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Strategy 1: make a class poster including inspirational quotes, important definitions, and resources. Make sure everyone’s opinion is heard or expressed and explain how we must respect each other’s personal beliefs. Religion is a touchy subject with a lot of people so make sure to stay unbiased and explain that we must respect one another both in the classroom and out in society. 

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Strategy 1: make a class poster including inspirational quotes, important definitions, and resources. Make sure everyone’s opinion is heard or expressed and explain how we must respect each other’s personal beliefs. Religion is a touchy subject with a lot of people so make sure to stay unbiased and explain that we must respect one another both in the classroom and out in society. 

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Strategy 2: have a classroom discussion about how there is nothing to fear from tolerance and learning about religion. Religion is a part of our human history and we must learn from what has been so we can be more respectful and accepting of our diversities. Teaching true respect, and providing pictures and photos to emphasize tolerances’ importance.

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Strategy 2: have a classroom discussion about how there is nothing to fear from tolerance and learning about religion. Religion is a part of our human history and we must learn from what has been so we can be more respectful and accepting of our diversities. Teaching true respect, and providing pictures and photos to emphasize tolerances’ importance.

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Strategy 3: create an exercise where you talk about people who are treated unfairly. Make a few categories of the different types and have students pair share then whole group their ideas. Add definitions and explain a few they might’ve missed. Have a vocab list with atheist, agnostic, secular humanist, deist, and free thinker defined.

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Strategy 3: create an exercise where you talk about people who are treated unfairly. Make a few categories of the different types and have students pair share then whole group their ideas. Add definitions and explain a few they might’ve missed. Have a vocab list with atheist, agnostic, secular humanist, deist, and free thinker defined.

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catholic.com/... is a article that can be utilized by teachers as a resource to learn how to respond to New Athesim, some do’s and don’t, but like everything we must take it with a grain of salt. Teachers would need to just learn how to communicate unemotionally and unbiased; trying to be a bridge for learning and guide to discovery.

# data[].attributes.subject
catholic.com/... is a article that can be utilized by teachers as a resource to learn how to respond to New Athesim, some do’s and don’t, but like everything we must take it with a grain of salt. Teachers would need to just learn how to communicate unemotionally and unbiased; trying to be a bridge for learning and guide to discovery.

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In C. S. Lewis's novel That Hideous Strength there is a scene where the non-religious protagonist, Mark, is instructed as "part of an exercise" to trample an image of a large crucifix. Because Mark is not a Christian, he is puzzled as to why he should bother with this exercise and not just leave this silly superstition alone. The professor who is leading the exercise tells Mark, "Of course it is a superstition: but it is that particular superstition which has pressed upon our society for many centuries. . . . An explicit action in the reverse direction is therefore a necessary step towards complete objectivity" (ch. 15). In other words, if religion is to be purged from society it cannot simply be ignored; it has to be ridiculed.

Lewis's novel, published in 1945, was set in the future. Nearly seventy years later, that future is our present, and the author's descriptions of religious ridicule pale in comparison to the current mockeries of Christianity found on the Internet. Yet while the vileness of the ridicule has increased, the attitude embodied by the professor remains the same. The best way to see how Lewis's fiction has become prophecy is to contrast the "Old Atheism" with what some have called the "New Atheism."

The "Old Atheism"

Throughout most of the twentieth century, public profession of atheism was synonymous with communism or the endorsement of totalitarianism. In a 1961 episode of The Twilight Zone titled "The Obsolete Man," a librarian in a police state is executed for the crime of believing in God. Ultimately the librarian (portrayed wonderfully by the late Burgess Meredith) turns the tables on his executioner, but the image of a believer being crushed under the jackboot of totalitarian atheism was, at the time, not mere fiction. In his 1967 memoir, Tortured for Christ, Richard Wurmbrand describes how Soviet guards would tell prisoners, "I thank God in whom I don't believe. Now I may indulge the evil in my heart" ( p. 34).

