One letter makes a difference!!
From the Office of Blair ScottAlabama State Director, American Atheists, Inc.PO Box 1352, Madison, AL 35758-9998bscott@atheists.orghttp://www.atheists.org/al/ March 12, 2007 Report on discrimination of atheist child at Riverton Middle School, Huntsville, Alabama. My daughter had been informing me of small incidents at the school regarding religious infringement, especially concerning a group called ?First Priority? (www.fpoa.org) First Priority was handing out fliers to students and at one point a nurse on the school?s staff confronted my daughter in the hallway before class wanting to know why she was not in the library (where FP is held before school starts). In addition, she told me that some of the kids were giving her a hard time about her atheism. She said most of it was curiosity, but that some of it was clearly taunting. Most of this we brushed off as innocent childhood bantering. On February 23rd, my daughter returned from school visibly upset. She told me that the teasing and taunting was getting worse and that it was now occurring in the classroom in addition to the hallways. She relayed two disturbing incidents. In one of the classrooms, with the teacher present, five students began harassing my daughter about her atheism and telling her she was going to Hell. The teacher made no effort to stop the harassment and later advised the principal that she had no idea it was going on. The second incident involved multiple students that surrounded my daughter and refused to let her go. They began singing ?Jesus loves you? to her and telling her she was going to Hell and badgering her about not believing in god. Encircling my daughter was clearly an aggressive and threatening move. The kids were now singing ?Jesus love you? every time they saw her in the hallway. My daughter had tried to tackle the problem on her own, but she now realized it was getting out of hand and she told me everything. I sat down that night and wrote a letter to the principal, assistant principal, student counselors, and Madison County School Board, but did not send it out. My daughter told me the next day that she had talked to one of the counselors and that the counselor told her she had every right to believe or not believe in whatever she wanted and that the students were wrong. The counselor told my daughter that she would talk to any student that my daughter identified. I called the counselor and talked to her on the phone for about 30 minutes. After the phone call, I decided to remove the Madison County School Board from my letter and give the school a chance to solve the problem on its own. My conversation with the student counselor went very well and she reassured me that such behavior would not be tolerated. I sent the email on February 27th at 1700 (see Enclosure 1). I received an immediate email from Mrs. Stone, the student counselor that my daughter had been talking to. Mrs. Stone again reassured me that the necessary steps were being taken. On February 28th at 0750 I received an email from Mr. Medlen, the school?s principal. Mr. Medlen advised, ?This type of behavior will not be tolerated at Riverton Middle School. [?] Please be assured that this matter will be handled today.? Later that afternoon I received an email from Mrs. Watts, the assistant principal, who stated, ??everyone is entitled to their own belief(s). I strongly believe in separation of church (belief) and state. I believe that it is the responsibility of the home to teach beliefs and values. Unfortunately, these incidents reveal that not every home teaches values.? Toward the end of the day I received an additional email from Mr. Medlen who stated, ?I have seen every student that I found to be involved in this matter and handled it as a disciplinary referral.? My daughter continued to report incidents to the student counselor until every student involved had been verbally disciplined once and lectured on the values of religious freedom and harassment. On March 8th my daughter was accosted again in the hallway by students that had already been warned. They were immediately brought to the principal?s office where they were suspended for five days. There was another incident today on March 12th in the lunchroom where a student tried to get other students to sing ?Jesus loves you? to my daughter, but the other students were clearly uncomfortable. He was asking other students if they were ?Christian or Catholic.? This student was brought to the principal?s office, but we are not aware of any disciplinary action yet. >From the moment I moved to Huntsville, I knew that it was not like the rest of Alabama. Huntsville is a diverse city with a multitude of nationalities, ethnicities, religions, and other dynamics. The actions of the school reaffirmed my impression of Huntsville and were a great credit upon the principal and the Madison County School system. Huntsville is home to the largest atheist group in Alabama with 80 members and it continues to grow. The two times the local atheist group, an affiliate of American Atheists, has screened movies at the local Arts Center they have drawn the biggest crowds the Arts Center has ever seen. The lessons learned here are plentiful. The first lesson I learned is that our children, being independent thinkers, will try to deal with and solve problems like these on their own before coming to us. I have sat down with my daughters and expressed my pride in their courage, but I also encouraged them to come to me for help on any matter, regardless of how small it may seem, so they do not have to tackle issues like these on their own. The second lesson learned is that writing a simple letter can sometimes accomplish a lot. The third lesson leaned is that even in the heart of the Bible Belt we can sometimes find friends in places we least expect to find them, such as in the administrative office of a local school. The fourth lesson learned is that it is sometimes better to take complaints up the ?chain of command? and to give the lower levels a chance to solve the problem on their own. The less bureaucracy involved the better. In reason,Blair ScottAlabama State Director, American Atheists
sad story, but with a hopefull ending.
kids can be very cruel. regrettably, some of them never grow up.
Great kids and a great Dad!
