It’s that time of year where we all have to find our own way to celebrate or not celebrate the various religious winter holidays. Many of us have families that celebrate Christmas, and it can be difficult to find our own way to participate as non-religious persons. Some of us reject the whole thing, and some of us embrace it, including Richard Dawkins. Some of us enjoy surprising religious people, as Greg Laden of ScienceBlogs describes in Let the War on Christmas Begin. Atheist style. Do you celebrate any version of the winter holidays? If so, how?

AAS will be celebrating the winter holidays when we return to classes in January with sledding at La Casa Grande (Dr. and Mrs. Avalos’ lovely home), baking cookies, and making Flying Spaghetti Monster ornaments out of pipe cleaners and googly eyes!

This is also the time of year where the line between church and state begins to blur, as nativity scenes, Christmas trees, and menorahs go up on the steps of Capitol buildings and courthouses across the US. What is the holiday decoration situation in your home town?

One secular group in Westchester, PA has found a unique way to celebrate and to be included in the religious holiday display outside their courthouse – by decorating an evergreen tree with laminated book covers to represent human knowledge. Unfortunately, local religious groups have been less than accepting. The entire article: Atheist Tree of Knowledge under attack from Examiner.com is posted below the cut for posterity.

Tree of Knowledge 2009, photo by Carol Everheart Roper via Examiner.com

WEST CHESTER, PA – For the last three years, a local group of atheists, skeptics, rationalists, humanists, freethinkers, etc. have joined in the winter festivities by putting up a display representing their values along side other displays in front of the Chester County Courthouse in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

The display, designed by the Margaret Downey, president of the Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia (FSGP) is an evergreen tree decorated with laminated book covers from varying subject matters. The Tree of Knowledge is a symbol of humanist values. It represents knowledge, education, science, philosophy, morality, diversity, and of course curiosity. A complete list of all the books represented by the book covers is available here (pdf).

The Bible (also represented as an ornament on the Tree of Knowledge) references a tree of the knowledge of the fruit of good and evil. According to the Genesis story, Eve ate from the fruit out of curiosity and temptation and thus damned all of humankind with the original sin punishable by eternal torture in Hell. The FSGP Tree of Knowledge of course does play into that symbolism, but it doesn’t rely solely on it. While there are multiple books with morality, ethics, and the nature of good & evil represented on the Tree, it also represents our humanist values and our break from the Abrahamic tradition. It is not an attack on religion, but rather an expression of an alternative set of values (i.e. knowledge and reason).

Ever since the Tree of Knowledge first joined the Christmas Tree, The Crèche, and the Menorah, this display has been the center of controversy. Many Christians have claimed that the inclusion of humanist values next to the Jesus Crèche is an attempt to “steal” Christmas. It seems that many Christians are of the opinion that Christians own the winter season. They do not.

Winter is a time of year in which the days get shorter and significantly colder. People are prone to depression during this time of year and as a result, the idea of bright colorful celebrations and gift giving started long before Christianity. Atheists aren’t trying to “steal” Christmas any more than Christians stole Saturnalia… oh wait, never mind.

Over the last two years, the Tree of Knowledge has been vandalized by loving Christians and demonized in the local newspapers and blogs in some of the most hateful ways. This year, the Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia had to fight new regulations designed to bully their display off of the courthouse lawn. One new restriction was on the height of the display. No display can be higher then 10 feet tall… except for the Christmas Tree. Clearly the County endorses one religion over all other religious viewpoints. So instead of the 18 foot Tree of Knowledge, FSGP had to get a smaller 10 foot tree.

Another regulation on when the displays could go up was apparently changed at the last minute so that the Crèche could get the ‘first come first serve’ space preference and push the now smaller Tree of Knowledge to a less visible spot under the branch of a larger nearby tree.

It now seems that a Christian call campaign has begun asking believers to contact the County Commissioners office to complain about the Tree of Knowledge and demand its immediate removal.

It seems that atheists, humanists, freethinkers, skeptics, etc. have to fight for every inch of ground. Non-theists now make up 15% of all Americans and yet we are being bullied out of the public square because Christians believe they have the Monopoly on the entire month of December. No serious argument can be made claiming that the Tree of Knowledge is in any way offensive or purposefully confrontational or provocative.