These horror stories may have something to do with atheism's low approval ratings. Gallup compared two polls conducted in 1958 and 2012 about people's unwillingness to elect certain minorities to the U.S. presidency. In 1958, 38 percent were willing to elect an African-American and 18 percent were willing to elect an atheist. In 2012, while 96 percent were willing to elect an African-American, only 54 percent were willing to elect an atheist (Jeffrey Jones, "Atheists, Muslims See Most Bias as Presidential Candidates," Gallup Polling, June 21, 2012).

Faced with such dismal levels of public approval, atheists felt the need to show believers that they were good people and not amoral communists. Beginning in the 1970s, the philosopher Paul Kurtz promoted what he called "secular humanism," which focused on promoting human well-being without religion rather than converting people to atheism. Secular humanists even praised religion for its beneficial effects on society.

The Second Humanist Manifesto affirmed, "In the best sense, religion may inspire dedication to the highest ethical ideals." The Manifesto went on to point out that while religion can hinder society, so can many nonreligious ideologies that are not based on humanism (Paul Kurtz and Edwin H. Wilson, "Humanist Manifesto II," 1973). But this attitude of congenial disagreement changed for many people on September 11, 2001.

The "New Atheism"

I remember getting ready for school on that fateful day when my dad ran into my bedroom and turned on the television. Because I went to high school in Arizona, the attacks were in progress by the time I woke up. I stared in disbelief as the news replayed over and over again the surreal sight of the World Trade Center collapsing into a pile of dust. How could 19 human beings (the 9/11 hijackers) do something so terrible? The answer from the New Atheists was simple: Religion alone has the power to cause people to do such terrible things.

In 2004 American atheist Sam Harris, after reflecting on the September 11 terrorist attacks, published The End of Faith. In the book, Harris argued that religion is a form of mental illness and not part of a rational worldview. He writes, "[I]t is difficult to imagine a set of beliefs more suggestive of mental illness than those that lie at the heart of many of our religious traditions." (p. 70). In 2006 British biologist Richard Dawkins went so far as to claim that religious education for children is child abuse: "Even without physical abduction, isn't it always a form of child abuse to label a child a possessor of beliefs that they are too young to have thought about?" ( The God Delusion, p. 354). These books were followed by others, such as Christopher Hitchens' God Is Not Great and philosopher Daniel Dennett's Breaking the Spell: Religion as Natural Phenomenon. Before Hitchens died in 2011, these authors were known as the "four horsemen" of the "New Atheism."

What made these atheists "new" weren't their arguments against religion but their attitude that religion should be reviled. At the 2012 "Reason Rally," about 10,000 atheists gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., where Dawkins instructed them regarding Christians: "Mock them, ridicule them in public. . . . Don't fall for the convention that we're all too polite to talk about religion" (Lillian Kwon, "Atheists Rally for Reason; Urged to Mock the Religious," The Christian Post, March 24, 2012).

Ridiculing religion

To be fair, there are atheists who do not see religion as a bad thing and don't support ridicule as a way to combat it. Atheistic philosopher Walter Sinnott-Armstrong writes, "Like law, science, art, and guns, religion is a powerful tool that can be used for great good as well as for great evil. I have no desire to obstruct the benefits of religion" (William Lane Craig and Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, God? A Debate Between a Christian and an Atheist, 82).But other atheists think this "accommodation" is dangerous. Harris writes, "I hope to show that the very ideal of religious tolerance-born of the notion that every human being should be free to believe whatever he wants about God-is one of the principal forces driving us toward the abyss" ( The End of Faith, 15).

Most atheists do not want the government to outlaw religious belief, but they do want government to no longer be associated with it. One common tactic is to file lawsuits to ban the display of nativity scenes or crosses on public land. When that strategy fails, some atheists opt for a "heckler's veto." In a recent case, the city of Santa Monica had hosted a life-size nativity display in Palisades Park since 1953, which earned it the nickname "City of the Christmas Story." In 2011, atheist Damon Vix encouraged other atheists to apply for booths in the park so that of the twenty-one available spaces nearly all were reserved for atheist displays dedicated to parodies of religion. These included displays that paid homage to the "Flying Spaghetti Monster" (the deity of the parody religion Pastafarianism) and compared Jesus to Santa Claus and the ancient Greek god Poseidon. The latter display included the sign "37 million Americans know MYTHS when they see one. What myths do you see?"

