I've seen really good organizations that just do good and don't have expectations. The Catholic and Jewish religions tend to have more open charities from what I've seen. They frequently try to solve problems without an expectation or requirement on membership.

In particular Catholic nuns teach in the fringes of society. Where people aren't able to get funding by the state. The cycle is, they go to the fringes, teach those fringes get big enough for state sponsored education and they move further out. I've worked with these amazing people and to put them in the same category as others is a disservice to their work.

On the flip side there are religions that only help if you are an active member. Which is why I think it's important to recognize that MANY religious organizations aren't bad. But that some are, so we can differentiate between them.

I'd also like to say, not even all charities within a given religion are bad/good. When you get down to an individual charity it's run by a person or people and we have to weigh each on on it's own merits.

If we want more secular charities, we have to find a way for people to organize outside of religion. I'd strongly suggest everyone here look at something such as First Robotics or another secular charity.