The Tree of Knowledge isn’t an attack on religion it is a symbol of humanist values. But at a time in which the inclusive greeting of ‘Happy Holiday’s’ is seen as offensive to some Christians (Bill O’Reilly), we shouldn’t be surprised that so many Christians will attack the inclusion of a Tree of Knowledge.

Due to weather, We will have to reschedule the planned meeting for tonight.
Please be safe driving and enjoy the snow.

This is the last week of AAS activities for this semester. If you have suggestions for events over break, please suggest them on the AAS Facebook discussion board or comment here.

As you register for classes for next semester, please keep in mind that AAS meetings for Spring 2010  will be Monday nights 7-8pm in the MU Gold room.

Thu Dec 3, 2009 7pm – 8pm  AAS Meeting – Memorial Union Gold Room (2nd floor, near Multicultural Center)
Fri Dec 4, 2009 11am – 1pm  Ask an Atheist Booth – UDCC Commons area
Sun Dec 6, 2009 11am – 1pm  AAS Sunday Brunch – Harvest Room of Seasons Marketplace on Campus

At this week’s meeting, we’ll watch the movie “Flight From Death“.

Have a happy winter break!

With Christmas time just around the corner we all have serious issues to be considering.  Some of these include: should we be good and, if so, why?  For goodness sake?  For Jesus? 

While you’re thinking about this age old topic I would like everyone to consider something that has been on my mind for years, something that I knew in my heart was wrong but that I just didn’t know how to express.  Now it has been expressed for me in a manner that I was incapable of.  They present it in a way that even me, as a confused and easily manipulated kid, can understand!!1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_Oj0-splZw

From an interview with the creater, Jonathan Acuff:
“[Jesus] wants us to love our enemies and serve our neighbors. As long as there is no body on body action. I’m talking of course about a “full frontal hug,” one of those sinful abominations where you just wrap your arms around a friend and embrace them. That’s why Christians the world over have pioneered the “side hug.” In the side hug there’s no risk of two crotches touching.”

As many of you know, AAS had an AP religion reporter on campus for the Ask an Atheist booth and the Superstition Bash. The resulting story is a fairly accurate picture of who we are and why we gather in this student organization. We’re already getting many responses to the article. If you’re visiting this site because of this article, feel free to share your views in the comments. The article is reprinted here in full for posterity, but will be removed upon request of the owner of the material. Select positive and negative responses to the article will be posted here on the AAS blog.

Atheist student groups flower on college campuses

AP Photo by Charlie Neibergall

AMES, Iowa – The sign sits propped on a wooden chair, inviting all comers: “Ask an Atheist.”

Whenever a student gets within a few feet, Anastasia Bodnar waves and smiles, trying to make a good first impression before eyes drift down to a word many Americans rank down there with “socialist.”

Bodnar is the happy face of atheism at Iowa State University. Once a week at this booth at a campus community center, the PhD student who spends most of her time researching the nutritional traits of corn takes questions and occasional abuse while trying to raise the profile of religious skepticism.

“A lot of people on campus either don’t know we exist or are afraid of us or hate us,” says Bodnar, president of the ISU Atheist and Agnostic Society. “People assume we’re rabble-rousing, when we’re one of the gentlest groups on campus.”

As the stigma of atheism has diminished, campus atheists and agnostics are coming out of the closet, fueling a sharp rise in the number of clubs like the 10-year-old group at Iowa State.

Campus affiliates of the Secular Student Alliance, a sort of Godless Campus Crusade for Christ, have multiplied from 80 in 2007 to 100 in 2008 and 174 this fall, providing the atheist movement new training grounds for future leaders. In another sign of growing acceptance, at least three universities, including Harvard, now have humanist chaplains meeting the needs of the not-so-spiritual.

With the growth has come soul-searching — or the atheist equivalent — about what secular campus groups should look like. It’s part of a broader self-examination in the atheist movement triggered by the rise of the so-called “new atheists,” best-selling authors who denigrate religion and blame it for the world’s ills.

Should student atheist groups go it alone or build bridges with Christian groups? Organize political protests or quiet discussion groups? Adopt the militant posture of the new atheists? Or wave and smile?

