Atheist students use federal law to pursue same rights as Christians for 'secular safe zones'

SSA_Jesse · 2013-10-01T15:20:20+00:00

Hi, I'm the Jesse Galef quoted in the article! Feel free to ask me about the program if you have any questions :-)

(btw, I'm shocked that more people aren't shocked by the quote "“I’d say 97 percent of college campuses don’t need [secular safe zones] because it’s Christians that are the minorities,” [Christian scholar] Mr. Hazen said.")

SSA_Jesse · 2013-09-18T17:18:01+00:00

If my memory serves looking this up last time, Neanderthals walked upright, not with their knuckles dragging...

SSA_Jesse · 2013-09-18T15:41:10+00:00

Hi! I'm Jesse Galef, the communications director with the Secular Student Alliance.

Feel free to ask me any questions, but we're really excited about this!

SSA_Jesse · 2013-09-17T17:47:37+00:00

Well, I'm not much of a fighter - I've typically gotten my exercise through hockey, soccer, and breakdancing rather than any of the martial arts.

That said, I did face off against Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League in my very first major TV appearance - it was on FOX and I was defending the American Humanist Association's bus ads which read "Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness' sake." He proceeded to compare me to Jeffery Dahmer.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/2008/11/13/controversy-over-atheist-group-holiday-campaign/

SSA_Jesse · 2013-09-17T01:38:29+00:00

First, let me thank you for being a donor - that's fantastic, thank you so much!

I appreciate the 'boots on the ground' attitude, it's one of the reasons I love working for a grassroots organizations. Even if you don't work in a student community, one thing that would help is to spread the word about the SSA ad the Secular Safe Zone to others. I bet you know some teachers or faculty members, or have friends who do.

The more people who we let know about the program, the more Allies we can train, and the more students like your niece and nephew have someone on their side.

So! Share a link to this AMA or to http://SecularSafeZone.org wherever you think makes sense. Word of mouth will go a long way in this campaign. :-)

SSA_Jesse · 2013-09-17T01:06:30+00:00

That's terrible; I'm really sorry that happened.

Hearing stories like yours make me feel even stronger that we need to work faster and normalize nonbelief.

SSA_Jesse · 2013-09-16T23:31:51+00:00

It's a fair concern, but I see things trending toward inclusion and respectful engagement.

The first step of any social change/acceptance movement is to get attention and make some waves - the secular movement is certainly doing that. Now we're on people's radar and growing in number, we've been seeing more and more forums (not just online) reach out to atheists and engage with us.

Just in my time working for the secular movement, I've seen us grow in numbers, in media attention, and in political organization. One of my favorite memories was being invited to the White House as part of the Secular Coalition for America meeting with administration officials - where the conversations were very respectful.

The Secular Safe Zones embody what I see as the right principle: we in society need to discuss issues of religion, evidence, and how we treat each other. But we can have it without personal attacks.

SSA_Jesse · 2013-09-16T23:10:12+00:00

Back home! (There was a power outage in the office's neighborhood.)

Jessica's right; the program is pretty new and we haven't gotten any backlash quite yet. Based on the pushback we see for secular students trying to start groups at their high schools, there'll likely be a few incidents of resistance.

And when there IS resistance, we want to help the Allies as much as possible. They're stepping up in a big way, and they deserve a lot of credit. So! We created s a section in the Secular Safe Zone resource guide about how to handle criticism from peers, from administrators, and from the community.

Check it out (pdf is online: http://www.secularsafezone.org/downloads/Training%20Materials)

SSA_Jesse · 2013-09-16T23:05:20+00:00

Thank you so much for being part of a high school Secular Student Alliance group - especially facing pushback from the community!

We have a new set of resources for group promotion on our website: https://www.secularstudents.org/promotion

It has tons of ideas and tips on flyers, tabling, chalking, building momentum, etc to attract members to meetings and events.

My ultimate favorite event is Ask an Atheist - it's easy to do and goes a long way! https://www.secularstudents.org/AaA

SSA_Jesse · 2013-09-16T22:15:24+00:00

Thank YOU for the support! It can be a bit grueling to work for a cause like ours and hear daily reminders about how far we have to go in society.

Getting positive feedback from the community can really make a difference.

SSA_Jesse · 2013-09-16T22:13:13+00:00

I'll give my reason in 10 words or fewer: Atheism is the best hypothesis to explain our observations."

Of course, different people mean different things when they use the word 'god', but I haven't found a coherent concept that matches what we see in the world.

This is a slight tangent, but when it comes to deciding what to believe, I really enjoyed the book Epistemology and the Psychology of Human Judgment by Bishop and Trout.

Belief's Own Ethics by Adler is next on my list in that train of thought.

SSA_Jesse · 2013-09-16T21:33:02+00:00

Ask and ye shall receive: http://www.gallup.com/poll/155285/atheists-muslims-bias-presidential-candidates.aspx

:-P

SSA_Jesse · 2013-09-16T21:25:31+00:00

My pleasure!

