A Message to The Freethinkers of Arkansas
Introduction
This seems to be the time of year, outside of the madness that is called commercialism, where the bulk of Americans can in their own way reflect and contemplate the message of the holidays. Some choose the time to vacation to warmer areas while others, given the region they reside in, enjoy the “White Christmas” and the magical change of season that it would seem to carry. Some families find the time to drive great distances to be with loved ones and there are those that may be fortunate enough to return from overseas as a reprieve to existing in very austere environments. There are those of us who are fortunate to have families, even with common dynamics and the unfortunate ones who only know poverty and broken homes or in the worst of cases have no homes.
Regardless, it gives many a chance to reflect on what The Season is and why it exists in this moment of time. The many “Zeitgeist” theories and beliefs many in the skeptical movement have shown a complete disregard for what most consider a premise of their chosen faith. The people who adhere to your beliefs have every right to do so; this is a free country. However, your militant approach to seeking every cause for a “free society” scrubbed of all religious matters does nothing but create disdain for your movement, and on the other hand intimidates those with good will through the use of law and courts.
In an age when violence and disregard for human life is extreme and furthermore in an area which was the inspiration for a documentary on gang violence, that was worse per capital than that found in larger inner cities, you find that all that is wrong with society is a Charlie Brown play at a local church. What are self evident truths to some of us, seem to completely escape the ideology and policies you would press to into the void created by removing faith based morality or even the possibility that it even exists. You would have us believe that this slight of a school was to be noticed by the many offended and not one who subscribes to the small minority of “skeptical thinkers” in the area. And yet it is the belief that they can encroach on others joy and seasonal happiness.
I wish to say now that it is not my attention to attack a person, or a group of people for their particular views. I will not do that, but I will address those views as I see as a growing trend to silence a very huge part of our culture, not only in this Nation but with the very area we live in. If there is personal offense taken, then examine why such an address of the matter is warranted. There are many other Free Thinkers who suggests things affronting to my faith and values yet I know it is against my beliefs and not who I am as a person. It is my goal to dialogue in the same manner.
The Issue
The issue, which is becoming more common during this time of year especially, is always centered around matters of faith: a cross on a roadway, a fifty year old statue of Christ at a veteran’s cemetery (paid for through private funding no less) and now the most horrible notion of young children watching a Charlie Brown play with a Christmas theme at a local church. It seems to begin the same way: an anonymous person was so offended by such an abomination of their 1st Amendment rights that they approached a small minority of Free Thinkers that before they nothing to do with or never known about for legal assistance. Are we to believe that this had never happened before? That the culmination of reason and science all of the sudden makes it clear to the enlightened that Charlie Brown celebrating a holiday in its intended form, is now archaic and outdated or will leave a citizen feeling like an outcast? Are we to believe that our democracy, and our public school system is so theocratic that they would chastise a parent and their child for refusing something as horrendous as a Christmas play? Dare I say that the local Free Thinker challenge of the issue is one of opportunity?
Anne Orsi, with the great education you posses, there is an understanding of the written code and what its true purpose is, but like many other students of jurisprudence, your agenda comes before the original meaning of the law. Are we to accept that you are unbiased, when it is you who are the Vice President of the local Free Thinker organization? We also must know the history of the law as well. The greatest thinkers, luminaries all, sat among themselves, many of different faiths and set upon making a social contract that would create the greatest common good for the greatest number. The recent history they knew was filled with those that would hail the Divine Right of Kings notion and then of course would state “whatever pleases the law, pleases the prince.” The rejection of this manner of ruling and tyranny had to end so than many of different faiths could sit at the table without the notion that a certain religion would dominate over the others. In all of my ignorance, I can be fairly certain that our Founders were not as concerned with children taking a day off to watch an innocent play as they were a king deciding who should burn at the stake for a particular heresy against a state mandated religion. Also, I can say with good faith, that it was and is not the intention of the church to proselytize the children over their parents wishes.
Mrs. Orsi, with all of the transgression of liberty and justice in our lands, you call on your many years of good study to pursue this and I am disappointed in not more of a loss of confidence for those in your profession. How often must we see the expenditure of good knowledge of the law used on such frivolous lawsuits? I suppose it can be assumed that an atheist attorney believes that law came about from evolution and centuries of wrong action and thought before man was able to decide upon some natural law which they could adhere to, for in fact it was a very natural law that the Founders appealed to when authoring this social contract which now guides us.
You call the church’s good intentions of inviting children to a plat as an “alliance” and that they “..clearly over stepped their bounds..” Do you have children or relatives in this school? Have you taken part in the education of youth in the city? Have you volunteered your time outside of preaching the doctrines of Darwin and Hawkins? If you get your wish, what do you plan to do with that void that was allotted for cheerful fun and I might add a bit of charity on the part of the church?
The Solution
One should never present a problem without also presenting a solution that can be debated for after all our Founders did this with their many different faiths, or in the case of Thomas Paine, hardly any at all.
First: drop the charges and frivolous lawsuit against the school and the church. I can assumed that in this economy they are short of funding or donations and lack the resources to hire legal assistance which in turn is a common tactic of many atheists who sue. No apology would be needed on your part; we are speaking of a church and in its best design would not, openly at least, hold bad feelings towards you.
Second: If you beliefs are so important that you would spend the time and energy to take a small denomination to court over a smaller issue, then ask for a public forum or debate in which the best of both atheist and theist in the area may dialogue what they believe. Is this not civility in it purest form?
