@legacy-fan said:

Students are allowed to have religious groups at public schools. The school just can't give preference to one over the other.

ie. there's nothing wrong with a public school recognizing an Islamic student org or a Catholic student org. The same should be expected for a Wiccan group, a Roman Pantheon group, or a group of non-theists. If the school takes it a step further, such as letting one of these groups lead a prayer at graduation, that's where the issue of preference arises.

@the-cysko-kid said:

You're absolutely the first person to have ever made that mistake...

@mld-woody said:

A couple reasons have been given for why she may have done this. Honestly if anyone is coming off as an asshole here it is you. How dare any teenager do anything different than the current norm. How dare she create a group for herself and others to express their beliefs. How dare she go to a religious high school if she thinks like this, because she clearly has tons of options.

I was under the impression she was in college. High school is the place to be stupid

@vaportrail said:

She started the group at a public high school.

Well apparently I'm guilty of not reading. I'll soon be a human cent iPad. That actually changes my opinion on it. Hey, high school, who gives a rip

@vaportrail said:

Definitely no Religious groups allowed there then. Fuck off, Easter. Fuck off, Christmas.

@the-cysko-kid said:

A couple reasons have been given for why she may have done this. Honestly if anyone is coming off as an asshole here it is you. How dare any teenager do anything different than the current norm. How dare she create a group for herself and others to express their beliefs. How dare she go to a religious high school if she thinks like this, because she clearly has tons of options.

@diehardbrownsfan said:

el oh el

@the-cysko-kid said:

She started the group at a public high school.

@vaportrail said:

I think he's referring to my situation. FYI, I was religious when I first started. That changed as I went through it. As for why I still went there it's because they pay me to conduct research that can impact the field of medicine. Not to mention the friends I've made. I don't hate my alma mater. I just really disagree with the "don't like it, leave it" attitude, and I felt that this group was something the campus community was lacking. Seeing as we had a diverse group that was more active than the majority of groups on campus, I'd say it was a success regardless of what the diocese decided.

No I was referring to her. It just seems like a douchey, attention whore-y, antagonistic thing to do. It's not right to threaten her but I'd definitely call her out as being a self important hipster. Just go to college and you know don't try to make a bunch of waves.

If you went to a school that were super liberal and started a tea party group you'd get nothing but heat and blowback. I'm not sure why she'd expect anything less.

She is also 15, I'm guessing she has no say in where she went to school. Maybe it is the closest school or best school in the area. You don't know each individual situation for why someone that isn't religious is at a religious school.

@the-cysko-kid said:

Good discussion. Thanks for bothering to read what I had to say.

@the-cysko-kid said:

Still I think you're not seeing this very clearly. It's definitely an antagonistic move

No it is not, for the reasons Vapor listed

@the-cysko-kid said:

The administrations at DePaul University (Catholic) and California Lutheran University, among other religious institutions would disagree with you as there are recognized secular student orgs at these places. Your example isn't a fair comparison for the reason Woody pointed out.

Anyways, my issue was that WSS immediately went on the defensive and labeled the group as anti-social just because it's an organization for secular students. I don't think that's fair either.

@the-cysko-kid said:

They have plenty, and being a religious institution, they have every right to refuse to recognize a club for atheists. That being said, I think it's an anti-academic move that's ultimately bad for the school. I'm more concerned as to why they allow an LGBT group, Islamic groups, Jewish groups, and Campus Democrats while drawing the line for us. Like I said, the group served two purposes - a safe place for secular students and a forum to foster discussion and reduce the stigma that secular and religious students can feel toward each other. They claimed that we were anti-faith, even though half of our members were religious. *shrug*

@westside-steve said:

Go ahead and trivialize it, but these are serious issues to some of my peers. Luckily for me, my Catholic parents didn't care too much (my mom was a little upset), but there are people out there whose families would cut off communication if it was known they took part in our meetings. You're just being an asshole. Why does the existence of this group automatically put you on the defensive?

@westside-steve said:

PS if she were a little bit cuter I might have joined her stupid fucking club if I was a kid!

WSS

.....

Come on now

WSS