The Admiral

I have often speculated on what I would do if I had a lot of money. I have heard that Bill Gates is an Atheist and I think that it is well established that Ted Turner is, and how many more. Yet none of them seem to spend a dime in support of Free Thought. What would I do?

I would buy a motel chain or even just one motel. I would remove the Gideon Bibles and replace them with Dan Barkers "Losing Faith in Faith". I would have a shelf of Free Thought books and pamphlets for sale in the lobby.

I would start a chain of store front book stores devoted to Atheist, Agnostic, Free Thought books. I would locate these stores preferably in mid block with churches on the corners and stay open on Sundays.

What would you do?

The Admiral

Mad Kally

The two of them have donated more billions to help people around the world than any other people in the history of the world.

The Admiral

Mad Kally

Thank you. Could you be a little more explicit?

The Admiral

Mad Kally

Yeah, as soon as I figure out if it was on 60 Minutes, Dateline NBC, 48 Hours, Primetime, or PBS. I thought it was common knowlege about Bill Gates.

Mad Kally

Here's the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Mageth

The two of them have donated more billions to help people around the world than any other people in the history of the world.

Bill Gates in dollar amount, perhaps. But he didn't seem to have much philanthropic interest until he married. The philanthropic spirit seems to have originated from his wife, Melinda.

Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller, et al donated quite a bit if you convert to current dollars. Carnegie gave away @ $350 million during his life, approximately 70% of his net worth, and about $5 billion in today's dollars. Rockefeller gave away @500 million, also about $5 billion in today's dollars. And these guys gave their money before income tax, and thus tax deductions, were created

There's also the late Walter Annenberg, whose philanthropic contributions are estimated to have been more than $2 billion, and the late Paul Mellon, among others.

George Soros is generally considered the "greatest living philanthropist", has already given away well over $1 billion, and promises to keep up his philanthropy until his entire fortune (est. 3-5 billion) is gone.

Mad Kally

Sorry Mageth, but the admiral specifically mentioned Gates and Turner. Here's the Ted Turner Foundation Ted lost between 7 and 8 billion in the stock market recently.

and that means no one ever changes?

Sabine Grant

Kally... Great web site. What a wonderful way for Gates to share his wealth. Liked his and Melinda's letter presenting their mission.

Yellum Notnef

This would be great until some Jesus kook spent $5.00 on a can of gas and burnt it to the ground.

Your bookstore chain would probably last a bit longer,but any customers would have to deal with the protesters who hang around out front.

Mad Kally

They get thousands of letters from people in the US and all over too. Plenty of them get money. Some of his workers are retired and have come back to work for free. (ON THEIR OWN) because they love what the foundation is doing.