Maybe We Should Try the National Day of Reason Again

I'm posting this from Chambersburg, PA: nice town, nestled in the Cumberland Valley, with lots of history all around. I would definitely like to come back to this area when I have more time to see the sites and explore the region more. It's in easy driving distance to the Appalachian Mountains, Gettysburg, Antietam, Washington DC, and Pennsylvania Dutch Amish country. Since I'm here for work, I'll probably have little useful time to see sights, but I'm going to try to see what I can.

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The annual National Day of Silence, a day in which high school and college students across the country spend a day in silence as a sign of solidarity for gay and lesbians who feel silenced by discrimination, was observed on April 18th of this year. As expected, there were counter-protests. In Muskegon, Michigan, a student was suspended for wearing a piece of tape with "I'm straight" written on it.

John Gardner is pastor of Holton Family Life Worship Center in Holton, a community of approximately 2,500 about 17 miles northeast of Muskegon. Pastor Gardner says his 15-year-old son David, a student at Oakridge High, was suspended for a day by the school because he wrote with a black marker "I'm straight" on a piece of duct tape and attached it to his shirt. He explains that David donned the message to voice his objection to the school's participation in the Day of Silence.

"They asked him, at that point, to take it off," Gardner says, "and David [asked] why do the rest of the kids in the class get to wear theirs and I can't wear something about what I believe?" According to the pastor, the teacher then instructed David to remove the message or he would be "kicked out" of class. "And he said, 'Well then, you'll have to kick me out' -- and that's what they did," says David's father.

I'm not sure why they would have an issue with the tape. It was a weak protest, but it wasn't offensive and should be protected free speech. The school no doubt overreacted. Perhaps they thought they were erring on the side of caution, but they overstepped their bounds. I don't think the student was completely blameless, however. Although I think he was within his rights, high schools are a controlled environment, and if the school officials have deemed something inappropriate, continuing to wear or do said thing is asking for trouble. There are better ways to fight the school that are far less detrimental to your education. The school rules may not always be right, but they do provide order. I will reiterate, however, I think he was ultimately within his rights to wear the message.

Why did I call it a weak protest? Why would someone assume that just because you are straight that you are anti-gay? Why would anyone assume that just because someone is in favor of gay rights that they are themselves gay? I am straight, but I fully support equal rights and equal treatment for gays and lesbians, and for gay and lesbian couples. Just announcing that you are straight doesn't make you against gay rights, but that is pretty much what his message wanted you to assume. Given that, he must have assumed that a lot of his fellow students were gay. If he didn't assume that, then his message was nonsense from the beginning.

A final point to consider is that, regardless of the implications of the good pastor, the school had nothing to do with the Day of Silence. It is a student organized grassroots event that spreads nationwide through word of mouth. School administrations have nothing to do with the event or participation. David's protest of the school's participation was meaningless. The school didn't participate; the students did.

It is time, says the Michigan pastor, for Christians to step to the forefront. "I tell you, I fear what's coming in the next ten years for the Church and the schools -- and children, in general -- if the Christians don't come out of their closet," he says. "The gays and lesbians want to come out of their closet; I think the Church needs to come out of their closet and stand up and be the Body of Christ that God has told it to be

I've read that three times still can't believe he said it. Has anyone ever seen a Christian in this country that was truly scared to announce themselves? I see Christians everywhere I look. Every time I go to work I see Bible verse wallpapers on computer and church fliers in the break room. I've had a perfectly intelligent coworker tell me that evolution is crap but Noah's flood happened just like it says in the Bible and science can prove it and anyone who thinks otherwise is just fooling themselves. You can stand up in any high school in this nation and yell about loving Jesus and have the whole school on your side. Try standing up and yelling that you're gay and see how long it takes before you are ridiculed, discriminating against, or worse. People don't get beaten up for believing in god. You can't say the same about homosexuality. There is nothing closet about Christianity.

I'm still here

It's been about two weeks since I posted anything. I was out of town for work all last week and I've been swamped here this week. I'm leaving for work again next week, but I'm going to try to get a couple of posts in before I leave, but I still haven't even caught up on the blogosphere and news since I returned from my trip. I'm going to try to get caught up today and get some inspiration.

The Creepyness of Religious Indoctrination

I've been less than motivated to post lately. I went on vacation Thursday through Sunday of last week, and that state of mind has basically continued since. I'm back now, hopefully.

On to the post.

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Ed Brayton has posted on a recent free speech case involving a 4th grade student handing out religious fliers at school. He and I agree on the outcome of the case that the student should have the right to hand out the fliers, but the article stood out at me for a different reason.

According to the family's 2004 lawsuit, Nicole Bloodgood tried three times to get permission for Michaela to pass out the homemade fliers to other students at Nate Perry Elementary School. The flier, about the size of a greeting card, started out: "Hi! My name is Michaela and I would like to tell you about my life and how Jesus Christ gave me a new one."

I think that is one of the creepiest things I have ever read. She is in the 4th grade. That is about 10 years old. How hard a life could a 10-year old have had, barring homelessness/poverty (which is not likely given that she has the time and resources to make the fliers), chronic disease (which the cynic in me knows would be mentioned in the story for the compassion factor), or a situation created by her parents?

This is a situation created by the parents. It is a situation that tells the child that they have no value as a person if they aren't connected with this invisible, intangible father figure. This a fundamental problem I have with religion; especially Christianity and Islam. They tell everyone, including children, that they are evil, immoral, horrible people that don't even deserve to be alive, but as long as they believe in the sky fairy, he'll have mercy on them and keep them safe from the horrible, eternal wrath and torture that was created by that very same loving father. That knowledge would most certainly create a bad life for a 10 year old who believed it. Control through fear is the mantra of western religion, and nowhere does it work better than against a child.

Childhood is not the age that we should be instilling dogmatic thinking. Instead, we should be encouraging the skills of logic and critical thinking. Armed with those skills, a person can approach any situation with a rational perspective and make decisions based on fact and reason, not dogma. We should be focusing on creating a generation of intelligent, skeptical leaders, not religious sheep.