When I have time, I am going to send the following letter to the editors of the Alligator and Gainesville Sun, with a few edits and changes for the latter:
In the wake of the recent SG elections at the UF campus, politics goes on as usual. The issues of the day include, but are not limited to, parking woes, student fees, SG funding and appropriations, representation of minorities...full stop.
One of the major issues, promoted by the Alligator to become a real platform, has been the lack of representation for Asian-Pacific students by the Student Affairs office. According to two separate Alligator articles, Asian-American students comprise about 7% of the student body at UF. Without getting sidetracked, let me say that I think it is wonderful that diversity is supported on campus for ethnic, cultural and racially-related issues. But is there a disconnect for support of diversity when it comes to religion, or lack thereof?
UF sponsors clubs for Christianity, Islam, news articles in the Alligator on catchy new efforts on the part of campus-minded Rabbis to engage Jewish interests. Even the Hare Krishna's get to serve food on campus without a license, thus opening the door for them to expand their influence and add to their numbers. Campus activists are allowed to stand in Turlington and spew venom, even if what they promote is rationally indistinguishable from hate speech.
There's plenty of "Old Time Religion", and concomitant representation and advocacy for it, on the UF campus and in the SG. But what about atheism?
In one of the largest religious polls ever conducted, the American Religious Identification Survey (CUNY) found in 2001 that 14% of Americans self-identified as "no religion", up from 8% in 1990. Phil Zuckerman (Sociology, Pitzer) concludes from extensive compilation of worldwide studies that, "Based on a careful assessment of the most recent survey data available, we find that somewhere between 500,000,000 and 750,000,000 humans currently do not believe in God." That places the number of non-religious persons worldwide in fourth behind Xians (2 B), Islam (1.2 B), and Hinduism (900 M), and ahead of every other religious group. Using the ARIS data, Cliff Walker calculated a weighted projection of godlessness by state, finding Oregon scored highest at 28%, North Dakota lowest at 4%, and Florida right on the national average at 14%. With such a number in mind, one would not appear amiss in predicting more than a few groups at UF promoting, supporting, and otherwise centered on nontheism.
Until a few days ago, there was not even one single student organization at UF about or for atheists, godlessness, freethinking, humanism, etc. Not one, although there are at least double the percentage of godless students at UF as Asian-Pacific students. Why is that?
Can you name one openly godless US Congressperson? One atheist SG representative? Can you find a politician advocating uncompromised church-state separation, removing the Red Scare-injected "under God" from our Pledge, restoring the Founders' "E Pluribus Unum" as the sole motto (removing the Civil War crisis-injected "In God We Trust")? How often do the 86% attempt to ensure fair representation for the 14%? Conversely, how many racial barriers are crossed over race issues, cultural differences laid down over common goals, and how much self-interest and lobbying do we see in government?
Why is that?
Well, AAFSA at UF is a start, and we all ought to thank the non-existent Deity, or, instead, my own efforts to found it, for that.
One of the major issues, promoted by the Alligator to become a real platform, has been the lack of representation for Asian-Pacific students by the Student Affairs office. According to two separate Alligator articles, Asian-American students comprise about 7% of the student body at UF. Without getting sidetracked, let me say that I think it is wonderful that diversity is supported on campus for ethnic, cultural and racially-related issues. But is there a disconnect for support of diversity when it comes to religion, or lack thereof?
UF sponsors clubs for Christianity, Islam, news articles in the Alligator on catchy new efforts on the part of campus-minded Rabbis to engage Jewish interests. Even the Hare Krishna's get to serve food on campus without a license, thus opening the door for them to expand their influence and add to their numbers. Campus activists are allowed to stand in Turlington and spew venom, even if what they promote is rationally indistinguishable from hate speech.
There's plenty of "Old Time Religion", and concomitant representation and advocacy for it, on the UF campus and in the SG. But what about atheism?
In one of the largest religious polls ever conducted, the American Religious Identification Survey (CUNY) found in 2001 that 14% of Americans self-identified as "no religion", up from 8% in 1990. Phil Zuckerman (Sociology, Pitzer) concludes from extensive compilation of worldwide studies that, "Based on a careful assessment of the most recent survey data available, we find that somewhere between 500,000,000 and 750,000,000 humans currently do not believe in God." That places the number of non-religious persons worldwide in fourth behind Xians (2 B), Islam (1.2 B), and Hinduism (900 M), and ahead of every other religious group. Using the ARIS data, Cliff Walker calculated a weighted projection of godlessness by state, finding Oregon scored highest at 28%, North Dakota lowest at 4%, and Florida right on the national average at 14%. With such a number in mind, one would not appear amiss in predicting more than a few groups at UF promoting, supporting, and otherwise centered on nontheism.
Until a few days ago, there was not even one single student organization at UF about or for atheists, godlessness, freethinking, humanism, etc. Not one, although there are at least double the percentage of godless students at UF as Asian-Pacific students. Why is that?
Can you name one openly godless US Congressperson? One atheist SG representative? Can you find a politician advocating uncompromised church-state separation, removing the Red Scare-injected "under God" from our Pledge, restoring the Founders' "E Pluribus Unum" as the sole motto (removing the Civil War crisis-injected "In God We Trust")? How often do the 86% attempt to ensure fair representation for the 14%? Conversely, how many racial barriers are crossed over race issues, cultural differences laid down over common goals, and how much self-interest and lobbying do we see in government?
Why is that?
Well, AAFSA at UF is a start, and we all ought to thank the non-existent Deity, or, instead, my own efforts to found it, for that.
No comments:
Post a Comment