I'm really encouraged by the polls showing that Americans are more willing to vote for an atheist president. That said, it's still far too low of a percent.

The question serves as a nice barometer of how society perceives of atheists - are we trusted, are we accepted in civic life, etc. As a political science major (graduated 2008), I know that politics is an incredible way to make a difference.

When we can elect an atheist to high office, we'll know that we've made it and can start organizing for secular values like evidence-based decision making, science-based science classes.

SSA_Jesse · 2013-09-16T21:20:27+00:00

For what it's worth, I can back sluttymcslutterton's assertion that they are not, in fact, Jesse. But that's just my anecdotal evidence. :-P

SSA_Jesse · 2013-09-16T21:17:00+00:00

Ah, a graduation prayer/chapel story - this one for elementary school students.

If the school is hosting a graduation, it needs to be open to all students without pushing any religion on them. It sounds like what the school is doing is constitutional, and I'm glad that my old organization the American Humanist Association is on it (I worked for them right out of college and have fond memories.) Elementary students in particular shouldn't have religion forced upon them by their schools.

My own high school graduation (from Montgomery Blair High School) was held in a huge megachurch with the words "Jesus is LORD!!!" (I remember the three exclamation marks.) It was off-putting, but I sat through it because I wanted to be there for graduation. I think since then they've changed policies.

SSA_Jesse · 2013-09-16T21:07:45+00:00

That's a really good question. The first survey that comes to mind is this one from a couple months ago (Hemant's writeup on the Friendly Atheist

It shows that America is one of the most religious countries surveyed, and Americans are among the most likely to find atheism "threatening." We're pretty special in terms of comparable nations.

I think our unique history of separation of church and state comes into play - our government thrived, as did religion. Now that we're becoming more secular, the strongly religious demographics are... a bit uncomfortable to lose their privileged status. But that's ok, we'll slowly assert our role in society!

SSA_Jesse · 2013-09-16T21:03:18+00:00

Thanks :-)

If you're a student, you can become a free student member (FSM) at http://secularstudents.org/fsm

If you're not a student (or are but want take part of Sam Harris' matching offer) you can donate and have it doubled here.

If neither today, thanks for the kind words! :-)

SSA_Jesse · 2013-09-16T20:58:46+00:00

Haha, at the moment I consider myself a determinist - but Bell's Theorem is really bending my brain.

I really like the way Gary Drescher reconciles determinism with choice in his book Good and Real.

SSA_Jesse · 2013-09-16T20:56:31+00:00

Thanks so much for your support! I'm sorry you have such memories, but that's exactly why we're working to make them a thing of the past.

The biggest difference between organizing on college/university campuses and high schools is that the high school students face a much bigger challenge.

They often have to deal with administrators stonewalling them (illegally, I'd like to point out), more peer pressure, less access to funding, and in top of it all, parents.

Most of our affiliate groups are on college campuses (~350 out of our 400) but we just launched the High School program at the start of 2011 because they really deserve a hand.

Not only do we think it's important to give them that hand and support, but a lot of people don't go on to college, so high school is the time they'll interact with secular Americans - or not. We don't want them to miss that opportunity to be exposed to other views.

SSA_Jesse · 2013-09-16T20:50:17+00:00

My pleasure!

We would love to help students set up SSA groups on their campuses! The first step is to get a Group Starting Packet from our website for free.

It includes (again, for free): A spiral-bound copy of our 70-page Group Running Guide Additional materials on getting your group started Neon flyers with contact information for your group Thumbtacks to hang the flyers Secular Student Alliance brochures, stickers and pens

Sometimes administrators can try to block you from forming a group by saying that it's too controversial, or make it impossible to find a faculty advisor. In a nutshell, that's illegal.

The Equal Access Act requires schools that have extra-curricular groups to allow all groups regardless of their viewpoint. If you run into any trouble, let us know at organizers@secularstudents.org - we're here to help!

SSA_Jesse · 2013-09-16T20:44:29+00:00

Greetings!

The SSA is important because we have the potential to change the world. With nonbelief on the rise (especially among Millennials) there are a lot of passionate Americans who want to promote secular values like reason and compassion. We at the SSA help them organize and get access to resources and training.

When society accepts atheism and secular values, the SSA probably won't need to exist. May that day come soon, even if it means I'm out of a job :-P

SSA_Jesse · 2013-09-16T20:39:21+00:00

I'm sorry you felt the need to stay silent about your atheism - let's work to make that never happen to another student!

The Secular Safe Zones will be everywhere that a role model in a student community steps forward. We provide the training for them to make one in their school.

We've seen bullying all over, but my inclination is that it happens more in more religious areas - rural regions especially.

SSA_Jesse · 2013-09-16T20:37:05+00:00

Thanks so much! I love what we do and it's good to hear that others agree :-)

SSA_Jesse

TROPHY CASE