In response to the controversy, the city of Santa Monica banned all private displays from Palisades Park and the ban has been upheld in Federal Court. Vix later said, "If I had another goal it would be to remove the 'under God' phrase from the Pledge of Allegiance-but that's a little too big for me to take on for right now" (Doug Stanglin, "U.S. judge blocks Nativity displays in Santa Monica" USA Today, Nov. 19, 2012).

Another atheist group that uses the strategy of public ridicule is the American Atheists. They are a national group that sponsors billboards with messages such as "Christianity: Sadistic God; Useless Savior." When asked about the controversy about the billboards, the group's president, David Silverman, said, "I respect people; I respect humans. I do not respect religion. And I do not respect the idea that religion deserves respect" (Dan Merica, "Atheist organizer takes 'movement' to nation's capital," CNN Belief Blog, March 23, 2012).

The Internet: The church of atheism

One popular way atheists ridicule religion is through the use of Internet memes, or ideas that spread through a population like viruses. These are usually ironic oversimplifications of religious doctrines that are designed to make the doctrines look silly. One popular meme depicts Jesus with rotting flesh and glowing red eyes along with the caption, "Christianity: the belief that a cosmic Jewish zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically accept him as your master . . . yeah, makes perfect sense."

Besides allowing memes spread at an exponential rate, the Internet has provided a community for atheists to interact with one another. Christians have always had community at their churches, but prior to the invention of the Internet atheists could only hope to run into each other in the Nietzsche section of the local used book store. But now atheists' presence on the Internet dwarfs that of their religious counterparts.

The popular forum website Reddit, which describes itself as the "front page" of the Internet, has various "subreddits" that are devoted to different communities. At the time of this writing, the Catholic "subreddit" has about 5,000 subscribers, the Christian subreddit has about 50,000 subscribers, but the atheism subredditt has more than 1.4 million subscribers. Keep in mind that Catholics make up about 25 percent of the population, non-Catholic Christians make up about 50 percent of the population, but atheists make up only three percent of the population. While some net-savvy Catholics have harnessed the evangelistic power of memes and other internet tools such as blogging, they still have a lot of catching up to do. To quote Mark Twain, "A lie can get halfway around the world before the truth has time to put its shoes on."

Being gentle and blameless

How should Catholics respond to atheist ridicule? First, because critics of the Church sometimes use ridicule does not mean Catholics have a license to do the same. 1 Peter 3:15-16 says, "[B]ut in your hearts reverence Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence;
and keep your conscience clear so that, when you are abused, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. "

On a recent Catholic Answers Live radio show an atheist caller claimed that the reason I was Catholic was because my mother taught it to me and I blindly accepted what she told me. I corrected the caller gently and told him that my mother is not Catholic and I was in fact a convert to the Catholic Church. He apologized and we continued our discussion over whether or not atheism is true. This is a good example of using charity so that others may "themselves be put to shame" when they defame us.

Watch out for smelly fish

Second, Catholics should be ready to give a well-reasoned answer to the arguments put forward by atheists. Several books and media resources are available to help Catholics answer atheist arguments with objective tools like science and philosophy. My own book on the subject, Answering Atheism, is due out this year. Unfortunately, when some atheists are confronted with thoughtful arguments for the existence of God they will take the low road in discourse and attack our faith instead of attacking the arguments used to defend it.

For example, if you present scientific evidence for God (such as the universe's beginning in time) an atheist might say, "But what about all the scientists, like Galileo, that the Church has persecuted?" If you present objective moral truths as evidence of an objective moral law-giver an atheist might say, "But what about the Crusades, or the sex-abuse scandals, or the fact that the Bible condones slavery and genocide!"

As you can see, these arguments have nothing to do with the existence of God. Instead, they are designed to lead you away from that topic and keep the debate focused on an irrelevant detail. In logic this type of gambit is a fallacy called a "red herring." The name comes from the practice of dragging a smelly fish called a herring across a game trail. This was done so that the hunting dogs could practice not being distracted by other scents and instead stay focused on the object of the hunt. You should take a lesson from the dogs and stay focused when people present these red herring arguments. Simply respond, "That may be true, but which premise of my argument for the existence of God do these facts refute? How would these facts show there isn't a God?"

