouraged to recall the big events of the past year, both personal and shared. But New Year's Eve is also about hope. As we look to the year ahead, we hope it will be better for us. We hope that we will learn from our past mistakes so that we do not repeat them, and we hope that our circumstances will improve in various ways. As far as traditional themes go, these seem like largely positive ones. So why is it that watching a mere 10 minutes of MTV's New Year's Eve party was enough to make me feel less hopeful about nearly everything?