Atheist student clubs could gain foothold in public schools

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
7/3/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Secular Student Alliance has 300 chapters on college campuses

The Secular Student Alliance, of SSA has 300 branches on college campuses. Intended to spread and lead young people into an atheistic worldview, the organization is now planning to make inroads on public high school campuses across the United States.

Seventy-three students from diverse areas across the nation have requested SSA 'starter kits' since January of this year.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Some say that the student group will shortly rival religious organizations that already reside in many public schools.

Student-led, SSA groups are growing. These clubs are relatively simple to set up and interest in secularism among young people is increasing. The SSA provides information and guidance to students and then organizes individual chapters. Religion News Service reports that these groups have grown from a dozen to 39 clubs in 17 states.

Seventy-three students from diverse areas across the nation have requested SSA "starter kits" since January of this year. According to the SSA web site, the kits include:

- 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

"We create a page on our website dedicated to your school," J.T. Eberhard, the director of SSA's high school program. "This site will link to your Facebook group and e-mail address, as well as other pages on our site that offer information about who we are and what we can do for your group.

Eberhard believes that these clubs will be a positive experience for non-believing students. He also claims that they open up positive discussion avenues.

"The road behind the SSA is a rocky one. Staying organized with busy student schedules and a network spread all over North America has not been easy. But the first few years of the SSA's operations have demonstrated what the perseverance and tenacity of these students and their off-campus supporters can achieve," reads the group's official Web site.

"We are all deeply excited about the road ahead of us. It will hold its obstacles, but we are confident that we have the resolve to change the course of history."
� 2012, Catholic Online. Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.

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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: Secular Student Alliance, atheism, school clubs, fundraisers

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1 - 10 of 27 Comments

Judy Claar
10 months ago
DLL: Very Nice Post. Thank you. I especially liked"...love is what we must learn, through our time in life, a ticking on our personal cross." Wonderfully stated! JA:Mike, May I ask how you view love?
DLL
10 months ago
Secular Humanism is a website that presents itself as a world view that is even beyond that of the atheist or the agnostic. It is antitheist. It is a carnal perspective only,as what is Divine cannot be proved. Type in Secular Humanism on google and there it is. Jesus (Saviour) is Divine. Jesus is the living test to prove that love is greater than hate,good is greater than evil. The true war that we must all do battle with is the war within ourselves. Every human being can by their own choices in life be a source for good or evil. We seem to be fixed by the choices that we make for ourselves in life. The cross is a device that a criminal was fixed on until they died. The wage for sin is death. Jesus who is the Divine 2nd person of the Holy Trinity chose to die on this most unholy and humiliating cross of death for those convicted of their sins. Why? Is the Divinity of Christ compromised because He chose to die a real death on a despicable cross. No! Divinity Himself,in the form of Jesus Christ,is a battler against the wage of sin,as he overcame death by remaining on the cross. This Holy Person died in the place of the sinner Barrabas. We are Barrabas,sinners, fixed in our carnal ways,incapable of overcoming our own sins without the loving help of the one who died in our place,that was truly a Divine Person. The Ressurection of Jesus from the dead proves that Divinity is what proves to be the eternal meaning of life. The carnal,material life is a flicker in time,the time of all who are carnal,is a cross,on that cross we will all know the end of time,life as we know and experience it. The time Christ spent on the cross was to prove that love is divine,love is what we must learn through our time in life,a ticking on our personal cross. Faith is wisdom to know that love is worth the sacrifice of our own lives. "There is no greater love than to give up ones own life for their friends". Real war is a battle so that love is the governor of those that are alive. God is love,Christ is love,the Holy Spirit is love. Ego is not love. If it were Christ would have come down from the cross rather than rise from the dead as He did 3days later. Christ would have been advertised as a freak of nature if he came down from that cross,or He would have only proved that He is Divine and we are still dead in our sins because we can not comprehend Divinity. Our Easter is to understand that we can understand Divinity if we understand Jesus life,death on a cross and His resurrection from death. Never miss Mass and this becomes more apparent. We can to a large degree understand Divinity. Divine life is possible to live as we have an example of the Divine Person in Jesus the Christ. Divinity is an eternal privilege that is granted to all through the Power of the Holy Spirit,that same Spirit that animated Christ. To be a Catholic should mean that one has been touched by the true meaning of what it means to be Divine. Christ died for me so that I could die to sin. I need not die on my cross of time! Christ is my path to redemption. What is Divine? God! God is an eternal mystery,but through Christ I know that God is Love,Love never dies, as God is eternal love,Divinity itself. Christ is the eternal sacrificial love that leads all carnal beings to redemption in a Holy Communion,through a Holy Catholic Mass,in the Power of the Holy Spirit.
Judy Claar
10 months ago
Juneau Alaska: Mike, I understand what you are saying. I have been through a whole gamut of discerning Truth in my life. I believe I have tried to explain This to you before, and I do not think I did very well. Maybe it was because I used the word "feeling". I prefer to explain my "attempt at Truth" by using the last few sentences of DLL (1 Day ago) . You seemed to have accepted and understood that. In the meantime, Prayers and Blessings...
Juneau Alaska
10 months ago
Judy Claar,

