Secular Student Alliance: Atheists, Humanists, Agnostics & Others - Blog

The Secular Student Alliance Is Sending PZ Myers to the Creation Museum

30-June-2009

Anyone who follows PZ Myers' blog Pharyngula knows that he has long mocked and ridiculed Ken Ham's infamous, biblically-literal Creation Museum. However, due to neither being in the right place nor wanting to provide the "museum" with more funding, his mocking has been from afar.

But this August, in conjunction with the 2009 SSA Conference, the Secular Student Alliance will be sponsoring PZ Myers to take a one day, in-person tour of the Creation Museum! We've even invited Ken Ham himself to give PZ a tour of the place.

Conference Early Registration Rates Extended!

30-June-2009

Great news! Because of the recent surge in new events and conference information, we've extended the early registration rates for the SSA's 2009 Conference. If you haven't registered yet, you can still take advantage of early registration rates.

Help Ashley Help Students

15-June-2009

Help Ashley Help Students!

Ashley Paramore is a member of the Secular Student Alliance Board of Directors. She's asking for your help in supporting the great work the SSA does for student groups. Why now? Because right now, your gift to the SSA is matched by a generous offer from the Vital Spark Foundation. If you donate $1, the SSA receives $2. If 5,000 people donate $1 each, then the SSA will have $10,000 to help provide the great support and resources we offer to our affiliate student groups.

Congratulations to the 2009 SSA Best Award Winners!

27-June-2009

Congratulations to the winners of the Secular Student Alliance 2009 Best Awards!

We had several competitors in each category, and making the final decisions was a tough call. Our affiliates have done great work, put on awesome projects, had significant impact in their communities, been all over the media, and more. But when push comes to shove, we could only pick one from each category.

Winners of the Best Awards will receive a handsomely engraved plaque, as well as a cash award to fund future projects for their group. In addition, winners will be invited to receive their awards in person at the 2009 SSA Conference, and will be invited to speak on how they have led their groups to excel.

Why the Secular Student Alliance Matters

8-June-2009

Dear Supporter of Humanism and Freethought,

Hi! My name is Lyz Liddell, and I'm the new campus organizer at the Secular Student Alliance. This spring, I’ve been meeting with Secular Student Alliance affiliates all over the U.S. I’ve been amazed and delighted by the creativity, enthusiasm, and dedication of the students and leaders I’ve met. They organize ambitious projects, come up with new ideas, and have the youthful energy to pull it all off.

SSA eMpirical No. 37 - Gearing Up for the Conference

5-June-2009

Secular Student eMpirical

June 10, 2009

In this issue:

Save yourself some clicking and read the all-on-one-page version of this month's eMpirical.

Student Perspective on 2009 American Humanist Association Conference

30-May-2009

PZ Myers clasps the Holy Bible as he accepts the 2009 Humanist of the Year Award

Last weekend, over three hundred people gathered in Tempe, AZ for the 68th annual American Humanist Association conference. Speakers included Dr. PZ Myers, Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Dr. Donald Johanson (discoverer of "Lucy").

August Brunsman, SSA's executive director, and Lyz Liddell, SSA's campus organizer, presented a session at the conference about making local American Humanist Association chapters welcoming to recent graduates.

Leslie Zukor, leader of the Reed Secular Alliance, blogged about her experiences in four parts. She took some really good photos!

Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four

The conference also attracted some media attention of both a serious (Phoenix Metro News and AZ Central) and whimsical nature (Phoenix New Times).

RELEASE: Proselytizing Public School Teacher is at it Again!

27-May-2009

Matthew LaClair

Released June 5, 2009
Contact: Matthew LaClair
(matthew(AT)secularstudents(DOT)org)

Proselytizing Public School Teacher Leads Field Trip to Creation Museum

KEARNY, N.J. – The teacher who made headlines in 2007 over his classroom proselytizing is again trying to use taxpayer dollars to promote his religious agenda.

According to Secular Student Alliance board member Matthew LaClair, Mr. David Paszkiewicz attempted to utilize school funds and equipment to promote a student group field trip to the Creation Museum in Petersburg, KY. The trip is scheduled to take place June 5- 7. If not for LaClair's whistle-blowing, school funds and equipment would have been used for the trip.

Paszkiewicz was the center of a 2007 legal case over his use of public school classroom time to proselytize students and endorse Biblical creationism. It was LaClair who, as a student, exposed this illegal action by recording the lectures and informing the media. The case received world-wide media attention, including coverage by The New York Times.

This latest turn of events occurred “after the training was conducted for the teachers by the Anti-Defamation League and after the speakers came to our school. It is clear he did not learn anything,” said LaClair.

Students for Freethought at OSU: Spring Break in New Orleans

27-May-2009

Article by Ashley Paramore, 08-09 chair of Students for Freethought at the Ohio State University.

I've always been one to get involved in some type of community service projects, AIDS or MS walks, or collecting canned goods. When I went to the American Humanist Association's conference with the Secular Student Alliance last year, I heard Ashley Carter from the University of Illinois Atheists, Agnostics, and Freethinkers give a talk about her group's service trip to New Orleans with Campus Crusade for Christ. After listening for a while, I couldn't help but think to myself, “Why haven't we thought of that?'

"That’s the Way God Made It:” Lessons from a High School Chemistry Teacher

27-May-2009

By Leslie A. Zukor

“Why does a supersaturated solution of sodium acetate crystallize when heat is added?” one student asked in Chemistry class. What seemed to be a routine question about straightforward science was anything but straightforward for the students at St. Thomas Episcopal High School in Houston, Texas.

“That’s the way God made it,” the teacher quipped, avoiding the question. While the instructor was obviously joking, it underscored a concern about the role of religion in a science classroom. This was Honors Chemistry, and here a teacher was appealing to divine sanction in what was supposed to be a course about the chemical building blocks of life.

UnitedCOR Essay Contest: Good Without God

26-May-2009

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.

Atheists Hit with Death Threats

25-May-2009

The National Student has discovered that a death threat made during an atheist event in Leeds is the latest example of ongoing opposition and alleged prejudice towards atheist societies on campus.

During an event held between April 19th - 25th called ‘Rationalist Week 09’ organised by Leeds University Atheist Society and billed as ‘the country’s largest atheist festival’ a member of the society allegedly received a face to face death threat.

Answers from Atheists: MSU Mankato's Campus Agnostics and Atheists

23-May-2009

The Campus Agnostics and Atheists held the second annual "Ask An Atheist" panel session on Tuesday, giving students - both religious and otherwise - a chance to become informed on the subject of atheism and to engage in debate on the subject.

Secular Student Alliance Open House - June 17th

23-May-2009

The Secular Student Alliance has moved into its new office space at 1515 W. Lane Ave. Rm. 101 in Upper Arlington, OH. We're delighted to be sharing this space with Camp Quest and the Humanist Community of Central Ohio.

All three organizations are having an open house between 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, June 17th. Everyone is welcome! Come and learn about what SSA, Camp Quest, and HCCO are doing to spread secular values in central Ohio and around the country (and even world).

We're located one block east of the Lane Avenue Mall (which has a stop for the #84 bus). There is ample parking around the building.

You can RSVP and share this event with your friends on Facebook.

Can't make it to our open house? Come to the Secular Student Alliance conference August 7-9 on the campus of Ohio State University.

American Humanist Association Presents: "Secular Principles Pinky Swear"

22-May-2009

The "Silver Ring Thing" has met its match!

Spread the word about the American Humanist Association's
"Secular Principles Pinky Swear!"

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!