This kid, who protested a school prayer at the graduation ceremony, finds himself ostracized, demeaned, and shunned by his own family.
Very sad story about a very brave young man.
Addendum: This blogger outlines why he or she thinks the young man is being a jerk. Maybe it’s hard to understand what it’s like to have to sit through an official prayer for a religion you don’t share. It’s oppressive actually, especially as a kid. You’re not even sure what you’re supposed to do, and you want to avoid doing anything to attract attention to yourself, so you do what those around you are doing. You put your head down and pretend like you’re praying, because you really don’t want to seem any more different than you already are. The blogger obviously hasn’t been through it. Not as a kid.
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May 29, 2011 at 5:01 pm
ED Denson
Toleration is not presented at the top of the Christian virtue list in some churches. Christians often assume that because they are the majority in the community they may do as they please regarding institutional prayer and other public endorsements and displays of their religion. They’ve been doing it for so long that it just seems natural and right to them. Of course they get upset when challenged. That’s when the Christian tire hits the road of reality and we see how well they understood the teachings of Christ and whether they can distinguish them from community norms. As it is said “by their fruits shall ye know them.”
May 29, 2011 at 5:27 pm
edsvoice
Wow,
this sounds like the Feb 2009 SHCP meeting at the Mateel Community Center. What is the difference Eric. Four family households of the SHCP were pointed out by name and found themselves ostracized, demeaned, and shunned by the community because of what the Park Board said. They stood their ground about the Park. And now that movement has grown to over 600 people.
May 29, 2011 at 5:38 pm
Somebody
Funny thing is you can say the sameting in the prop8. You could say prop8 voters were very brave against all the hate directed against them by the so called tolerance movement.
May 29, 2011 at 5:46 pm
Anonymous
The young man’s scholarship fund is now at $26,000 courtesy of anonymous strangers. The Freedom from Religion Foundation offered him a $1,000 scholarship from the get-go. Here’s an interview with the guy (scholarship fund info is found on that page too). There is something of a support network, sometimes including housing, for individuals being harassed, ostracized and/or threatened by people who live their lives according to Bronze age myths.
May 29, 2011 at 5:49 pm
Anonymous
Interesting read on the situation, including the comments section
http://ethicsalarms.com/2011/05/21/the-atheist-the-graduation-and-the-prayer/
May 29, 2011 at 5:59 pm
Anonymous
edsvoice is right e.. what’s the difference?
May 29, 2011 at 6:00 pm
Eric Kirk
Park opponents and people who want to tell me whom I can marry all feel a kinship for this young man. Great comparisons guys!
May 29, 2011 at 6:16 pm
Anonymous
Somebody is right. You liberals are the champions of intolerance and nastiness.
May 29, 2011 at 6:58 pm
dave kirby
i am sitting out here in the nevada desert looking to catch up on what’s new back in so hum and i get this shit. you jackasses don’t get enough bickering at home you have to bring it here…sick
May 29, 2011 at 7:10 pm
Anonymous
Thanks for participating in the bickering you decry Dave! Priceless!!!
May 29, 2011 at 7:17 pm
edsvoice
“Park opponents”?
It’s ‘Park Board opponents’ Eric, and you never answered my question?
Its not a comparison Eric, its an “example” how ugly people can get about the rights of opposing view points. How a group of people can “incite hate” onto another for no other reason than his or her own beliefs.
You still did not answer my question?
I know you were not on the Park Board back during the hiss & boo SHCP/MCC meeting, but you have shown this same disdain towards anyone who speaks out against what onl;y the Park Board wants, many times on this very blog of Yours.
Now, how about answering my question: What is the basic difference here?
May 29, 2011 at 7:47 pm
suzy blah blah
I think he was smart enough to know what would happen, being spit upon by his community and thrown out by his parents. Yet he is transcending the abuse which is endemic to those narrow and unbending structures of the kind seen in the community and family which he found himself in. To me it’s a valuable model, the dissident. Within it he was able to find self-impowerment and recognition that was not (is not) given to him by the one sided, power tripping, patriarchal town and family that he had to leave behind. Sad, but the long slow zombie-like walking dead conformity that he’s rebelling against is sadder.
May 29, 2011 at 7:58 pm
Anonymous
“If he don’t want prayer at graduation he can stay at home and not come to graduation.” A quote from someone about that kid.
Sound familiar?
May 29, 2011 at 8:28 pm
Anonymous
6:16, it’s the conservatives being intolerant and nasty in this case.
May 29, 2011 at 9:04 pm
Anonymous
6:16, it’s the conservatives being intolerant and nasty in this case.
In this case maybe. But usually it is you lieberals Explain to me how this situation is any different from the hatred thrown at Christians who supported Proposition 8?
May 29, 2011 at 9:23 pm
Eric Kirk
(Sigh). This is quite the thread! Of course, it isn’t about a courageous boy who suffers for a principled stand. It’s about your agenda. It’s always about you.
Believe me Park opponents and Prop 8 advocates – I understand quite well how “ugly” these discussions get. But this thread is not about the Park, nor is it about Prop 8. Park opponents and Prop 8 advocates are quite active in throwing their anger and personal attacks around. This boy did nothing of the sort. So I would say that the chief difference in the stories is that while Park supporters and advocates of equality in marriage are subject to personal attacks, at least our own families have not turned against us.
May 29, 2011 at 10:25 pm
Neville
Back on topic, I found this quote at the end of the article.
“And my point is this: The next time someone tells you that atheists are selfish and amoral? Remember Damon Fowler. Remember the religious community that bullied him, harassed him, ostracized him, and drove him out.”