But along with strong, well-focused arguments, 1 Peter 3:15-16 requires that our defense of the faith must be so charitable that we are beyond reproach if atheists criticize us. The Catechism of the Catholic Church points out that atheists may be less morally responsible for their atheism because they were poorly evangelized by believers. Quoting Gaudium et Spes, the Catechism states:

The imputability of [atheism] can be significantly diminished in virtue of the intentions and the circumstances. "Believers can have more than a little to do with the rise of atheism. To the extent that they are careless about their instruction in the faith, or present its teaching falsely, or even fail in their religious, moral, or social life, they must be said to conceal rather than to reveal the true nature of God and of religion" (CCC 2125).

What not to do

A recent case where Christians concealed rather than revealed God's love can be found in the recent controversy surrounding high school student Jessica Ahlquist. Ahlquist, who was a student at Cranston West High School in Rhode Island, spoke publicly in favor of removing a 47-year-old banner from the school auditorium that was emblazoned with religious phrases like "Our Heavenly Father" and "Amen." In 2011 the American Civil Liberty Union, with Ahlquist as plaintiff, sued to have the banner removed. Ultimately the district court ruled in favor of Ahlquist.

Members of the community who supported keeping the banner, many of whom described themselves as Protestant Christians or Catholics, expressed extreme hostility toward Ahlquist, who described herself as an atheist. Three local flower shops refused to deliver flowers that were purchased for her. Police were dispatched to escort Ahlquist between classes because she had received death threats. State Rep. PeterPalumbo called Ahlquist an "evil little thing" in a local radio interview (Abby Goodnough, "Student Faces Town's Wrath in Protest Against a Prayer," The New York Times, Jan. 26, 2012).

While it is acceptable to have a civil debate about the constitutionality of prayer in public schools, the bullying of a teenage girl by adult Christians is a sheer embarrassment for the Body of Christ. It should serve as a lesson to follow the words of Jesus when he says, "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matt. 5:44-45).

The real enemy

Finally, we should have confidence that the Church will survive attacks from atheists, just as it has survived similar attacks throughout history. During the French Revolution the altar at the historic Notre Dame cathedral was torn down and replaced with an altar dedicated to Liberty. The inscription "To Philosophy" was carved over the massive cathedral doors. But in the next century France would give rise to saints like Thérèse of Lisieux and John Vianney. After World War II, the Communist party gained control of Poland, seized Church property, and imprisoned thousands of priests. But after the Iron Curtain fell the Church began to flourish and now nearly 90 percent of Poland is Catholic.

Jesus said to Peter that the powers of death would not prevail against the Church (Matt. 16:18), and Paul said that no force, natural or supernatural, could ever separate us from the love of God (Rom. 8:38-39). Instead of obsessively worrying about atheist mockery that makes the Church look ridiculous, we should take steps to not become ignorant or offensive Christians who accomplish the same thing. We would do well to remember the immortal words of one Pogo Possum, who said, "We have met the enemy and he is us." Fortunately, if we kill this "enemy," what we actually kill is what Paul called "the old self" (Col. 3:9), and in dying to this self we will rise with new life in Christ and be able to face any attacks, verbal, physical or spiritual, our critics lob at us.

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In C. S. Lewis's novel That Hideous Strength there is a scene where the non-religious protagonist, Mark, is instructed as "part of an exercise" to trample an image of a large crucifix. Because Mark is not a Christian, he is puzzled as to why he should bother with this exercise and not just leave this silly superstition alone.

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Teaching Tolerance.org is a great teacher resource for making a lesson with student objectives, helpful definitions, terminologies, and educational exercises to inform and learn about Atheism. 

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Teaching Tolerance.org is a great teacher resource for making a lesson with student objectives, helpful definitions, terminologies, and educational exercises to inform and learn about Atheism. 