Jeff Myers
“Huntsville is home to the largest atheist group in Alabama”
No wonder I had such a good time while being stationed at Redstone Arsenal, AL (right next door to Huntsville). Glad to hear that the school was willing to stand up for the student.
Even though my family and I live in one of the most liberal parts of the US my daughter has had problems with children of evangelicals who do not know the first thing about respecting boundaries. It sounds like Mr, Scott has done an excellent job raising respectful children who are not afraid to demand the respect they deserve.
Kudos!
I’m glad that things worked out well, though I am suprised at the boldness of these kids. When I was on a Christian I was “on fire for God” (to use protestant language), but I’d never have dreamed of surrounding someone like that. I guess when you worship a coercive God who uses fear tactics to scare people into loving him, and you are taught to follow that God, then some will be consistent and follow his lead.
A story about Atheism in Alabama, with a happy ending…………..
Maybe I can put down the “Liberty Shovel”, and close down my “Canadian Freedom Tunnel”. (just kidding)
It’s nice to have hope for a change.
Wow! School has changed a lot since I was there. Maybe it was the 80’s, maybe it was Southwest PA, but this NEVER would’ve happened in Ambridge Area High School. Gawd never came up in conversation, and those who were overtly religious were actually considered a bit “geeky”, even though no one ever made fun of them nor picked on them. I know this because my sister carried a bible in school and “spoke in tongues”. She would’ve reported abuse.
This is the effect that Bushco has had on our society???? Religious division in the schools? I can’t even wrap my head around it.
I hung out with the more “popular” crowd. NONE were religious. We literally all got along, and we didn’t tease those that were different, which I attribute to the common practice of passin’ the joint. The only fight we had was the fight to get to the Mini Mart for snacks!
Religion is legal, marijuana isn’t. Go figure.
There is no doubt kids can be vicious with one another…as the father of a daughter I can understand Mr. Scott’s outrage…
It was also great to see the outrage from this blog over this event…
http://www.massresistance.org/docs/parker/parker_son_incident/index.html#Sub01
I’m not sure what’s been accomplished with Mr. Scott’s correspondence with the school’s administration…his daughter is still being taunted. I’m hoping the Alabama Supreme Court doesn’t tell Mr. Scott that if he doesn’t like how the school operates that he can homeschool his daughter or send her to private school…
BTW…”in reason”…? Now that’s a first for me…
Comment from: cry4turtles
Does your sister still speak in tongues…?
No way!!! My sister is now a Freethinker.
*OFF TOPIC*
Here’s a story about a guy who was selling Christian CD’s and beat some old man to death for not buying one. A fine example of Christian love.
http://www.wgal.com/news/11265033/detail.html
Congratulations to Blair Scott’s daughter for standing up for herself against the mob!
And great job Blair for being such a supportive dad.
I’m very glad the school officials handled this in such a responsible way. It sounds like they treated the issue like any normal disciplinary action and went thru the chain of actions involving the usual levels of response in discpline.
I wonder what the reaction was of the parents of the kids who got 5 days suspension? Did they argue, or did they understand that their kids were out of line?
It looks as though the message is getting through to most of the students that this behavior is unacceptable, and I hope it all ends quietly.
Keep us posted, Blair.
Very pleased with the results BUT I am concerned about the FP and the nurse. That should have been addressed also.
I am very glad that Mr. Scott, took a reasonable approach and did not send everyone a hate mail until trying to solve the problem speaking to the right people in a clear manner that they could understand. It is easy to become the villain when you are objecting to “godly” people about your right to be equal. If they are able to see your point as “i would not want my child treated that way” then you have allies. The people who had the responsibility to give punishment probably believe in god themselves. They may feel mixed feeling about punishing children for doing “god’s work”. If they are able to admit that they would not like their children’s god belief taunted daily. If they understand this then reason and equality can exist for everyones child. I am glad the officials of the school had the reason to understand why the taunting by christian kids was wrong, regardless of what the official believed about god or atheists.
I worry that the children were very much supported in this behavior by their parents. If they feel crazy religious zealousness, and think they are doing god’s work then Mr. Scott has not seen the end of it. It could get very ugly, We all know how zealots behave when they think they are doing gods work. Mr. Scott should keep a close eye on his property, vandalism being a major possibility.
I hope that all concerned accept reason and understand what is really at stake here. The parents attitudes are the largest factor.
just my two cents. I hope that the proper channels are respected by all. I applaud Mr. Scott for doing the reasonable and respectful thing, a hard thing for a concerned parent.
Kudos to Mr. Scott’s daughter for showing incredible restraint and maturity for not punching any of them in the face every time they sang “Jesus Loves You” in her face.
Regarding the “outrage from this blog” about the “beating” of David Parker’s son, that outrage was misplaced. The incident was nothing like what is described on the massresistance web site; it was actually a fight between friends over lunchtime seating.
The effect of these false rumors, deliberately spread by Massresistance, has been literally international rage against our town and school system.