___

As teenagers move into young adulthood, some leave God behind. But not in huge numbers.

More than three-quarters of young adults taking part in the National Study of Youth and Religion profess a belief in God. But almost 7 percent fewer believe in God as young adults (ages 18 to 23) than did as teenagers, according to the study, which is tracking the same group of young people as they mature.

What young adults are less likely to believe in is religion. The number of those who describe themselves as “not religious” nearly doubled, to 27 percent, in young adulthood.

Growing hostility toward religion was found, too. About 1 in 10 young adults are “irreligious” — or actively against religion — after virtually none of them fit that description as teenagers.

At Iowa State, most of the club’s roughly 30 members are “former” somethings, mostly Christians. Many stress that their lives are guided not by anti-religiousness, but belief in science, logic and reason.

“The goal,” said Andrew Severin, a post-doctoral researcher in bioinformatics, “should be to obtain inner peace for yourself and do random acts of kindness for strangers.”

Severin calls himself a “spiritual atheist.” He doesn’t believe in God or the supernatural but thinks experiences like meditation or brushes with nature can produce biochemical reactions that feel spiritual.

When the ISU club began in 1999, it was mostly a discussion group. But it soon became clear that young people who leave organized religion miss something: a sense of community. So the group added movie and board-game nights and, more recently, twice-monthly Sunday brunches to the calendar.

“It’s nice to be around people who aren’t going to bash me for believing in nothing,” said Bricelyn Rector, a freshman from Sioux City who, like others, described community as the club’s greatest asset.

Members also seek to engage their peers at Iowa State, a 28,000-student science and technology school where the student body leans conservative. There’s a “Brews and Views” night at a local coffee house and talks by visiting speakers common to any college campus.

“This is not a group of angry atheists. It’s a group of very exuberant atheists,” said faculty sponsor Hector Avalos, a secular humanist and well-known Biblical scholar who used to be a Pentecostal preacher. “Their primary aim is not to destroy the faith of Christians on campus. It’s more live and let live.”

The “Ask an Atheist” booth is the club’s most visible outreach. On a recent Friday, a handful of members stand ready to intercept students on their way to eat lunch or withdraw money from a nearby ATM.

Traffic is slow. Scott Moseley, a Bettendorf, Iowa, senior, stops for a polite conversation.

He explains that he was raised Methodist, has a Buddhist friend and dates a Wiccan.

“My entire concept of one religion is kind of out the window,” Moseley says.

Bodnar, an ex-Catholic married to a Buddhist, recommends the local Unitarian Universalist congregation, a haven for a grab bag of religious backgrounds and a few members of the ISU Atheist and Agnostic Society.

The closest thing to a confrontation comes when another student, a baseball cap pulled tight to his brow, talks briefly about heaven before he mutters, “I can’t listen to you guys,” and walks away.

___

On most college campuses, secular groups take shape when non-believing students arrive and find a couple-dozen Christian groups but no home for them. It isn’t that atheism is necessarily growing among students — surveys show no uptick in the number of atheist and agnostic young adults over the last 20 years.

But the greater willingness to speak out, paired with the diversity within the movement, has resulted is a patchwork of clubs across the country united in disbelief but different in mission.

At Texas State University in San Marcos, a group of freethinkers led by a former Lutheran organizes rock-climbing outings and has co-sponsored a debate with a campus Christian group.

The University of South Florida is home to two active clubs: a freethinkers group that held a back-to-school barbecue and an atheist group that protested an anti-abortion group’s campus visit.

Still other clubs embrace rituals. At the University of Southern Maine, a secular humanist organization has celebrated HumanLight, a secular alternative to Christmas and Hanukkah.

Just in the past year, the Iowa State club has evolved in new directions. Some are things churches have traditionally done — like the club’s first foray into volunteerism, sleeping outside in cardboard boxes to raise money for homeless youth.

Others get at the heart of tensions within the atheist movement. The club worked with a Methodist church on a gay rights candlelight vigil, a gesture that would make some atheists cringe.

“The trouble is, any time you start working with other groups, religion starts coming in,” said Victor Stenger, an adjunct professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado and author of “The New Atheism: Taking a Stand for Science and Reason.”