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Understanding how school discipline policies can contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline is essential for educators and families. Harsh punishments, automatic out-of-class time and police involvement for discipline can push young people out of classrooms and into the criminal legal system. But educators, parents and caregivers can help to change this harmful system by advocating for and implementing practices that prioritize mental health and well-being.

We offer this new resource page that highlights LFJ articles and content to open dialogue, shift practices and foster change to benefit all young people.

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Learning for Justice | Education Resources

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Learning for Justice provides free resources to educators-teachers, administrators, counselors and other practitioners-who work with children from kindergarten through high school. Educators use our materials to supplement the curriculum, to inform their practices, and to create civil and inclusive school communities where children are respected, valued and welcome participants.

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common sense atheism.com is a website that has extensive blogs, histories, podcasts, posts, debates, and resources for atheist or someone interested in learning more.

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common sense atheism.com is a website that has extensive blogs, histories, podcasts, posts, debates, and resources for atheist or someone interested in learning more.

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I'm blogging again, at LukeMuehlhauser.com.

Its RSS feed lives here.

The most substantial post there so far is " The Riddle of Being or Nothingness."

This is probably the last post on CommonSenseAtheism.com, which is now merely an archive of posts.

In July 2012 I launched WorldviewNaturalism.com. It's a small, simple site - an ideal place to send your friends when you want to introduce them to naturalism.

You can track my writings around the web via my personal website's news page ( RSS). I mostly write on Less Wrong and the MIRI blog.

Common Sense Atheism has closed its doors. Comments are turned off and there will be no new posts.

I will keep the debates page updated, so feel free to notify me of new debates.

The site will remain online as an archive. See the Contents page for a quick view of the site's main attractions.

You can keep up with my work on a variety of websites at lukeprog.com, which has an RSS feed that will alert you to my new works when they are published. If nothing else, you'll want to subscribe to that feed so you are notified when WorldviewNaturalism.com goes live. You can also follow my Twitter page.

Common Sense Atheism is closing its doors.

It's been a great ride, and my interests have now turned elsewhere.

I'll keep comments open for about a week, and then comments on the site will be closed, but this site will remain online as an archive. I also plan to keep the debates page updated.

Updated February 13, 2012.

Allow me to indulge in some anticipation...

My most eagerly anticipated books

Frankish & Ramsey (eds.), Cambridge Handbook of Artificial Intelligence (2012)

Frankish & Ramsey (eds.), Cambridge Handbook of Cognitive Science (2012)

Holyoak & Morrison, Oxford Handbook of Thinking and Reasoning (2012)

Thagard, The Cognitive Science of Science: Explanation, Discovery, and Conceptual Change (2012)

Bostrom, Superintelligence: Groundwork to a Strategic Analysis of Machine Intelligence Revolution (2012)

Eden et al. (eds.), The Singularity Hypothesis: A Scientific and Philosophical Assessment (2012)

Yudkowsky, How to Actually Change Your Mind and The Art of Rationality (2012?)

Drexler, Radical Abundance (2012)

Greene, The Moral Brain and How to Use It (2012)

Panskepp & Biven, The Archaeology of Mind (2012)

My most eagerly anticipated films

What are you most eagerly anticipating?

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I'm blogging again, at LukeMuehlhauser.com. Its RSS feed lives here. The most substantial post there so far is " The Riddle of Being or Nothingness ." This is probably the last post on CommonSenseAtheism.com, which is now merely an archive of posts. In July 2012 I launched WorldviewNaturalism.com.

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atheist parents.org is a website that contains forums, frequently asked questions, book references, tips talking to other religions, and a lot of other useful information for atheist parents.

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atheist parents.org is a website that contains forums, frequently asked questions, book references, tips talking to other religions, and a lot of other useful information for atheist parents.

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Atheist Parents: Parenting Without Belief

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If a god can be defined as: "a supernatural creator and overseer of the universe," then we must include in this definition all deities, goddesses (very big god word for female gods) and supernatural beings. To differentiate between old mythological gods from hundreds and thousands of years ago and modern gods is unnecessary to answer the question "What is a God?"The fact that in Western societies we might prefer to use JHWA, Jehovah, God, or Allah is irrelevant in the question of god, since every belief worldwide is convinced that only their god is the right god.