Conclusion
With the state of our Nation and our world we find a very odd predicament. Homes and families are broken more than ever. Drugs and promiscuity fill every void created by either some ignorance of morality or the ill defined reasoning to pursue instant gratification in the first place. Raising lack of employment along with idleness leads many to embrace this lifestyle of complete disregard for law, for which I might add is nothing more than and ordinance of reason. And it is reason that we must appeal, for what is a society have if not for faith and morality. What can the skeptics give that would replace it in this moment and not some “evolutionary agenda” that will take another eon to form into the desired utopia?
I'm surprised that no one from our group has commented here. While I am not the official speaker for the group, I feel I might be able to shed some light on the situation, as I personally see it.
ReplyDeleteThe main problem is that the Christians in the last 200 years have enjoyed much control over our society, which I believe has blind-sighted them. They never stopped to accept the fact that we became a diverse country with diverse beliefs.
While adults can make decisions for themselves, children can not in many cases, especially when it comes to public schooling.
In the past the Christian majority has felt that freedom of religion gave them the right to freely express their beliefs to a captive audience - children in public schools. As you may be aware, until a few decades ago children were made to say prayers in public schools. And which prayers did they use? Christian prayers.
That was probably OK when our country was less populated and all the children in a public school might have been Christian.
It was never taken into consideration that things have changed and that now the children in public schools come from more diverse backgrounds and would have diverse religious beliefs, or maybe none at all.
Since the Christians in this country are still presently the majority and the children in public school probably fall within that majority, the few children that are in the minority will be made to feel disconnected when exposed to Christian beliefs in school and if they voice any complaints may be ostracized.
I, and many Freethinkers, keeping all children in mind, don't think that type of situation should be allowed to continue.
We want all children made to feel that they are part of the group, and in (secular) public schools, that is the group they should always feel comfortable in.
Even when the school makes a trip to a church voluntary, it opens up the possibility that some children will be made to feel obligated to go to avoid feeling outside the group, or teased or worse.
Religious belief should be a choice and private matter. When religion is brought into public schools it becomes a public matter and oversteps its assigned area (church, mosque, temple, etc.) of influence.
Hopefully this has helped explain why secular groups are adamant about keeping a wall between church and state run public schools.
We want all children in public schools to feel free from any religious pressures. They have enough to worry about keeping up their grades and trying to find friends and fitting in.
I personally think it is much better for children to accept each other for who they are, rather than their religious beliefs. This goes for adults too.
Peace.
George Sterpka
Board Member
Arkansas Society of Freethinkers
George,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment. I am not positive any dialogue on this matter is really warranted at this time only for the reason, and this is from my perspective, that Agape Church did not fight a little harder for what it thought was right. If our courts are theoretically just, then it would have been a good forum to debate the manner. I originally felt compelled to write on the matter due to reading some of views across the board. I may not agree with someone, but I can at least promise civility and respect. The messages were filled with a vile language that can only be used so liberally with the anonymity that the internet provides. It was then that I felt compelled to address the issue fully with my name as to open some discussion and what you would refer to as reasoning. As I stated, Benjamin Franklin strongly disagreed with Thomas Paine, but they were still able to remain friends after Age of Reason was published.
I must disagree that Christians, or how I see them, have not “had control” in the last 200 years, nor should any one belief have it- we do not live in a theocracy of course. I can explain why they never had it as well. Consider all of the things that go against traditional beliefs: abortion, euthanasia, promiscuity, greed, violence and the lack of moral formation. Had Christians “control”, that is to say more than a passive input, these things would not be as prevalent.
As I understood it, no one was forcing anyone else to do anything. I can understand the awkward position that say a child of a family whose beliefs are different from that of the Evangelical church “being forced” to attend a play that may contain a message contrary to their particular views, but I still remain skeptical of the premise of an anonymous person of a different religious faith going to a humanist, atheist or agnostic group to receive assistance on the matter. It is my assumption, as with the courts mentioned above, that our public school system is just enough to hear out a parents concerns. I can definitely say that my Catholic Faith does not allow me to force my views on anyone- with a bit of grace I can only state my position and live out my life in a way that befits the good nature of the Church.
I remember saying prayers in kindergarten, and to be honest that was the length of my religious instruction for a very long time, and personally I wish I would have had more formation. However, you cannot force someone to pray- it would defeat the purpose, but I digress for now.
I wrote the first letter after reading what I knew about the story and a few blogs on the matter. What appeared to me what not how you present yourself now. What I mean is that you are civil in your disagreement and that is to be respected. It is as if some of your counterparts in my city look for faith based objects to “attack”: a cross that can be seen from the side of the road, a statue of Christ or one particular one of a Grotto that can be seen from the sidewalk. It is the agenda that I am concerned with. The Humanist organization that composed the letter to Terry Elementary School stated that it represents a small populace of persons that feel the same as you do. One story I heard of late tells about how a girl mentioned that her grandfather had appealed to God in the Vietnam Conflict and in that she was pulled from class and reprimanded for evening mentioning the subject. Is this the compulsory prayer that you wish to prevent Mr. Sterpka? The views that you hold, as mature as they can be, are elsewhere being used in a very militant way.
It is not just in the schools. Anything government is being compelled to act the same way. I can say that if someone was trying to proselytize me at work, I would take it to well as there is a proper place for that type of dialogue in depth, but I also would not be offended buy a Hindu or Muslim wearing the garments that their faith would dictate them to wear.
I ask you this: Where is it that a person may practice their faith fully without fear from offending another?
Joshua
So GSTERP... Explain once again how religion in schools are a bad thing? I can see what humanism is a school does..
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