“People bring up Jesus, they’re trying to proselytize, trying to get people to go to church,” Stenger said. “The atheist groups just can’t put up with it. They have to argue against it.”

More recently, the ISU club’s non-confrontational philosophy has been tested by a debate over the fate of a small chapel at Memorial Union on campus.

The club has avoided taking a position because members are divided. Some want the chapel’s religious symbols — including an eight-foot wooden cross — removed on First Amendment grounds. Others fear repercussions and don’t think a fight is worth it.

“The point of the club is not to make waves or controversy,” said Bodnar, adding that she is uncomfortable with “calling out religion as wrong.”

Some club members would like to be more confrontational when circumstances merit. Junior Brian Gress was interested in participating this fall in a nationwide “Blasphemy Day,” a stick in the eye to religion. But the club passed and the idea fizzled.

“You should always try to make friends, but there are certain things about religion that can’t be tolerated,” Gress said. “Basically, the intolerance of religion can’t be tolerated.”

Most affiliates of the Secular Student Alliance fall somewhere between militant and why-can’t-we-all-just-get-along, said Lyz Liddell, senior campus organizer for the Columbus, Ohio-based group.

“College students can be a little more susceptible to the more reactionary anti-religion voices, partly because it’s so new to them,” she said. “My impression is after a couple of years, they mellow out.”

Christian Smith, director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society at the University of Notre Dame and a principal investigator on the youth and religion study, said campus atheist groups are better off without militancy. Young adults are taught their entire lives to be nonjudgmental, that different points of views are OK and that there is no one truth, he said.

“Emerging adults are just not into trying to make other people be or do something,” Smith said. “If I were advising atheists and humanists, I would say their long-term prospects are much better if they can successfully create this space where people view them as happy, OK, cooperative, nice people.”

At Iowa State, what one club member describes as a band of misfits and outcasts is trying to carve out a space where atheists who raise a fist and atheists who wave and smile can coexist peacefully.

____

Eric Gorski can be reached at egorski(at)ap.org or via http://twitter.com/egorski

What follows is a selection of the more negative letters that resulted from the AP article. More letters will be added as they are received. Names and email addresses have been removed.

atheism

God loves you.

If you dont think you need God, that is your choice. However do me a favor, if you feel that you are a good person, take the test at www.goodpersontest.net and see how it comes out.

Atheism

If you knew your history, youd know that Atheistic societies have been the most murderous, not religious ones. While im pretty secular, I accept that humans will have some type of religion. I prefer Judeo-Christian religions to the more modern and fascistic relgions like animal rights and global warming. I cant remmeber to whom the quote is attributal to but it goes like this: “When people stop believing in God, it is not that they will believe in nothing, they will believe in anything”. You can see that today especially in the UK where Global Warming not Christianity has practically become the state religion.

What follows is a selection of the more positive letters that resulted from the AP article, some with a bit of constructive criticism that we ought to consider. More letters will be added as they are received. Names and email addresses have been removed.

—–

Looks great except for one thing…

I can’t find the “Critical Talmud” and “Critical Qu’ran” study groups on your website.

Since Islam is 25% of the world population and growing at a faster rate than dead christianity, why are my fellow Atheists so reluctant to admonish Islam concerning the vast amount of literalism, jihad, archaic laws, homophobia, sexism, etc.?

Additionally, the torah, tanakh, talmud, and cabbala have some of the most ludicrous fantasies of all time.
The historically unproven “Moses” performed more insanely ridiculous “miracles” than “Jesus of Nazareth”.
Passover is celebration of a torah fantasy: why not take B’nai B’rith and the ADL to task for that?

Why the reluctance to take on judaism and islam?
Those who believe in the rational power of  Science should not shy away from potential persecution…Galileo didn’t.

I just can’t understand why christianity is the overwhelmingly targeted religion. It’s dying faster than capitalism.

Why not “Blasphemy Day” assigned 33% for Moses, 33% for Jesus, and 33% for Mohammed?
What about Guru Nanak, the nutty gods of Hinduism, and the Bahai insanity?

Science, Logic, and Rationality should not fight those who are docile: what valor is in that?
Even the ancient polytheists were not afraid to fight for their gods and idols.