Children are born atheists. They are born without belief; their belief in a god comes ONLY from their parents' beliefs, which are also determined from the century in which they were born and the country in which their parents were born.

Since the beginning of recorded history, which is defined by the invention of writing by the Sumerians around 6,000 years ago, historians have cataloged over 3,750 supernatural beings, of which 2,870 can be considered deities or gods. Yet, those numbers are probably a very conservative estimate because we have no accurate written information before 4000 B.C. This means any deities or gods worshipped by man before this period are unaccounted for.

In truth, the possibilities for gods are nearly infinite. For example, in Hindu the entire living universe is merely a unique manifestation of Ishvara. This leads to the fact that there are 340 million "gods or goddesses" which you can pray to right now.

Some examples of the different deities documented through the last few thousand years are:

Greek: Zeus, Hermes, Hades, Hera, Aphrodite, and so many others

Chinese: Shangdi, Mazu, Shou Xing, Tu Di Gong, etc.

Roman: Juppiter, Mars, Terra, etc.
Norwegian: Odin, Thor, Loki, Njordr, etc.
Hindu: Krishna, Vishnu, Kali, Ishvara, etc.
Shinto: Izanagi-no-Mikoto, Izanami-no-Mikoto, etc.
Celtic: Cernunnos, Damona, Epona, etc.
Egyptian: Ra, Isis, Anubis, Osiris, Horus, etc.
Sumerian: An, Ki, Enlil, Enki, etc.
Babylonian: Sin, Marduk, Ishtar, Nabu, etc.
Persian: Simurgh, Rostam, Gaokerena, etc.
Aboriginal: Bunyip, Kurreah, Mutjinga, etc.

Yet, it must be noted that the dominant monotheistic religions of today who declare that theirs is the only REAL and true god, say that their religion must be better because in the past people believed in many gods and now they only believe in one (meaning less is more). Therefore, atheism is the ultimate form of the advancement of religion. From many gods to few gods, to one god, to no gods. Isn't Evolution an amazing thing?

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Raising Atheist Children In A World Full Of Gods.

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If a god can be defined as: "a supernatural creator and overseer of the universe," then we must include in this definition all deities, goddesses (very big god word for female gods) and supernatural beings.

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thehumanist.com/news... is a parent resource that is an article that gives helpful tips for both parents and students when encountering problems in school and from society. 

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thehumanist.com/news... is a parent resource that is an article that gives helpful tips for both parents and students when encountering problems in school and from society. 

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It's that time of year-summer is reaching its end and children are anxiously awaiting one of the most stressful days of the year: the first day of school. When I think back to my school days, I remember the wave of worry that consumed my mind as I slowly made my way to the bus stop. "Do I look good? Is my outfit lame? I hope I have classes with my friends! What if no one sits with me at lunch?" It's high in pressure for every student; school is a judgment battleground, and just one little mistake could change your reputation forever-well, at least until you graduate.

Bullying is a real problem in schools, and conflict management isn't very prevalent in the curriculum. But while we readily recognize the bullying of someone for the way they look or dress or how much money they have, what happens when a student is bullied because of their core beliefs?

Earlier this week, David Niose, Director of the Appignani Humanist Legal Center of the AHA, sat down with the Humanist Hour's Bo Bennett to discuss this very topic. While discussing the realities of the unique pressure atheist students feel in returning to school (especially in the Bible Belt), Niose said, "Going back to school is difficult enough, but for atheist humanist children, there sometimes is an added stress that you're going into an environment that just kind of permeates religion, unfortunately."

By the time I was in high school, I knew I was a nonbeliever. I remember the many times I was told to turn my Bad Religion t-shirt inside out because it was "inappropriate." I didn't understand that response, but I didn't know how to make a fuss about it, so I usually complied or spent a few hours in the principal's office. Unfair as it was, I was lucky to not have been subjected to crueler treatment from my teachers and classmates about my nonbelief. Every year, more and more students are being chastised by teachers and peers for being nonreligious. Some students have been sent home from school, sent to detention, made an example of in front of their classmates, told to leave the class, and embarrassed by teachers simply for refusing to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools.

