Young Atheists and Religious Diversity in Education
Today I had the opportunity to speak as part of a panel on religious diversity for a class in the College of Education. I spoke briefly for a few minutes, and representatives from Jewish and Quaker groups on campus also spoke.
Below is what I intended to say, which roughly correlates with what I actually said. I've added in stuff that remember saying.
My name is Brennan McLoughlin. I’m here to represent Humanists at UIUC, an experiment in a secular group that focuses on shared values, social issues, and the implications of modern science. I got here a little early, and so I heard some murmurs of surprise when Ms. Welsh mentioned this group, along the lines of "is that a religion?" We can have debates about that, but in the end the words we use don't matter as much as the things we do. Humanist chaplaincies provide community, create a space to cope with death, and celebrate birth and marriage. There's a lot of common ground.
This group was formed to help solve some of problems in the secular community. Many of these problems emerge from the struggles young atheists face in school, and religious diversity can help with a lot of that.
Young atheists face some unique challenges. According to one survey, “atheists are more disliked and mistrusted than immigrants, gays and lesbians, conservative Christians, Jews or Muslims.” This is not to say that young atheists have the worst out of all these groups, as many come from a background of white male privilege.
But it does make the situation unique. People who might agree that it’s wrong to deny an application for a Jewish group in a school might feel differently about an atheist group. There’s something about identifying as an atheist that’s inherently critical of-- and threatening to!-- many peoples’ way of life, and that can lead to some serious alienation.
Most young atheists, if they’re one of the braver ones, go through a “coming out” process much like in LGBT community. They lose the community of the church, they face the prospect of losing friends and family, and they often don’t have access to anyone else who thinks the same way, much less a vibrant community. They face common misconceptions like “atheists are out to destroy religion” and “atheists have no moral code.”
The result is a group of people who are very often in a lot of pain. This results in anger, sullenness, and a focus on criticism rather than on secular values.
So, what can you do about this? The first and most important thing you can do is educate yourself on the misconceptions about atheism and humanism. I’d be glad to talk with any of you after this if you’re interested, and the internet is only too glad to help you there.
Second, if you think you’re an atheist, begin to think about coming out of the closet. More than anything, these kids lack positive secular role models.
Third, and most relevant, discourage oppressive behavior and encourage religious education and community. If your public school has state-sponsored prayer, that’s both wrong and illegal. If you see kids isolating a kid for his secularism, those are kids who need educating about what atheism really is. If you see an atheist student trying to intellectually torture his classmates, there’s a kid with a lot of negative energy and no positive outlet. Secular groups can go a long way towards fostering community for young atheists, but they often meet strong opposition and need a vocal faculty sponsor. These kids are students first, and with the right kind of guidance they can be pointed in the right direction.
As a Humanist group, we’re trying to shift the focus from criticism of religion to construction of a positive community. But it starts in schools, and it starts with you.
There was also a question-and-answer period that I think was useful. We talked about how kids don't have all the answers, especially young atheists who have to work out their philosophies by themselves. We talked about how religious projects can leave these kids feeling left out, especially if the teacher isn't prepared to provide a different activity. We talked about how if a teacher shares her misconceptions about atheism with a student, it can foster an environment where alienation of atheist students isn't discouraged strongly enough.
In the end, I think it was a really useful panel.