Please increase the Diversity of Critique and focus on judaism and islam equally with the other monotheist religion (which is actually polytheist according to judaism and islam because of a “trinity”). And consider the vast number of Hindu myths, as well.

Yours in Bold and Diverse Science,

x

Welcome to the blog for the Atheist and Agnostic Society! Our official school website can be found here. On this blog, we post news and event updates for the club as well as occasional commentary from our club members. We hope you’ll explore our site and learn more about us. Feel free to leave comments and get a conversation started. You may also start a discussion on our Facebook Fan Page discussion board.

Please note that any “fan mail” that is sent to the group’s email address or to any club member as a result of group activities may be posted on this blog for posterity, although we will remove your name and email address.

Please choose which nights are best for you to have AAS meetings next semester at this Doodle Poll.

Thanks very much to everyone who helped make the Superstition Bash a wonderful success. This week, we have another special event: a panel discussion about evolution organized by our Vice President Brian Gress.

• AAS meeting. Thursday 7pm MU Gold Room. Interviews with Ames High School students for an AP class project.
• Evolution: Why it is true and why it matters. Thursday 8pm MU Sun Room. Join us to celebrate the 150 anniversary of On the Origin of Species, one of the most influential writings of all time. The night will include talks by Drena Dobbs, Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molec Biology, Jill Pruetz, Anthropology Department, and Justin Rice, EEOB. Following the talks we will open the floor to discussion and Q&A. RSVP.
• Ask an Atheist. Friday 11am-1pm UDCC Commons.
• Sunday Brunch. Sunday 11am-1pm The Cafe in Somerset (2616 Northridge Pkwy, Ames, IA). RSVP.
• Thanksgiving week event to be announced. Where/when would you like to share a meal with AAS members who are in town for the break? Vote at this Doodle poll.

My “evil” motivations behind my involvement with the MU chapel discussions

As most AAS members know, the MU Chapel was introduced up in a bill in GSB just a few short weeks ago by Senator Jacob Johnston. After some amendments, the bill recommends that the MU adopt a policy to keep the cross and allow student groups to add additional symbols. It seems like a great solution that would encourage religious diversity, but there are potential problems. Adding more symbols could potentially lead to a messy room that isn’t useful for anyone. Who would decide which symbols were “legitimate” or not? Should the cross maintain its status as a large permanent object while the other symbols are temporary and small? Who would pay for the additional symbols? There are so many questions that I’m not sure if adding more symbols is truly a viable way to make the chapel a space for all students, not just some. So, I’m trying collect input from students to help answer those questions, not as the President of AAS, but just as an interested person who wants to help!

There are also potentially problems with the chapel as it currently exists other than the presence or absence of symbols. For example, the pews take up the majority of floor space, meaning that students who do not practice their spirituality while seated in a chair might not be able to use the space. I say potentially because there just didn’t seem to be enough input from students of a variety of faiths or no faith in order to make any generalizations about it.

Quite a few members of AAS expressed that they didn’t feel that the space was usable to them, and some phone calls to the leaders of different religious student groups quickly led me to realize that this isn’t just “an atheist thing”. The chapel is currently an exclusively Christian space, even with the little curtain drawn, which means that many students aren’t currently able to use it. Are there students who don’t have their spiritual needs met by the chapel as it currently exists, particularly if their spiritual needs aren’t met off campus? If we’re going to have a chapel in acknowledgment of the spiritual needs of students, should the chapel be inviting to people of more than one religion? Again, more questions than I have answers.

In an effort to start some dialogue within the student body, I organized two interfaith discussions about the chapel. The discussions were very meaningful, with persons from a variety of viewpoints sharing what they would like to see or not see in a student run spiritual space. Happily, many of the people who attended the discussions are interested in continuing interfaith discussions at ISU on a variety of topics, including the chapel. We collectively came up with a variety of ideas and options that might help make the space available for more students while keeping with the original intent of the chapel – to honor the fallen soldiers and to provide a quiet reflection space for students. As a veteran myself, I feel that the connection of the chapel to the Gold Star Hall is certainly something to be maintained and possibly even emphasized. We also were careful to only consider ideas that would have as small a financial cost as possible.