Last year, the American Humanist Association's Appignani Humanist Legal Center (AHLC) created a campaign called "Don't Say the Pledge" where we encouraged students who do not agree with the words of the Pledge of Allegiance-particularly "under god"-to sit down during its recitation. From the day the campaign started, the AHLC received call after call and email after email from students and parents who were facing discrimination from their public school districts. It quickly became apparent to us that this behavior was quite common everywhere.

So how do you, as a student or parent, protect yourself or your child from this kind of abuse? The first step is to know your constitutional rights. It is easy for an evangelizing teacher to take advantage of a student. Many students are unaware of where and when they are allowed to stand up for themselves. According to Niose, not all instances of this kind of discrimination have to be dealt with in a court room: "Sometimes the best avenue isn't necessarily a legal one. We can't sue every single time we see a public school violating the law. A good way to approach these is to see them as an opportunity to be an activist to yourself. Speak out as a parent about it. A lot of these things happen in public schools just because that's the way it's always been done, and nobody knows any different. I think the administrators at the top probably know that they're violating the law, but they just do things the way they've been done because nobody has complained."

Second, organize! Students can make themselves heard and encourage other students to stand up for themselves. A good way to do this is to create an atheist club or student group at school, if the school allows it. It isn't uncommon that a student might have difficulty creating such a group, especially in very religious districts. But if there is a Christian club or other religious school group, Niose says that "almost defiantly that means that you have the right as a student to establish an atheist or humanist club if you want to." He continues, "If the school is allowing clubs and Christian clubs are among them, there is really no legal way that the school can say that you can't have an atheist club. That would certainly be a constitutional flag-something that we'd want you to contact us about."

Finally, if you have done all that you can to protect yourself and protect the rights of other nonreligious students, and no changes are being made or the school pressure has gotten worse, then it is time to call the Appignani Humanist Legal Center, which has a team of attorneys to represent you and support your constitutional rights as an American who deserves to be treated fairly and equally.

School can be a brutal place. There is enough pressure on who you should be, what you should look like, how you should act-but there shouldn't be pressure on your personal beliefs. You shouldn't be afraid or embarrassed to stand up for those beliefs. The only time change happens is when one person stands up and says enough is enough. If you feel like that time has come, we'll stand up with you.

Listen to Dave Niose's full interview on the Humanist Hour Podcast for more helpful information and advice on how students and parents can stand up against nonbelief discrimination in the public school system.

Tags: education Meghan Hamilton is the former Events and Social Media Coordinator for the American Humanist Association.

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For Atheist Students, Back-To-School Can Be Stressful - TheHumanist.com

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It's that time of year-summer is reaching its end and children are anxiously awaiting one of the most stressful days of the year: the first day of school. When I think back to my school days, I remember the wave of worry that consumed my mind as I slowly made my way to the bus ...

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Atheists.org is a parents resource with news, resources, political rallies, political rights, and important information for being Atheist and living in America.

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Atheists.org is a parents resource with news, resources, political rallies, political rights, and important information for being Atheist and living in America.

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Thanks in part to the work of American Atheists, the number of atheists in the United States continues to grow and attitudes toward atheists are shifting. However, misconceptions about atheists still exist and members of our community still face discrimination at home, work, and school.
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Thanks in part to the work of American Atheists, the number of atheists in the United States continues to grow and attitudes toward atheists are shifting. However, misconceptions about atheists still exist and members of our community still face discrimination at home, work, and school.

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Definition: it is simply a rejection of the assertion that there are gods. Atheism is too often defines incorrectly as a belief system. To be clear: Atheism is not a disbelief in gods or a denial of gods; it is a lack of belief in gods. Older dictionaries define atheism as a belief that there is no God. (atheists.org)

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Definition: it is simply a rejection of the assertion that there are gods. Atheism is too often defines incorrectly as a belief system. To be clear: Atheism is not a disbelief in gods or a denial of gods; it is a lack of belief in gods. Older dictionaries define atheism as a belief that there is no God. (atheists.org)