The United Coalition of Reason is delighted to announce an essay contest as part of our upcoming Good Without God campaign tied not only to a social movement but to a book that's being published in the fall. Please forward this message as widely as possible and help us unite the millions of voices of reason across the country.

Are you tired of seeing the Religious Right claim the moral high ground through abstinence pledges that don't work? Statistics show that teens who take abstinence pledges--such as the infamous "Silver Ring Thing"--are no less likely to engage in premarital sex, and in fact are more likely to engage in irresponsible, unprotected sex.

Secular Americans, especially nonreligious kids, have strong morals and values that are based on reason, not dogma. And as a humanist, you know that attempts to control teens' behavior through fear, intimidation and outdated doctrines and institutions are wrong--and futile.

But thanks to a group of young humanist activists from Georgia, the Silver Ring Thing has now clearly met its match. Please take a moment to watch the video below, which contains the humanist community's answer to abstinence pledges--the Secular Principles Pinky Swear!

Despite the recent surge of best-selling books promoting atheism, atheists are often portrayed negatively in the popular press; and stories about grouchy atheists trying to win various lawsuits largely dominate popular perception of the non-religious demographic.

However, this was not the image of atheists presented on Friday, April 10, 2009, when about 100 people gathered at the McConomy Auditorium of Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) to hear Hemant Mehta, more commonly known as the “Friendly Atheist,” speak about his journey towards non-belief, the infamous eBay auction, his book, and his promotion of ‘friendly atheism.’

Iowa State University's Atheist and Agnostic Society heard about an upcoming campus visit by a traveling Christian preacher of intolerant views.  Rather than organize a loud, angry protest (or getting arrested!), they chose to organize a (Mostly) Silent Protest, inviting several other campus groups who support tolerance and diversity.  Anastasia Bodnar, president of ISUAAS, wrote this article for the group's blog.

Our (Mostly) Silent Protest Against Tom Short on Wednesday (15 April 2009) was a great success, thanks in part to the ISU LGBTA Alliance getting the message to their members. Campus Pastor Jim Shirbroun and Campus Minister Chris Hockley along with students from the Wesley Foundation of the Collegiate Methodist Church were also invited and attended the protest.

Please support us. The Secular Student Alliance is an independent organization that relies entirely on the generosity of the secular community to continue providing services that are vital to campus organizations for secular students. We are building a movement - join us!

by Ashley Rose Mockett

For many students, college is about belonging, whether it be in the form of school spirit, a fraternity or sorority, making life-long friendships, or acquiring knowledge and experiences that will influence us for the remainder of our lives.  I began to feel a part of my community college campus at Saddleback College (unrelated to Rick Warren's controversial church) when I received a scholarship and was invited to the annual scholarship ceremony to be recognized, meet my donor, and be given a lavish spread of fruit, desserts and other tasty goodies.

However, my feeling of belonging and celebration was cut short when I was asked to stand for the invocation, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.  At first, I didn't hear what it was I was asked to stand for; the room was filled with thousands of people talking.  When I stood, though, I was met with a political tirade about how the speaker, Don Wager (president of our board of trustees), ought to be able to pray at any government event he chooses to pray at.  In short, he said that we were there  to recognize the students and also thank God for these achievements.  He then said that if you  did not agree with him, you could sit down!  In a few sentences, I had been both congratulated and  insulted by a college official.  My beliefs, or lack there of, were mocked and belittled.  I encourage you to see the video recording of this rant here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aM-PA67JA9s.

It was this event that inspired me to start the Free-Thinkers Club at Saddleback College. I had started a Free-Thinker’s myspace about a year before this.  This is how I met my wonderful Vice President Jack Lowd.  Until now, I had not thought about being active on my campus.   After all, I am the mother of a small child and an honors student. How was I going to have time for activism? But the event at the Scholarship ceremony was too enraging to ignore.  And I knew I had at least one ally at Saddleback College.  So I emailed Jack and we started working.

Upon our hunt to find a faculty adviser willing to be affiliated with “The Scary Atheist Club” (our unofficial name), I found out that faculty had actually been fighting the prayer for years! Our amazing adviser, Karla Westphal, had been spearheading a campaign with the idea of replacing prayer with a moment of silence that would include all people of all faiths, and also people of no faith at all.  Please see this link of her addressing the BOT in May of 2005 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1eCwe5n-II).

I learned from Westphal that it has been a long, uphill battle.  In 2006, the Associated Student Government, the Academic Senate (faculty at Saddleback), and the Statewide Academic Senate (faculty of all California community colleges) all passed resolutions to support Westphal in her suggestion to replace prayer with a moment of silence.  In Westphal’s words, “ [the board’s] response was largely to ignore these requests, and [the board] even increased the number of events at which [they] include prayers, adding a prayer to faculty events.”

Penn State Atheist and Agnostic Association member Yasic Naumenko (senior-physics) reads a passage from the Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. PHOTO: Peter Tesoriero

This story originally appeared in The Daily Collegian Online (Penn State’s morning newspaper) on 9/22/2008, and is used by permission.
Article by Erin Rowley, Collegian Staff Writer.

Dan Barker continues his article on how to talk to a fundamentalist with the bible and morality.  Read part one here.  It's a good idea to familiarize yourself with a handful of biblical contradictions and history.  Fundamentalists like to argue about the source of morality.  How do you fight that?  Convince them you are happy and ethical.  Who better to teach you about fundamentalists then Dan Barker?

The bible

Unless you have time to waste (in which case you are truly ready for your upcoming exams), I would suggest you avoid all those interesting side discussions and go on the offensive, hitting the jugular—the bible. It is the bible, after all, upon which all of fundamentalism rests. If the bible is true, they have a case. If not, their whole house of cards falls. I would have been very impressed if you had said something like, “You might have a point if the bible were reliable. I would be happy to believe what you believe, but I when I study the bible, as you recommend, I come away concluding that it cannot be the basis for any truth, and here is why...” If you would have pointed out some contradictions in the bible, using chapter and verse, that would have impressed me immensely. I would not have converted immediately to atheism (ha!), but my momentum would have been slowed. After all, bible reading is what fundamentalists are urging you to do, and if you tell them “Been there, done that,” with specific examples, then they can’t pretend that your problem is due to ignoring their “Good Book.”