One idea was simply to find reflection spaces designed for use by people of many faiths and of no faith that may already exist, such as in hospitals and airports. For example, this chapel is at Shore Memorial Hospital in New Jersey. It’s a beautiful and obviously spiritual space that doesn’t promote any particular religion or lack of religion. The ideas discussed by the participants will be presented to GSB, assuming they grant me time to speak, at the meeting on Wednesday.

Still, input from only about 30 students total did not seem like enough, so I sent out a mass email to all ISU students with a request to fill out a short survey. The survey questions were written to be as broad and open as possible to allow students freedom to express their opinions while hopefully allowing me to quickly summarize the information for presentation to GSB and the Board of the Memorial Union (again, assuming they grant me time to speak). Perhaps this wasn’t the best written survey, but I did the best I could on my own. I was hoping that this would be the springboard for more discussion, not the end of it.

So far, the response has been excellent! There are over 500 responses, and the letter only went out about 6 hours ago as of this post. Some of the responses have been thoughtful, careful examinations of how the respondent uses the chapel and how it may or may not be accessible to other students. Some students give specific suggestions for how to make the chapel an inviting space for our entire student body. Many students share exactly what they like about the chapel – the most common response is that the quiet of the room is greatly appreciated.

Unfortunately, there are also a lot of angry responses and a lot of people making assumptions and accusations without explaining why they feel that way, which isn’t constructive at all. A lot of respondents simply say that they personally are a Christian so the chapel should be left that the way it is. Some even say that the curtain should be removed because the cross should never be hidden. Some people suggest that another location be set aside for non-Christians. One person even suggested that changing the chapel was akin to killing people! On the other extreme is people who think the chapel should be turned into a computer lab or office space.

I personally feel that there is a middle path that will work for as many students as possible, but it will take more discussion to find it. I hope that some of the respondents will take the time to get involved in future discussions about religious diversity at Iowa State University.

– An abridged version of this post was sent to the ISU Daily as a Letter to the Editor. For posterity, below is what I submitted. –

As most Daily readers members know, Senator Jacob Johnston introduced the MU chapel in a GSB bill. The amended bill recommends that the MU adopt a policy to keep the cross and allow student groups to add additional symbols. It seems like a great solution that would encourage religious diversity, but there are potential problems. Adding more symbols could lead to a messy room that isn’t useful for anyone. Who would decide which symbols were legitimate or not? Should the cross maintain its status as a large permanent object while the other symbols are temporary and small? Who would pay for the additional symbols? There are so many questions that maybe adding more symbols isn’t a viable way to make the chapel a space for all students.

There are also potentially problems with the chapel as it currently exists other than the presence or absence of symbols. For example, the pews take up the majority of floor space, meaning that students who do not practice their spirituality while seated in a chair might not be able to use the space. There just didn’t seem to be enough input from students of a variety of faiths or no faith in order to make decisions about the chapel. In an attempt to gather input from more students, I organized two interfaith discussions and sent out a campus wide email with a short survey. The goal is to present the ideas from the students to GSB and the MU Board of Directors, if they grant me time, to hopefully aid them in making any decisions about the chapel.

The response to the survey has been excellent – thank you to those of you who took a minute to share your thoughts! Some responses have been thoughtful examinations of how they use the chapel and how it may or may not be accessible to other students. Some students give specific suggestions for how to make the chapel an inviting space for our entire student body. Many students share exactly what they like about the chapel – the most common response is the quietness. A lot of respondents simply say that they personally are a Christian, and/or that the chapel designer was a Christian, so the chapel should be left the way it is. On the other extreme is people who think the chapel should be turned into a computer lab or office space. Unfortunately, there are also a lot of angry responses, people making assumptions and accusations without explaining why they feel that way, which isn’t constructive at all.

I personally feel that there is a middle path that will make the chapel a special place for as many students as possible, but it will take more discussion to find it. I hope that many of the respondents to the survey will take the time to get involved in future discussions about religious diversity at Iowa State University, whether or not they result in changes in one room on campus.

One opportunity to have a discussion with people from diverse faiths and without faith is at “Brews and Views” on Monday Nov 16 at 7pm at Old Chicago. This event was organized by a diverse group of students as a way for us to learn from each other and make new friends. This month’s discussion topic is “Pluralism and Evangelism”. I hope to see you there!