In a move that seems somehow contrary to the universal humanitarian efforts on behalf of Japan, the group American Atheists is aggressively urging people to not donate relief money to "religious buffoons," but rather to send it to secular groups.
American Atheist President David Silverman announced on Wednesday that many atheist groups such as his are convinced that faith-based charities use the donations to distribute Bibles and disseminate their message.
"They (Christian charities) push religion rather than give food and aid which the people really need," Silverman angrily accused.
However, Jennifer Byrd, the special public relations director for The Salvation Army, denied these accusations. Byrd was not aware of any Bible distribution by her organisation in Japan, indeed, even in the United States the Salvation Army does not hand out Bibles during their relief efforts.
When questioned directly about the sharing of Christian faith during relief work, Byrd said Salvation Army policy was that workers only pray with victims if specially requested to do so, and that prayer is never forced.
"If someone feels moved to do so they can ask," she emphasised.
Byrd instead pointed out that The Salvation Army was one of first organisations to provide assistance as it was already present in Japan when the tsunami struck. On the night of the disaster, The Salvation Army provided food, water and shelter at its Tokyo headquarters to commuters left stranded by the earthquake.
In the week since the disaster, they have distributed 1,000 hot meals and drinks, and have used a total of $2.1 million so far in their relief efforts. This money will continue to be used to provide hot meals, shelter and other basic necessities to the disaster refugees.
The American Atheists have also levelled accusations against faith-based charities for saying the disaster was God's punishment for Japan's sin, but Byrd clarified that neither The Salvation Army nor its affiliates have ever said anything like this, or indeed would.