(Πιθανότατα ο σύνδεσμος να μην είναι ορατός, αλλά το κείμενο είναι ολόκληρο.) Αυτόν θα χαρακτήριζα εγώ ήρωα. Άλλοι περιμένουν να γίνουν αλλαγές στις χώρες τους και να πέσουν από μόνες τους σαν ώριμα φρούτα. Nontheist of The Week: Damon Fowler For a while, I kept my atheism a secret from everyone. Then I came out to my friends, but someone in the family found out and told everyone else. My parents didn’t like it at all, but they soon learned to tolerate it since they couldn’t change my beliefs. A couple of months later, I noticed that my high school would be praying at the graduation ceremony. I looked up Louisiana law concerning prayer in public schools and saw all that is allowed is a “brief moment of silent meditation or prayer.” I was already familiar with the Constitution saying that the government cannot endorse any religion. I put a post online to get a little support, because I knew I wouldn’t get any locally. The Reddit community really gave me the support and motivation I needed. I immediately contacted the school with an email stating that prayer on school grounds, promoted by the school, violates the Constitution and Louisiana law. The school gave me no response but made the complaint public, causing a big uproar in the community. I was the only open atheist graduating, so many people automatically assumed it was me. When asked, I didn’t lie, because I saw nothing wrong with what I had done. It was against the law to pray at graduation, and they had been breaking the law for more than a decade. News spread quickly that I was the one who stopped the prayer. Many members of the community, including my own parents, attended a meeting at a church to protest removing the prayer. My parents barely spoke to me. They disconnected my phone and left me with no way of contacting my older brother, who contacted FFRF on my behalf. I was unable to attend graduation practice due to threats against me, so the school was going to put me at the back of the line for graduation. Class Night came around, which includes a ceremony for those who acquired merits and scholarships. Though told not to pray, a student prayed anyway, and administrators allowed it. She called for a moment of silence afterward, which seemed like a complete joke to the students. It was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance, during which some of the students emphasized and yelled “under God!” I felt so alienated from my class, as if they were all against me. It was very embarrassing, but still I pushed on and attended my graduation the next day. Thanks to the Freedom From Religion Foundation, I was placed in my rightful spot in line to graduate. They also asked that there be increased security at graduation, which was provided. But they still prayed at my graduation. It went better than I expected, aside from one person yelling “Jesus still loves you,” as I walked to get my diploma. I left as soon as I could, but couldn’t go back home. My parents had thrown my belongings outside, obviously kicking me out. I left for Dallas with my sister. I’ve received a lot of support from across the country and around the world. A blog even started a donation to go toward a scholarship for me. I plan on going to college soon, and I will definitely keep fighting for constitutional rights whenever and wherever they are violated. I am very grateful for the support I’ve gotten, and I thank everyone who has given even a few seconds out of their day to tell me that I did a good job.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 17:24:29 +0000
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