I posted last week about an event hosted by the Southeastern Collegiate Atheist Alliance (SECAA) and Alabama Atheists & Agnostics (AAA), but the video of JT Eberhard‘s talk hadn’t gone up yet.
Now, it’s up and you should watch it. If nothing else, listen to the first four minutes. JT makes some great points about the Jessica Ahlquist saga.
Young activists FTW.
If you liked any particular portion of the video, please leave the timestamp in the comments!
I feel like such a fair-weather Survivor fan for saying this, but I had no idea popular contestant Rupert Boneham was running to become the Governor of Indiana (as a Libertarian):
He recently released this video promising to fight against House Joint Resolution No. 6, which would limit marriage to that between a man and woman only:
As if I needed another reason to love Rupert…
His campaign site is here, in case you’d like to bask in his awesomeness.
(Thanks to Ron for the link!)
Donna Hunter is a fighter. She’s been fighting for years now to get just one secular school in Morinville, Alberta (Canada) — and she’s only one of several mothers fighting for that cause. Right now, the Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools manages all four of the schools in the area, leaving non-religious parents with no alternatives.
Chris Colbourne - St. Albert Gazette
The Alberta Human Rights Commission has refused to deal with two complaints filed by parents who are fighting for a non-religious schooling option in Morinville.
Donna Hunter and Marjorie Kirsop received letters from the commission Thursday telling them to take their complaints to “another forum” such as the province’s School Act.
…
Kirsop and Hunter filed their human-rights complaints late last year, alleging their non-Catholic children were discriminated against because they have not been allowed to opt out of religious instruction in a system where Catholic doctrine permeates the school day.
Kirsop isn’t sure how to proceed anymore since she’s just going around in circles:
“I’m extremely disappointed as my complaint to the Human Rights Commission was made after many failed attempts to obtain a genuine public education in Morinville,” she said. “After our request for a secular education was denied by our school board in mid-January of 2011, we appealed to the Minister of Education. As of today, we still have not received a response from the Minister of Education in regards to our appeal. And now, we are told by the Human Rights Commission that our complaint is best dealt with by the school board — the very school board who denied our rights in the first place. It’s ironic. It seems we are just going in circles again. Should I be making another appeal to the Minister of Education?”
It’s a little hard for me to wrap my mind around what’s happening since I haven’t followed this story too closely and I’m not very clear on Canadian laws regarding education and religion. Some of the Canadian readers out there might be able to help us understand the issues a bit more — what happened in Morinville and what courses of action are left to take?
Reader Edwin adds this bit of relevant information via email:
… there was a provincial law enacted in 1905 that guarantees the reciting of the Lord’s Prayer and only recognizes the Roman Catholic and Church of England teachings in public schools… It was a condition of the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan joining Canada. It actually overrides our Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (our Constitution).
On a side note, there’s a nice interview with Donna Hunter here.
We haven’t heard much from Alexander Aan since he “blasphemed” on a Facebook group for the Minang Atheists and stated that God didn’t exist. The authorities in Indonesia took him into custody and he faces up to five years in prison for speaking the truth.
Several groups have tried to step up in his defense, to no avail…
The newly-formed Malaysian Atheists put out this support statement/open letter:
We declare that the continued incarceration of Alexander Aan and the threat of bringing the force of a blasphemy law upon this person for the crime of expressing a disbelief in the religion of Islam to be an unacceptable violation of his freedom of expression as well as his freedom of belief.
We hope you, as the leader/representative of Indonesia, a country that is quickly developing into one of the most successful nations in the world, will take steps leading to concrete action that will show the world that Indonesia has truly become a developed and civilised country where a person may be free to believe and disbelieve as they please as well as the freedom to express their opinion without the fear of incarceration, violence, and any other repercussions that would impede a person’s right to speak freely.
We suggest the immediate actions as follows:
1. Dismiss any and all charges of blasphemy against Alexander.
2. To charge his assailants in the court of law for violent behaviour.
Is It all a moot point if new reports are true that Aan is now converting to Islam…?
An Indonesian atheist who was detained after declaring God did not exist on Facebook was considering abandoning his lack of religious faith and embracing Islam, police said Monday.