Please visit http://www.lexingtoncares.org/PressReleaseAsh2006-06-19.html for more information about the incident.
jondreyer – 1st off, only 1 person brought up the ‘outrage’. 2nd off, the link to the newspaper article was included in the prior link – terribly suspicious that 3 agencies managed to get all that done in a day. 3rdly, I find it suspicious that you jumped in almost immediately. 4thly, I could barely read most of the protesters’ signs (from mass resistance). 5th, I think mass resistance’s article has all the whiffs of an agenda-driven piece. Most 1st graders can barely coordinate their hand-eye coordination, let alone a concerted beating.
I’m not 100% sure what’s going on here, but something smells fishy in the state of Denmark.
Huntsville, Alabama sounds like a very decent place to live, “the largest Atheist group in Alabama.” At least there might not be any inconsiderate church bells ringing.
It’s really pathetic when children are brainwashed into believing in any religion and then these same religious children force their malevolent religious beliefs upon this young lady. I am proud of her and her father for standing up against those religious zealots.
Forced religion is forced oppression!
SunbeamAtheist
Phreedm a.k.a. Shitbag said: [Does your sister still speak in tongues...?]
Asshole, the Buybull(shit) was written in Jibberish, so Cry4turtles’ sister was just speaking the language.
As a middle school teacher, I read the letter and was very happy to see people trusting their school professionals to handle the problem. In so many situations, parents immediately get angry with the school. I have overheard kids in similar “discussions” and dealt with it in school, but there is so much that you just don’t hear.. They are so smart, and know where the teachers will not hear (locker room, lockers, bus, lunch room…) That is where most bullying happens. I would like to hope my school would handle situations like this in a very porfessional way. Kudos to Blair for going to school! We are there to help.
DiArtemis,
You’re right about, “handling this in a very professional way.” If problems are not stopped, some problems leave permanent emotional and in some cases physical scars. A good example of school bullying was the Jonesboro, Arkansas school massacre. Andrew Golden’ grandfather was a game warden and an avid hunter that made this statement in front of Andrew, “When you get mad at someone, shoot them in the butt.” Andrew Golden and Mitchell Johnson were 9 and 11 years of age, they injured and murdered innocent people.
Bullying usually continues into adulthood unless it is intervened, bullies never change their crude behavior until they are indicted on criminal charges, even then some billies don’t learn from their mistakes. Teens can be very devious and they believe they can get away with harassing other people, some feel the law protects them because of their [minor] status.
Religious teens believe that they can be forgiven when they manifest their agenda to attempt to destroy others by harassing them verbally and/or physically.
I was bullied by xtians at my middle school when they found out I wasn’t saved and a Baptist like them. I had to transfer to another school just to get away from these low-life self proclaimed malevolent xtians! Sure I fought back after they physically and verbally pushed me to my limits. They backed off temporarily, then the xtians harassed me during physical education classes and to make matters worse, our coach was standing within earshot of everything they were saying while we were in phys ed classes, the coash just stood there with his arms folded staring at the players ignoring my being verbally harassed. This is why I will always hate all sports and I have never contributed to any sporting events in any manner. This bullying happened at McEachern Middle School back in the early seventies in Cobb County, Georgia, how ironic, now Cobb County wants to teach religion disguised as “Literature.”
Religious zealots will harass adults just like they harass children because religious fanatics are brainwashed and they consider other human beings tools for their fraudulent religous schemes and exploits!
We as Atheists evolve, Evangelists destroy the human race!
SunbeamAtheist
I am from Birmingham, Alabama. Notice that I said, “from” as in, “I got the hell out of there as fast as I could.” My sister is still there, deep in the grip of religiosity. It’s a whole other world. Even the billboards taunt you about jesus. I live in a conservative suburb of Albuquerque now, and the last time I was was in Bama was for a funeral this past December, and it was then that I started “coming out” as an atheist. A body can only take so much.
lynnsdaughter,
That’s interesting. I had Birmingham as one of my choices to move to when finishing college. I often wonder what it would be like still. Happily married to a Texas girl now so we ain’t moving but I’ve always loved challenging convential wisdom so it would have been an adventure I’m sure.
lynnsdaughter,
I agree, I have visited Alabama many times and everytime I find myself wanting to leave that state as soon as possible because almost every other person will say some religious statement that makes absolutely no sense. Thanks for informing us more about Alabama.
When travelling through Pearl, Mississippi, it too, I feel has many problems with promoting religion with churches on each side of highway 78/80 for approximately five miles. I have seen the “gawd” billboards in Waskom, Texas on I-20 I agree with you, they are sickening to look at when more important items could be posted on billboards, I feel.
To evolve is to move forward and leave the evangelists behind!
SunbeamAtheist
I always find it interesting when people sing about jesus loving you. What’s interesting is that since there are no nonbiblical references written during the time jesus supposedly lived, then the only thought that can be reasoned is that jesus never existed. Now if we could only get religion out of the christian world, the arab world and any other world, we’d finally all be able to live in peace on this world. Ah, a world without religion; is there any other way to envision a more peaceful life on earth?