It’s a nice point to make but it isn’t like helping him doesn’t boost their agenda. I would be more impressed if atheists actually came to the support of a believer who is attacked for his beliefs. I say this because I expect that there will be plenty of Christians willing to support this young man.
May 30, 2011 at 2:11 am
Anonymous
what makes this young man “brave” ?
May 30, 2011 at 4:47 am
Anonymous
Atheists help people every day. The difference is they don’t proselytize atheism in the process. Just look into any secular organization, Rotary, Lions, etc. You’ll find atheists anywhere religion isn’t being used as a tool to divide.
But if you want examples, here are atheists who have a discussion board on a website with thousands of (non-atheist) discussion boards (Reddit.com) giving to charity: Doctor’s Without Borders and World Vision. Yes, that’s right, atheists knowingly donating to the evangelical charity World Vision.
May 30, 2011 at 6:36 am
Anonymous
How often is a Christian bullied, harassed, ostracized and driven out of a community in America? If that mythical event ever occurs, I’m sure there will be atheists standing up to support the individual. We’re good without gods.
May 30, 2011 at 7:28 am
Erasmus
What’s really sad and absurd about this case is that the so-called Christians who have ganged up on this student are explicitly contravening the teachings of the man they profess to worship —and I’m passing over the injunctions to turn the other cheek, etc. Jesus opposed public prayer: he instructed his followers to seclude themselves when they pray, in order that they not resemble the hypocrites who showily display their piety when they converse with their god in a public forum. — On more than one level, the “Christians” in Louisiana are hypocrites. I would recommend a study of Kierkegaard to them, but that would be like suggesting that the moon should generate its own light.
May 30, 2011 at 8:45 am
Anonymous
Nevile:
When this happens, “I say this because I expect that there will be plenty of Christians willing to support this young man.”,please let me know. You should have underlined and bold lettered the word Christians.
May 30, 2011 at 9:31 am
Anonymous
“brave young man” ha ha ha ha ha
May 30, 2011 at 9:46 am
Bruce Ross
It sounds like the “Christians” of small-town Louisiana need to do some soul-searching — but I’d not be the one to give them advice in that department.
I thought this was an interesting take on the broader issue:
http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/atheologies/4680/it%E2%80%99s_time_to_reconsider_graduation_prayer_in_public_high_schools/
May 30, 2011 at 9:50 am
Bruce Ross
If you’re not inclined to read the whole thing, the author’s gist, as I see it:
“For years, the community of non-believers, of which I am a part, and the community of liberal believers, who are, together, usually the ones attempting to ban religious imagery from the public square, have avoided the hard work of specifying what forms of communal expression of meaning are appropriate and constitutional at events like high school graduations. Instead, we’ve acted as if the category of “religion” were obvious and all that was needed for a constitutional challenge was a potential plaintiff who felt offended by the government’s language.
“But the constitutional prohibition is not against offending people, it’s against establishing religion. Government offends people all the time. At the graduation ceremony in Bastrop, for example, the audience might have been asked to rise to honor our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Clearly, such a request could offend critics of those wars, yet the request would not be unconstitutional.”
May 30, 2011 at 10:04 am
Anonymous
The brave young man stood up for the constitution and the rule of law, knowing full well he will become a pariah in his community. He’s a role model for the rest of us. Or maybe he’s just out to exploit the idiots in his community. He has a slam dunk case on his hands with the Supreme Court on his side.
May 30, 2011 at 10:35 am
Anonymous
And be clear about one thing, the supposedly impromptu student-led prayer was impromptu at the dress rehearsals too. The school can’t claim it didn’t know.
May 30, 2011 at 7:00 pm
Anonymous
“…quite active in throwing their anger and personal attacks around.”
against anyone who questions the local elites.
May 31, 2011 at 7:39 am
Eric Kirk
Turns out, he does have support from his siblings.
http://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/hed7y/threatened_to_contact_aclu_for_prayer_at/c1uut0n
May 31, 2011 at 2:38 pm
ChumBolly
When we get to vote on what state-sponsored privileges theists are allowed to enjoy in this country — like marrying who you love — christians and the rest of the simple-minded believers in a sky-daddy can complain.
The reason anger and insult are hurled at those who support prop 8 are quite simple — the rights guaranteed in the Constitution are not up for a goddamn vote and are not subject to a vote by a simple majority.
You want to pray pray in your goddamned churches or in your homes. We don’t need to endure the silly superstitions you hold dear in public.
June 1, 2011 at 9:51 am
Erasmus
Would ChumBolly oppose polygamy (a practice hardly unknown in human history) or sibling marriage? Does ‘anything’ go? Before categorizing the Prop 8 backers as hate-mongers or Neanderthals, it is advisable to try to understand why some people might have a problem with gay marriage — just as many liberals might reject the cases I mentioned. — And why the slurs on theists? Are they all ‘simple-minded’? Has ChumBolly never taken a college course on religion, never read Kierkegaard, Buber, William James, Unamuno, or Karen Armstrong’s book “The Case for God”? — I support gay marriage. I wish some of my fellow supporters would suppress their temper tantrums.
June 1, 2011 at 1:56 pm
Bolithio
How many kids in school really understand the ramifications of prayer or pledges of allegiance? I look back on highschool and seriously doubt any more than 10% of the students were true believers in anything, other than their hair and social status. Think of the monotone, “one nation under god” blah blah… Whose thinking about dieing for their country in that moment? Perhaps a kid whos dad is in the army, but not many others.
A kid may have raised this issue, but the adults made it into the big deal it is now.