…
‘His parents came and told us that he wanted to repent,’ Dharmasraya police chief Chairul Aziz said by telephone.
First of all, it seems obvious that Aan may have said something to that extent to get the authorities off his back. He doesn’t have to mean it. He just doesn’t have any other choice, and it’s not in his best interests to stand by his convictions.
Second, even if he repented, the charges would still proceed (blasphemy charges don’t get overturned because you suddenly, magically “found god”).
So what is there to do at this point? There’s a petition you can sign, though it may not do anything. There’s a Facebook group here and here, though those are often a dime-a-dozen. But I’m not saying that to be dismissive. Each of those things may not be helpful by themselves, but together, they raise awareness of the issue and bring Aan’s story to a wider audience.
Alonzo Fyfe offers a solution along those lines, lest the entire story be forgotten:
Has anything been done to identify, arrest, and convict those who are guilty of assault against Mr. Aan? Or is the message being spread throughout Indonesia that acts of violence against theists are acceptable and shall not be punished?
We should be demanding that action be taken of those guilty of assaulting Aan, at the very least to establish a precedent and to give a warning, for the sake of all atheists, that these forms of violent response to atheist beliefs are to be shunned.…
Finally, Atheist Alliance International has launched an appeal in Aan’s defense and they’re also collecting money to “help pay for Aan’s legal costs and to support the Aan family’s living expenses while he is in jail.”
Whatever you do, don’t ignore this story. Keep him in your thoughts and let that inspire you to take some sort of action.
Richard Wade must be on to something. After posting about the potential reactions to inoffensive atheist billboards, people are starting to run with the idea.
When Justin Vacula recently saw “God Bless America” scrolling across the outside buses in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, he didn’t just want to complain. He wanted to respond to that message — and test the “how little does it take to offend someone?” hypothesis — by proposing the following ad:
The idea, as seen above — for the advertisement — is quite simple, effective, and interesting. In the past few years, atheist billboards — no matter how inoffensive they may seem — have been met with utter contempt from theists leading atheists to wonder, “Is the fact that we exist and want to advertise ourselves offensive to theists or is it something else?” In order to test this… I want to place a king-size… advertisement on the same buses which host the “God Bless America” messages with a blue sky/white cloud background with the word “atheists” and the URL for the organization for which I am a co-organizer, spokesperson, podcast host, and board member of: the NEPA Freethought Society.
He’s waiting for a response from the advertising company — and if they reject him, they could be facing a potential lawsuit.
If he gets the green light, this could be a really fun billboard campaign…
Remember how Rick Santorum said that a pregnancy resulting from rape is a “gift from god”?
This new video is a perfect response 
I loved the line, “Don’t look a rape-horse in the mouth.”
(via Christian Nightmares)
Kate at Suburban Sweetheart has an awesome story of why she supports LGBT rights and how her support inspired her to act when an injustice took place in her hometown:
As easily as that, I began to identify as an ally. I went on to intern at the Family Equality Council & worked a legislative assistant on civil rights, including LGBT equality, during my time at the Religious Action Center after college. I’ve served as managing editor of Fusion, an LGBT issues magazine, marched in a pride parade, & have just generally done my best to work for equality whenever possible. I have a really difficult time respecting differences of opinion when it comes to civil rights. I do my best to be respectful of other people’s views, but it’s really hard for me to see any other side here. As I see it, it’s as basic as treating people fairly, & I just can’t see any other side to that.
When I learned this month that my hometown gym, the city-owned Natatorium, is discriminating against same-sex couples in their membership options, I quickly signed onto a petition asking them to change their policies. Then, I shot off a Facebook message to Shane, the guy behind the petition, asking how I could help. Shane attempted to get a couples pass for himself & his new husband & was turned away, told their marriage “isn’t real” despite the fact that they were legally married four months ago in Washington, D.C. His husband, Coty, is a disabled Iraq Wat veteran who uses the Natatorium for water therapy; Shane is his caretaker.
Kate got word out about the discrimination and the story began popping up on some major websites. Thousands of people signed the online petition and you should, too. Many have written messages of disappointment on the Natatorium’s Facebook page. There are also plans to call the Mayor’s Office en masse this Tuesday and 200+ people have already signed up to do that.
