Our Adopted Street

What church do you belong to?

That’s a question we hear a lot.

I get it.

Religion has had a huge monopoly on charity work for the good part of the last two millennia.

It might take some time to reverse that, or nudge it slightly in the opposite direction.

Our local humanist group, Humanist Canada – Windsor Chapter (like and subscribe), adopted a long street in the heart of the city. It encompasses multiple places of worship, representing a wide array of different religious backgrounds.

Our monthly cleanups are sometimes split into multiple days, to cover the area completely . . . depending on how many members are present.

Our typical cleanup day, starts with coffee and donuts at our sign, shown above. Then the magic happens . . .

Usually, a confused resident will approach and start with: “what are you guys doing here?”

Judging by the garbage bags, plastic gloves and smudges of dirt on our faces, from wiping off sweat with dirty garbage gloves . . . I’d say we’re definitely riff-raffs that need to be escorted away by the neighbourhood watch.

“We adopted this street!” I say in an excited but proud voice. Like a new father, showing off his baby.

“Oh, oh, ohhhhh . . . how nice! What church do you guys belong to?”

The nonexistent one, up the road and around the corner.

“We don’t belong to a church actually,” I say, “we’re part of Humanist Canada.”

The resident usually looks at us blankly for a few seconds. “Oooh, I love humanitarian efforts,” they say.

“Yes, but humanism is a little different. It’s a non-religious, philosophical worldview that places the highest emphasis on human dignity, well-being and compassion. We try to come to the most valid explanations through scientific investigation and reason.”

I have it on lock now.

Longer blank stare.

“Oh, well thanks . . . I guess.” As they turn on a 45 degree angle to bail.

“You’re welcome, have a nice day!”

Don’t worry, they’ll come around.

Eventually we’ll have this conversation with everyone on the street.

With one or two every time, we’re well on our way to being open and honest with all 400+ people.

If you do the demographic calculations, about a hundred of them will be open to us and might even join us some day.

Maybe more, if we’re lucky.