Mississippi State Senators Respond on SB2151

I emailed the members of the Senate Education Committee using the contact information I posted here about the Student Religious Liberties Act (SB2151). This bill is very similar to legislation that has been passed in other states, and it seems to me that it was designed to make it easier to get creationism in the classroom. I hope I'm wrong about that, but that is how it strikes me.

I took care in writing my email so as to make it as polite and inoffensive as possible. I asked them to oppose SB2151 because I was concerned that it would be detrimental to science education in our state and that it represented a church-state violation. I kept it short and was sure not to include any inflammatory language.

Real Christians

Once one realizes the absurdity of the common "but they aren't real Christians" claim we atheists hear every time we call attention to Christians behaving badly, reminders like the one depicted in this poster can be effective. Let Christians keep struggling to define themselves. As long as "real Christian" means nothing other than agreeing with the person using the label in every possible way, it has no meaning.

Subscribe to Mississippi Atheists

Action Alert: Student Religious Liberties Act (SB2151)

Big thanks to Oliver for the post about the Student Religious Liberties Act of 2011. This is not one we can afford to ignore, as it would be devastating to science education in our state.

Who Should You Contact?

It appears that the bill has been referred to the Senate Education Committee. Therefore, I suspect that is who we should plan to contact first. Here is what I could find about the membership of this committee:

Videt Carmichael, Chairman

Gray Tollison, Vice-Chairman

Members: David Blount; Hob Bryan; Terry C. Burton; Doug E. Davis; Merle Flowers; Alice Harden; David Jordan; Tom King; Chris McDaniel; Bennie L. Turner; Michael Watson; J. P. Wilemon, Jr.; Lee Yancey

How Do You Contact Them?

Here is the contact information for all Senators. It should be fairly easy to write, email, or call each of the senators on this committee and explain why this bill should be allowed to die in committee. In fact, I'll make it even easier. Here are the email addresses for everyone on the committee that has one (two members do not):

vcarmichael@senate.ms.gov, gtollison@senate.ms.gov, dblount@senate.ms.gov, tburton@senate.ms.gov, mflowers@senate.ms.gov, aharden@senate.ms.gov, djordan@senate.ms.gov, tking@senate.ms.gov, cmcdaniel@senate.ms.gov, bturner@senate.ms.gov, mwatson@senate.ms.gov, jwilemon@senate.ms.gov, lyancey@senate.ms.gov

You can simply copy and paste this into your preferred email program. If you receive a reply, please let us know so we can share the news here.

Thank you for your help.

Subscribe to Mississippi Atheists

Student Religious Liberties Act of 2011

We've got a doozy of a bill coming through the Mississippi State Legislature that I feel that all Mississippi atheists should be monitoring. It's called the “Mississippi Student Religious Liberties Act of 2011”. It allows for students to preach to other students at graduation ceremonies and for students to maintain religious objections to material taught in the classroom. Are you a creationists who feels that your faith is being threatened in a biology classroom? The Mississippi State Legislature is on your side.

There’s a bit of history surrounding the language of this bill. At a spring of 2006 high school graduation ceremony in Henderson, Nevada, the valedictorian, Brittany McComb, decided to give an evangelical speech which differed from her pre-approved commencement speech. Midway through her speech, the commencement officials shut off her microphone and abruptly moved on with the program. In the long series of lawsuits that followed, the case to sue the high school was eventually dropped by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The 2006 event has since become a case study for religious expression in academic settings. Does a student have the freedom of speech to preach and to convert others in the capacity of a representative of a public state funded school? Was the school denying Ms. McComb her first amendment right to the free exercise of religion by cutting off her microphone? A similar case was ruled upon by the Ninth Circuit in 2003 which said that a proselytizing commencement speech "would have constituted District coercion of attendance and participation in a religious practice" and further ruled that schools have a right to pre-approve commencement speeches.

The bill proposed in the Mississippi State Legislature would require that student speaker to state orally or in writing that the “student's speech does not reflect the endorsement, sponsorship, position or expression of the district.” But if the student is putting this disclaimer at the beginning of their speech, the student body is trapped in religious ceremony at this point. I don’t see how this this bill pass Constitutional muster if it can be easily seen that this is respecting the establishment of religion in an academic environment.

But there’s more to this bill than just school speeches. The text of the bill states that “Students may not be penalized or rewarded on account of the religious content of their work.” If you are in a biology class and wish to answer your biology homework with your religion’s mythology, how is the teacher suppose to come up with a grade? Again, I don’t see how this bill does anything other than hinder the academic process.

The bill goes on to designate periods of time (opening and closing announcements and athletic events) where students are given an open forum to promote their views. But this doesn’t apply to all students. You have to be part of the “student council officers, class officers of the highest grade level in the school, captains of the football team, and other students holding positions of honor as the school district may designate.” Not a student officer or the captain of your football team? Sorry. Learn to throw a football and maybe your opinion will be valued.