All this because Kate had the inspiration to do something about a troubling situation and she took advantage of the tools at her disposal to share her message with a wider audience. She also had the courage to publicly speak out on a potentially controversial subject — but she didn’t care because civil rights for all people shouldn’t be an issue.
We love praising activists. But let’s be clear: Anyone can do what they do. It takes a lot of courage and a little bit of knowledge about how to get your message out. But if you’re sure you’re doing the right thing, it’s not as hard as it seems.
This is why projects like the OUT Campaign, atheist bloggers/writers/speakers — hell, anyone who lists their religion on Facebook as “Atheist” — are so important in our movement. If you can be open and comfortable about your (non-)religious beliefs, it won’t be as hard to take the next step and speak out when a politician says we’re a “Christian nation” or there’s an injustice regarding church/state separation.
A lot of atheist groups around the country are planning Darwin Day activities, and the lineup for the University of Northern Iowa Freethinkers and Inquirers‘ celebration looks terrific:
They have Joe Nickell (skeptical investigator of the paranormal), Jamila Bey (secular activist), Clint Kelly (biology professor) and Lawrence Krauss (theoretical physicist) speaking at their school, and those are just the keynotes.
What are all of you planning?
…
Incidentally, ~GeneticMishap created a publicity poster anyone can use:
To personalize it, just go here.
This is only the first of three panels but the last one is more of a sad reality than a hilarious punchline:
(via Calamities of Nature)
House Resolution 535 in Pennsylvania, sponsored by Rep. Rick Saccone (R-obviously), declares:
That the House of Representatives declare 2012 as the “Year of the Bible” in Pennsylvania in recognition of both the formative influence of the Bible on our Commonwealth and nation and our national need to study and apply the teachings of the holy scriptures.
Right… because we have a “national need” to understand Genesis, genocide, and all the other bullshit in the Bible.
Saccone doesn’t even try to take a secular route in explaining it:
“As not only Pennsylvania, but the United States, continues to face great tests and challenges, House Resolution 535 serves as a reminder that we must look to our faith in God and the Holy Scripture to provide us with the strength, wisdom and courage to conquer these great trials,” said Saccone. “All over the Pennsylvania Capitol, one can easily see the tremendous influence that Christianity and the Bible have had over our founders and predecessors. These images and quotes illustrating the beliefs and morals that have shaped our great Commonwealth must never be forgotten.”
You know, if 2012 is the Year of the Bible, what the hell was every single year before this? It’s not like 2011 was the Koran’s year. (And when do atheists get a year?! I WANT A YEAR, DAMMIT!)
The worst part isn’t that the Resolution passed. It’s that it passed 193-0. Not a single voice of dissent.
Maybe that’s why they called it a “Noncontroversial Resolution”:
The Freedom From Religion Foundation can’t believe it:
“Our constitution grants sovereignty not to a deity or a ‘holy book,’ but to ‘We, the People.’ There is no reference to God, the bible, the Ten Commandments or Jesus in the U.S. Constitution, just as there are no references to ‘consent of the governed,’ ‘civil liberties’ or ‘democracy’ in the bible. Those who have truly studied the bible realize that it is a moral quagmire, a behavioral grab bag, which has been used to justify automatic rule, tyranny, slavery, the degradation of women and gays, child abuse, war, atrocity and mayhem,” noted FFRF.
They also offer a sample letter (PDF) for Pennsylvanians to use when contacting their representatives.
If you don’t live in PA, though, you can always let Rep. Saccone know what you think directly on his Facebook page.
If you’re the leader of any local or campus freethought group, there’s a discussion group on Facebook that will offer advice and answer any questions for you. A lot of veteran activists are on there, making it a great resource — or perhaps you could pitch in and help some other leaders yourself.
(Thanks to Scott for the link!)
Yesterday, Richard Wade got people thinking about how angry people would get at an atheist group’s billboard even if it were completely inoffensive.
Well, Katie Hartman of Skepticon is taking the idea one step further.
She wants to put up a cute, inoffensive billboard. All she needs are your donations and suggestions. Here’s a template of her idea:
We’ve priced billboards in the Springfield area and think it can be done for as little as $2,000 –- and if we end with more? We’ll put it on buses in St. Louis and Kansas City.
