Comments | ontd_political: High School Atheists Are Organizing -- Why Are Schools Pushing Back?

magus_69 in ontd_political

High School Atheists Are Organizing -- Why Are Schools Pushing Back?

Feb 25, 2011 11:44

High school non-theist groups are getting dedicated support from a national organization but their schools are flipping out. What does this mean for the future of atheism?

February 22, 2011 | High school student Brian Lisco just wanted to form a student club. A senior at Stephen Austin High School in the Houston suburbs, Lisco wanted to meet with ( Read more... )

god damn, atheism, religious politics, education, religion, fuckery, god save us from your followers, students

Comments 80

erunamiryene February 25 2011, 19:54:20 UTC

"Why would anyone need a club to talk about what they don't believe in?"

*blinkblink*

Wow, REALLY? I mean, the idea is REALLY that complicated to you?

brewsternorth February 25 2011, 20:29:22 UTC

Quite. And it's not that they "don't believe", it's that they believe differently, usually after some spiritual and philosophical inquiry. Isn't that the sort of thing that school ought to be about?

bestdaywelived February 25 2011, 21:06:33 UTC

I've heard this argument from many a Christian.

rayiroth February 26 2011, 00:14:38 UTC

In places like I grew up in, sure. I was a lucky wee atheist who never had the need to explain myself, never had to fear for my safety, never had condescending jerks trying to convert me, never been treated as a lesser person for it, never being told that somehow my belief isn't real that I'm just trying it for attention, never was compared to serial murderers, never ...

If any of those and more are what those teens have to deal with day in day out, then shit yeah they deserve a safe place. Why would that even need to be asked?

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xochitl February 25 2011, 19:55:29 UTC

When I was in high school I would have loved to have a nontheist organization, given that we had "Fellowship of Christian Athletes" an other Christian groups on campus. My school had mandatory religious "pep rallies" around Christmas, and also had several abstinence programs that were faith based. I figured out I was an atheist when I was 15, so it was really isolating to not know any other atheists.

aviv_b February 25 2011, 22:01:16 UTC

Just curious - was this a public school or a private parochial school? (I'm assuming you are US educated from your profile - if I'm wrong, please excuse).

xochitl February 25 2011, 22:05:27 UTC

Yep, it was a public school.

aviv_b February 25 2011, 22:33:55 UTC

Yikes! Is that even legal?

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cool story bro! papilio_luna February 25 2011, 20:15:26 UTC

I went to a Catholic high school, so obviously there weren't going to be any nontheist organisations, but I did have a (in hindsight) kind of hilariously WTF run-in with my school's administration over starting an Amnesty International chapter at our school*. Because, apparently, they were really concerned that all clubs have some sort of opposite-club? Like, if we had Amnesty International then we also had to have the Future Fascists of America or something? Though let me tell you to whom this principle did not apply: the pro-life group. Still, they just would not budge on this. But they were totally fine with me starting a club called the Human Rights Club. It just couldn't be an actual chapter of Amnesty. Yeah, I have no idea either.

*I should note that the school was mostly run by liberation theologists, so, while it was Catholic, it was also full of Marxists.

Re: cool story bro! lizzy_someone February 26 2011, 00:46:25 UTC

Because, apparently, they were really concerned that all clubs have some sort of opposite-club? Like, if we had Amnesty International then we also had to have the Future Fascists of America or something? ... But they were totally fine with me starting a club called the Human Rights Club.

Wait, but...wouldn't they then, according to their own rules, have to have an Anti-Human-Rights Club?

honeymane February 25 2011, 20:33:02 UTC

I'm not surprised, at my university one can't form any sort of club that's against anything. You can be *for* atheism, but not against religion.

mercaque February 25 2011, 20:37:16 UTC

Wow, I'm pretty impressed that there are high school secular groups.

What's more, many atheists are actively engaged in countering religion and trying to persuade people out of it. As Eberhard, says, "Some view the conclusions of religion to be maladaptive and seek to generate public dialogue about the failings of faith." They want to change the way people think -- and organizing makes that more effective.

One thing I want to add to this - for me it was not "becoming an atheist" that was traumatic, it was the process of leaving the religion I was raised in, Catholicism. Was I an Angry Atheist (TM)? Hell yeah, after coming to the conclusion that my faith was misogynist, homophobic and covered up for child molesters. Anger is normal in some cases (I don't mean to imply that it must be so for all Catholics or ex-Catholics, just that it's on the spectrum of reactions). Finding atheist groups online, with people outspoken and blunt enough to give voice to a lot of the doubts I had, was hugely therapeutic ( ... )

bestdaywelived February 25 2011, 21:08:50 UTC

I don't think that atheists actually DO badger people about their faith, though. I have been approached and basically bullied into listening to Jesus talk, but never in my entire life have I been approached by an atheist doing anything remotely similar.

I should also say Christians do badger atheists about our beliefs, regularly.

muppetfromhell February 26 2011, 07:27:47 UTC

my (relative) says a lot of really rude/mean things about religious people, but she never actually says it TO them.

zoram February 26 2011, 11:34:36 UTC

It does happen, even if it isn't as common.

http://community.livejournal.com/sf_drama/3182946.html

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