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"Secularism Finds a Home at SDSU"

Source: The Daily Aztec (San Diego State University)
Date: May 8, 1997
Author: Sabrina Gosselin


Subtitle: New Student Organization Formed

Separation of church and state.

About 20 people gathered Tuesday afternoon for the first meeting of the San Diego State University Secular Society.

The group will be part of a national student organization called the Campus Freethought Alliance. CFA is an umbrella organization that unites free- thought groups on campuses across North America.

The organization, now recognized by Associated Students, was formed this semester by Theo van Joolen and Craig Kelso. According to van Joolen, the group was formed in response to the many campus religious organizations.

"We want to emphasize that we are not necessarily an anti-Christian group, and our anti-religious stance is a response to the harmful threat of various religions," Kelso said. "However, there are 15 or more religious organizations on campus in comparison to just one secular organization."

Non-theists, humanists and other skeptics are likely to make up the core membership of this group. However, Kelso emphasized that anyone wishing to participate in the group is welcome to do so, regardless of religious beliefs or lack thereof.

Kelso, van Joolen and faculty adviser professor Robert Taylor agreed the objectives of the organization should be the promotion of a free exchange of dialogue, based on rational and scientific theory, individual freedom and responsibility.

A primary concern of the group is maintaining the separation of church and state. Specific activities may include public debate, distribution of information and community service projects.

David Noelle, representative of the Committee of Secular Humanism and of the San Diego Association of Secular Humanism (SANDASH), was the featured speaker for the meeting. Noelle's message focused on the reasons why religion needs to be critiqued. Noelle illustrated the need for such scrutiny with four general statements. For each of these generalizations he gave historical and current examples. His platform statements were:

1. Religion often attempts to hinder the progress of science and technology. Examples include Creationism and the refusal of medical treatment by groups such as the Jehovah's Witnesses and Christian Scientists. Some religious groups won't even allow blood transfusions or other medical help for their children.
   
   
2. Most religions include the belief in some sort of afterlife. While this may be a comforting notion to some, Noelle finds it a dangerous one.
   
   Belief in heaven, or some type of divine hereafter, may cause people to give up on this life," Noelle said. "It makes suicide an inviting option. Also, faith that justice will be served posthumously is likely to lessen the concern for attaining justice here and now.
   
   
3. Throughout history, religious sects have oppressed many groups. Examples include racism in the form of biblical approval of slavery, and the Ku Klux Klan, which claims to base its beliefs in Christianity. The persecution and intolerance of Jews and homosexuals by Martin Luther, Louis Farrakhan and many other right-wing Christian groups, as well as discrimination against women, found in Christian and non-Christian religions alike were also mentioned.
   
   Noelle said a political group called Young Americans for Freedom, which claims to represent the Christian World View, recently distributed fliers advocating dismemberment as a punishment for sodomy.
   
   
4. Religious intolerance often results in violence. History's time line is full of religious war and slaughter. The Crusades, the Inquisition, problems in modern-day Ireland and the Middle East are just a few examples of this.

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