There's a new humanist charity organization that offers a novel way of selecting your recipients--you choose from ten categories and decide what portion of your contribution goes to each.

I. Love. This. For a number of reasons.

First, I'm sick to death of people saying the religious are more giving and compassionate than we are. Boloney. Sure, they have an established system dedicated to fleecing them tax-free without really telling them where the money is going. And they offer salvation and to put a word in with "the man upstairs" if you give.

But none of that means they're better people. It just means that they're more likely to drop a couple bucks into the basket to save face, or that they think they're buying their own eternity in the clouds. I'm not saying that believers are never truly compassionate, but that the money is extracted by other than truly ethical motivation.

Second, one of the reasons religious people seem so charitable is because they have this massive institution to track and display all the money that's processed, whereas nonbelievers give to many less well-known and less organized causes. Foundation Beyond Belief is a new way to present the public with the good that people do, be they superstitious or not. It's a small way to help heal the image of atheism.

I'm suffering in the pocketbook as much as many are after being off work for a year and taking a job with lower pay, but I'll be trying hard to send a few dollars to this when I can. And I'll feel great about doing it, eternal salvation or not.