They need to figure out what image should go in the empty space and that’s where your votes could help them out. So please vote and please chip in if you find the idea entertaining
Hip-hop singer Toby Ganger just released an EP called “Evolutionary” and the title track sounds pretty awesome:
An excerpt from the lyrics:
…the other side interested in scaring
the rest of us here with a message of fear
so todays questions appear
through the lens of yesterday’s perception of fair
and the prejudice clear
whenever they’re debating on who gets to be married
always saying to protect the kids
really they’re afraid we’ll reject their myths
The entire album or just the single can be found on his site.
The New York Times‘ Abby Goodnough has a summary of Jessica Ahlquist‘s lawsuit in Friday’s paper and Jessica comes out of it looking exactly like the hero she is. (Her opponents, not so much.)
Atheists don’t always get positive coverage in the media, so it’s an encouraging sign, especially after everything Jessica’s been going through:
Jessica Ahlquist (Gretchen Ertl - The New York Times)
She is 16, the daughter of a firefighter and a nurse, a self-proclaimed nerd who loves Harry Potter and Facebook. But Jessica Ahlquist is also an outspoken atheist who has incensed this heavily Roman Catholic city with a successful lawsuit to get a prayer removed from the wall of her high school auditorium, where it has hung for 49 years.
…
Brittany Lanni, who graduated from Cranston West in 2009, said that no one had ever been forced to recite the prayer and called Jessica “an idiot.”
“If you don’t believe in that,” she said, “take all the money out of your pocket, because every dollar bill says, ‘In God We Trust.’ ”
Compare that ignorant soundbyte to Jessica’s pitch-perfect line at the end of the story:
Does [Jessica] empathize in any way with members of her community who want the prayer to stay?
“I’ve never been asked this before,” she said. A pause, and then: “It’s almost like making a child get a shot even though they don’t want to. It’s for their own good. I feel like they might see it as a very negative thing right now, but I’m defending their Constitution, too.”
What a great analogy.
I’ve been asked a few times over the past couple of weeks if I’m surprised at the amount of money people are donating toward her scholarship fund.
My response has been the same: I’m not surprised at all. Of course people want to chip in to her future success. Jessica embodies our movement at its best — she’s brave, she defends the separation of church and state, she’s eloquent when speaking about the lawsuit and her beliefs, and she’s not letting the religious majority in her community keep her down.
This article just reinforces everything we already knew about her.
…
***Update***: There’s some misinformation being spread about Jessica possibly transferring schools. Jessica has denied this rumor, so please stop perpetuating it:
…
For 30 years, Alaska Airlines gave passengers a card to read while eating their in-flight meals:
(Because, as we all know, Jesus holds the plane in the air…)
Even though only first class passengers have received the cards over the past few years, no one will be seeing them much longer. As of February 1st, Alaska Airlines is getting rid of them:
Airline spokeswoman Bobbie Egan said the airline heard from customers who preferred not to mix religion with transportation. The decision reflects respect for the diverse religious beliefs and cultural attitudes of Alaska Airlines’ customers and employees, the company said in announcing the change.
“Some customers were comforted by the cards and some didn’t feel religion was appropriate on the plane and preferred not to receive one,” she said.
…
For a long time, Alaska Airlines got more positive comments than negatives ones. But lately, opinion has shifted.
In an email to frequent flyers, AA Execs explained their reasoning this way:
… This difficult decision was not made lightly. We believe it’s the right thing to do in order to respect the diverse religious beliefs and cultural attitudes of all our customers and employees.
Some of you enjoy the cards and associate them with our service. We also know some of you consider the cards to be a tradition that reflects your own spiritual beliefs. At the same time, we’ve heard from many of you who believe religion is inappropriate on an airplane, and some are offended when we hand out the cards. Religious beliefs are deeply personal and sharing them with others is an individual choice.
It’s their decision whether to give them away or not, but it’s nice to know they’re responding to customer preferences and that customers are complaining about it.
Either that, or they’re just trying to save money wherever they can and the Christian cards are low on the list of priorities.
The comment of the day came from one Redditor:
And, in case you’ve never heard it, comedian David Cross did a bit on the Christian cards in 1999, wondering why Alaska Airlines felt the need to give him one:
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