When Did It Become Cool To Be Atheist?
Damon Fowler graduated from high school on Friday the 20th, and it was anything but a joyous occasion. Fowler is an atheist, living directly in the heart of the Bible Belt, Louisiana. It was widely known that a moment of prayer would be held during the ceremony. Well, Bastrop High School is a public school, making such actions illegal. Fowler felt uncomfortable with this, and went to his superintendent. To be sure that his request wouldn’t be ignored, he made it clear that the American Civil Liberties Union would be notified if prayers were held during the graduation. So the superintendent agreed.
Suffice to say, everything went downhill from there.
Students were quick to attack Fowler, who was the only open-atheist in his graduating class (he noted there were two others, but both were afraid of the consequences of coming out). Facebook statuses, like the one posted here, became quite common:
I Will Be Standing With My Classmates ON That Football Field Friday Afternoon && Proudly Praying With Everyone But That One Person. We Shouldn’t Have To Accommodate One Person Just Because Your Too Stupid To Realize Something Bigger Than Yourself. Stop Being Self Absorbed && Stuck Upp. You Lil Prick, Get Over Yourself. && I Could Care Less If You Get Offended.
Even teachers couldn’t understand the situation. Mitzi Quinn told newspapers that in the past, atheists have “respected the majority of their classmates and didn’t say anything. Additionally, “what’s even more sad is this is a student who really hasn’t contributed anything to graduation or to their classmates.” So, I suppose Constitutional rights only relate to those who keep their mouths shut and respect the status quo. What an unfortunate outlook, Ms. Quinn.
Fowler’s parents surely didn’t take kindly to the story. First, they cut off communications between him and his brother (who lives in Texas). Post-graduation, they dump all his personal belongings on the lawn and “go on vacation.” The parents refuse to answer any phone calls, essentially leaving Fowler all on his own.
But surely, despite all this mess, his actions paid off at graduation, right? Of course not. Senior Laci Mattice broke the law and held a prayer for Jesus, a moment of silence, and the pledge of allegiance (“Under God…”), while people in the crowd clapped and shouted “FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS!” It was as if they had won a battle against evil. That’s how the local papers slurred it, at least.
So what if the senior got on stage and, to borrow from a recent internet meme, gave a prayer giving thanks to Allah? Would that have gotten the same amount of praise? Of course not. This was not a true prayer, this was an attack against a student, one who stood up for his rights as an American citizen and had his life ruined in the process.
And this is the section of my post where I begin to take things VERY slow. I would hate to say the wrong thing at such a time.
I’m sick of this ignorance, this discrimination from the Christian community. I’m sick of this “Rapture” nonsense, this homophobia, this $40 million dollar tax break for a fictional Ark exhibit touted as a real-life event. This is madness. If the “Rapture” is ever to occur, it’ll happen under the guidance of these hypocrites, those people who profess the love of God and then issue death threats and abandon their children.
Atheism is not a trend. It’s not “cool” to disbelieve in a god. I’m sick of these Tumblr posts calling it so. In two days, atheists on Reddit have donated over $11,000 to Fowler, so that he might go on to college and move out of Louisiana for good. This is called love and respect, not a trend.
If you’re a Christian, and you don’t stand for the nonsense your fellow followers are up to, then do something about it. Don’t make posts bashing atheists. Don’t discriminate against anybody. And I suppose now would be the proper time to end this post…
If you would like to donate to the Damon Fowler Scholarship, CLICK ME.
Good recap of a really unfortunate situation. If anyone claims that atheists aren’t targets of discrimination in this day and age, this is a powerful example to the contrary. My heart goes out to that young man, who’s been attacked and ostracized by his community and even his own family for standing up and doing the right thing by asking his school to comply with the constitution of the United States.