I hope this bill goes nowhere.

Personal note: I’m only posting here about once every six months. I wish I could be posting more. I’ll be attending the SERAM conference in Huntsville on the 28th and 29th, so hopefully this will spur me to do more writing for Mississippi Atheists.

Subscribe to Mississippi Atheists

Not Easy to Be an Atheist in Mississippi

With the recent hullabaloo related to the nativity scene in our state capitol building and efforts by the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) to add a display of their own, I was reminded of something important about atheists in Mississippi. Quite simply, it can be downright scary to be an atheist in this state.

When the FFRF asked for help in getting their display set up in the capitol, they found it. But it took awhile. And a big part of why it took awhile is that atheists in Mississippi have to be careful that their atheism doesn't get them fired, dumped, assaulted, or worse.

While it is undoubtedly true that atheists face similar obstacles in many parts of the U.S., hearing some of my fellow Mississippi atheists expressing these fears was a powerful reminder of how far we have to go here in Mississippi. There are clear benefits to "coming out" atheist, but it remains a risky proposition for many of us. It puts us in a hell of a bind.

Subscribe to Mississippi Atheists

Cycle of Poverty in Mississippi

I often listen to Mississippi Public Broadcasting on my way to work. I don't much care for it, but it is the only way I can access NPR while driving. On a recent morning, however, they said something that really caught my attention. Evidently, 1 in 3 children in our state lives below the poverty line. And if this sounds high, it is. They went on to say that our state ranks worse than any other state by a fairly sizable margin on this statistic.

What is our state doing to address this problem and the many others that stem from it? Besides cutting money for public education, mental health services, and other programs which just might help because we'd prefer to keep taxes low for the wealthiest residents, what is our state government doing to help?

It seems to me that most of the steps our state leaders are taking will have the cumulative effect of keeping people stuck in a cycle of poverty. I'm not saying they are doing this deliberately; I suspect they simply lack the courage to make the politically difficult decisions required to solve such massive problems.

Good thing fundamentalist Christianity is so entrenched here to help control the populace. Otherwise, we might see more people asking for effective government instead of just continuing to elect those who may not have their best interests in mind.

Subscribe to Mississippi Atheists

FFRF Sign in Mississippi State Capitol Comes Down on Schedule

The "winter solstice" sign, provided by the Freedom From Religion Foundation and placed in our state capitol by local atheists, has been taken down as scheduled and without commotion. All reports indicate that the sign survived in tact without vandalism or significant protest. It was expected to be controversial, called controversial in the small amount of media coverage it received, but ultimately did not generate much real controversy. You'll have to decide for yourself if that makes it a success or a failure.

It has been suggested that we use the placement of the sign in the capitol next year to increase public awareness of atheists in Mississippi. I think this is an excellent idea. The local narrative around the sign emphasized the role of radicals in Wisconsin interfering in our state. The reality was much different, of course. Perhaps we can work to get that across next year.

On a personal note, I just want to thank all of you who were involved with the sign. It meant a great deal to know that if we have to put up with a plastic Jesus in our capitol that a reminder of reason will be right there with it.

Subscribe to Mississippi Atheists

Blair Scott on Huntsville Atheist Billboard

Here is American Atheists' Communication Director, Blair Scott, explaining the intention behind the "You KNOW they're all SCAMS" billboard that recently went up in Huntsville, Alabama.



I know that some of you are not crazy about the billboard. I happen to like it, but I am in complete agreement with those who say that this should not be the only message atheists are sharing. But as Blair suggests in the interview, a lot more of us are going to need to "come out" if we want the atheist movement to better reflect our diversity.

H/T to American Atheists

Subscribe to Mississippi Atheists

See Sam Singleton, Atheist Evangelist

Sam Singleton, the Atheist Evangelist, will be in Mississippi the afternoon of Sunday, January 9th, following a performance in Metairie, LA.

You can catch Sam's comedy show in Metairie on Friday, January 7th at 7:00 PM at Winston's Pub and Patio. Tickets are only $5.75.

Then you can meet Sam on Sunday, January 9th at 2:00 PM in Gulfport when he joins the Mississippi Gulf Coast Atheist and Freethinking Association for a Sunday social at Harmony Hall. Admission is free, and the social will be followed by the group's regular meeting (3:00 - 5:00 PM) and a potluck supper.

Subscribe to Mississippi Atheists

Southeast Regional Atheist Meet

The Southeast Regional Atheist Meet (SERAM) will be held on January 29-30 in Huntsville, Alabama. The event is sponsored by American Atheists and the North Alabama Freethought Association. They are hoping to draw atheists throughout the region.

It looks like seats are limited, so this is probably one you'll want to reserve early. You can find more information here, including scheduled speakers, ticket information, and a tentative schedule.

Subscribe to Mississippi Atheists