Introduction

This edition of the Secular Student Alliance eNews is Part 2 on our series: My Struggles with Disbelief. We bring you a story of a young boy in the middle of a Supreme Court battle, someone who has no struggle with disbelief at all, the struggles of a high school student and a college professor, and finally a way to resolve the conflicts.

We love to hear your feedback. Please send us comments at [email protected]. If you'd like to write an article for an upcoming issue, please email us as well.

We hope you enjoy the issue.

My Supreme Court Case

Life in Kansas

Allow me to begin by introducing myself. My name is Andrew Stangl, and I am both the president of a secular student organization called the Society of open-Minded Atheists and Agnostics (SOMA) at the University of Kansas, and a board member for the Secular Student Alliance (SSA).

For anyone who attends school in the United States and identifies him or herself as any synonym for non-Christian or non-believer in a god or gods, few days pass without harsh reminders that the majority of students are hostile to your viewpoints.

Still Struggling

Religion was the biggest bone of contention growing up in my household. It started at age 5 with "Mommy, why doesn't Daddy have to go to church and I do?" When I was asked to write this piece, I thought this will be easy, I have so much I can say about my "struggle with disbelief," but as I sit down to write it I get this sick feeling in my stomach. I want to talk about the fights we had about religion in my family, and the accommodation we came to, and how we are still negotiating the issue today. But when I go to start writing I keep picturing my mom sitting at the computer googling my name and reading this article. (Life was so much easier before parents became Internet-savvy). I don't want to upset her. I don't want to violate my parents' privacy by airing their beliefs and conflicts for all to see. (As you might guess, "Metskas" is not the most common last name in the universe).

SSA Chair Wins Prestigious Scholarship

Can Secular Students Work with Progressive Believers?

My Struggle with Belief

Dear Editors,

A far better title would be "My Struggle with Belief." "Disbelief" is not really the right word for the topic you presented. Quit being cute. Disbelief in what? You editors are really asking why the respondent doesn't believe in god, aren't you now? "Disbelief" is refusal to believe or absence of belief. Like such is somehow a bad thing or something.

The Garrison-Martineau Project

This article was written by Chris Lindstrom, the director of the Garrison-Martineau Project

I listened to the Alito Senate hearings with mixed feelings. On the one hand, I was happy to hear that he generally ruled in favor of the rights of minority religions - like the Muslim police officer who, thanks to Alito, was able to keep his beard. On the other hand, I was dismayed to hear that he felt public high school graduation prayers should be put to a majority vote - of the students. A colleague asked me if I felt it was better to have a smart right wing reactionary or a stupid right wing reactionary in office and I realized that this was the wrong question. What's important isn't intelligence, it's empathy and the ability to imagine oneself in another's shoes.

Campus visits

The SSA has recently been organizing in New York, northern Kentucky and in the Southwest.

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