Don't you suppose devout Jehovah Witnesses and Scientologists feel completely free too? All I'm saying is feelings may not be the best method to discern truth.

MIke
Juneau Alaska
10 months ago
Yes. DLL, thank you for acknowledging the difference between being an atheist and having a worldview.

I do lend my support to a few secular organizations that share my humanitarian values and none, I repeat none, bear any similarity to what DLL has described. I have never met an atheist who seeks to convert but rather, seeks to share knowledge. Controlling minds is simply anathema to a freethinker.

Secularism means supporting the first Amendment: namely keeping State and Church seperate. As I've said before, there are Catholic, Islamic, Pagan, Jewish and of course, atheist, secular Americans.

Now, there are anti-theists who do not like the the tolerant and gentle position of secularism Perhaps DLL is referencing them?

Mike
Judy Claar
10 months ago
DLL: Nice post. I feel the same as you...Free in Catholicism. I have never been more free. If religious liberties were taken away from me, (like not letting me practice my religion which gives me peace and freedom and love, BLESSED SACRAMENT, etc.) such as the government, who NEEDS CONVERTS, I don't know what. I think I pray a lot now! But, as in Germany, the old hangers and the used/new of religion, will be ignored as was the leper not really so long ago. And the new Secularism, will Become and Re-place religion. That is why, I humbly opine they want the clubs in the public schools. Start young. When they are away from their parents, instructing them the way they want them instructed. That happened before too. Parents, still don't care enough to look into better schooling? Right now is the time. Look for others in your same situation and find a Solution. I will surely pray for you. "Come, think our way, the Truth will set you Free. It is the way of education to open your eyes to liberty". This is what we Catholic Mom's, Dad's, G.ma"s etc. have to face. Prayerful Blessings...
DLL
10 months ago
Secular Humanism is a world view for atheistic Individuals. By the way we are all going to die. The question no one knows for sure,apparently more for some is,is there an afterlife? If there is no afterlife,everyone will be totally dead. As a Christian,Muslim,Jew,Hindu,for example,they all believe in afterlife,as they have faith full of hope. Atheists have no faith and can offer little hope outside of what they themselves believe is some sense of their own hope,based on their own individual perspective. Secular Humanism,an organised world view,with an internet following of individuals,helps atheists to agree on what it might be that some,not necessarily most,of them believe as a group. Secular humanists are agreed on their constitution,as expressed on their website,that they believe religious faith based systems an enemy that must be undermined because they believe that religious faith is erroneous practical thinking. In short they believe that all must be atheist and they seek converts to their individual world view points. They believe that religion is the source of malady in the world. To them religious freedom is actually a non issue. Religious freedom to them,constitutes a slavery of the human mind,that creates the saddest of human conditions. Secular humanism is truly conditioned thinking from my own sense of things and I for one feel a truest sense of freedom as a practicing Roman Catholic.
Juneau Alaska
10 months ago
Atheism is not a worldview. It has a short definition. If you want to make it a worldview, lets consider these four points:

1.Christians: Believe in Jesus or Die
2.Muslims: Believe in Allah or Die
3.Communists: Toe the Party Line or Die
4.Atheism: Accept atheism or Die.

Anyone have any citations for #4 occurring? Don't stay up too late searching. Time is precious.

Mike
Judy Claar
10 months ago
DLL: BRAVO! BRAVO! BRAVO MAXIMUM!
DLL
10 months ago
If one cannot pray in a public school or promote a religious viewpoint,how can any one organise an atheist group that encourages an atheistic world view? Atheistisc beliefs has in itself become a religion,because it is a world wide point of view. Isn't that what the public media and network news and entertainers like Bill Maher do everyday. We are saturated with the atheistic media induced,perspective every day. Separation of Church And State! What a laugh as that excludes Atheists? We need to understand the world view of those of all kinds of religious belief groups if we are to understand each other on a worldwide basis. That is the problem. Muslims and Christians,Jews,Buddahists,Hindus and Atheists must all understand each other and learn to respect the differences between their religions and/ or World Views if their is to be any peace.

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