I was going to visit the Secular Policy “Institute” just the once, but of course I was underestimating the scope of their absurdity when I thought that. I find I can’t not point out their projects.

One of the categories on their website, between About Us and Coalition, is Projects. Within that category you get Active, Past, and Proposed, along with Submit a.

So we look at Active Projects.

Active Projects

Our project program is brand new. We will have active projects soon. Meanwhile, look at our proposed projects!

The end. That’s all there is on the page.

Next we look at Past Projects. (Hey it’s the next item on the drop-down menu. We can’t just jump ahead to proposed projects – that would be cheating.)

Past Projects

Our project program is brand new. We will have past projects in a few months. Meanwhile, look at our proposed projects!

Isn’t that impressive? Isn’t it thorough? They not only plan to have projects soon, they also plan to have past projects in a few months!

Of course there is the inconvenient fact that Johnny Monserrat said on the Internships page that they already have projects, and awesome projects at that.

The Secular Policy Institute is the organization with the philosophy, momentum, and executive power to make a genuine difference. We are more successful than other secular groups because:

• We don’t bash religion. Unlike many secular groups, we don’t get shut out of government and media. We can partner with anyone.
• We are true professionals. Unlike many secular groups, we don’t want to settle for amateur anything. We emulate best practices of major organizations like the AARP, NRA, CATO Institute, Heritage Foundation, and American Cancer Society.
• We are focused. Unlike many secular groups, we aren’t vague about our plans. We take on giant, world-changing projects that inspire donors and volunteers, such as promoting an Indian rationalist’s guide to Hindu scripture and raising money for the world’s first atheist orphanage in Uganda.

He said they’re better than other secular groups because they take on giant, world-changing projects, and yet when you go to see what projects they’ve taken on, they tell you they haven’t taken on any yet, but they will, they will, they really will.

It’s almost as if they don’t tell the truth about themselves. I’m sure they would tell us it’s just advertising and self-promotion, where the rules about truth are different…but that’s just what I’m objecting to. A secular campaign group shouldn’t be about advertising and self-promotion.

So in due order we get to the Proposed Projects page.

And what do we find? A long list of other people’s projects. The idea seems to be to help those other people with those projects. That’s fine, it could be great, but it’s not the same as having projects themselves.

Also…I can’t help wondering whether, if people do donate to these other projects via the Secular Policy “Institute,” there will be a percentage shaved off for the Secular Policy “Institute” to keep. If that is the case, it would be better for everyone to donate directly to the other projects, so that they get all the money. In other words is the SPI just inserting itself into the process in order to get a cut? The way grafters always have? I don’t know, but I wonder.