Secular Club at Public High School

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BurningStar's picture
Secular Club at Public High School

Hello. I have had something on my mind for a while now. I want to make a club at my high school for non religious students. Not necessarily an atheist club but a non religious club. I have a idea as to how I will make the club, but I don’t really know what the club will do. I want your ideas for what this club could do.

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Cognostic's picture
Aren't all HS clubs secular?

Aren't all HS clubs secular? It would be illegal for Christians to use school resources for religious meetings. This would violate the separation of Church and state. A philosophy club could deal with Christian Apologetics. Comparative religions and histories might be reasonable but not much fun. A skeptics club might be good. Bring in ideas like "The fake moon landing." "Aliens." "Jesus existed." "Bigfoot." And then look at what the experts are saying about these subjects and ask if they can be adequately debunked.

David Killens's picture
Luis R. I suggest you tread

Luis R. I suggest you tread very carefully. While your idea is of merit, it will definitely draw the ire of religious zealot parents from that same school. Instead of tackling this head-on, I suggest a more indirect route.

A science club, or a debate club.

SecularSonOfABiscuitEater's picture
Take it back to the roots.

Take it back to the roots. Why do you want this club? What are the common goals that you expect it's members to have? You might want to conduct a survey with your peers about what they care about and go from there.

arakish's picture
^^^^^^^^^^^^ What David said

^^^^^^^^^^^^ What David said ^^^^^^^^^^^^

I tried creating a non-religious club at my high school. I was so ostracized I was even suspended for two weeks. Tread very carefully.

rmfr

LogicFTW's picture
@Luis R.

@Luis R.

Unfortunately, the amount of road blocks you can run into depends greatly on where the high school is located. Rural mississippi or Alabama? Or the like?
-FuhGedAbout it! - you would be bringing on a world of hurt, those locations simply are not ready yet.

A major college town, in a large city? Say.. San Francisco? There is probably already three such clubs in your H.S. So depending on where the H.S. is located should direct how you should try and go about this.

 
 

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Rohan M.'s picture
If you're in somewhere like

If you're in somewhere like Washington (the state) where I live, then you'll be mostly fine... very few really care what you do and don't believe here. In fact, you'd have a way better chance of attracting more people who are also nonbelievers.

If you're in the Southern Buybull Belt, then like LogicFTW said, forget it. You could instead join the Humanist Student Alliance, or something.

BurningStar's picture
@LogicFTW, It’s located in

@LogicFTW, It’s located in the suburban parts of Chicagoland. I think we are pretty non-religious here so I don’t think there will be many roadblocks. Guess we won’t know for sure until
we try?

@arakish, 2 weeks?! Can’t you sue the school or something? That’s ubsurd. I’ll be careful.

@SecularSonOfABiscuitEater, Good idea, getting people to take surveys at my school is pretty much pointless though since nobody takes them lol. I guess I want this club to be a place where secular students can come in and be themselves. Maybe we can do activities to help our community and show people that religion isn’t necessary to be good?

@David Kellins, yeah, if parents get mad then I don’t really care, it’s my right to open a secular club if I want. If they have a issue with that they can go talk to the government or something. Good pitches, but those clubs already exits at my HS. I want this club to specifically target non religious peers and to shine a good light on us.

@Cognostic, True all clubs are secular, but I want this club to specifically target non-religious students and to shine a good light on us. I actually really like the idea of a philosophy club, maybe I’ll do that instead if this secular student club flops.

Thanks for all the replies, I appreciate them

arakish's picture
Luis R: "@arakish, 2 weeks?!

Luis R: "@arakish, 2 weeks?! Can’t you sue the school or something? That’s ubsurd. I’ll be careful."

That happened over 40 years ago in North Carolina. Don't know about other Baptist Bible Belt states, but the State of North Carolina actually had laws that made it legal to discipline "disruptive" students with physical abuse (corporal punishment) until 1980 when the law was repealed. Usually in high school they no longer used corporal punishment, but they would suspend you in a heart beat. From my experience, and what I have heard from others here, North Carolina was the WORST of the Baptist states to grow up in the 60s and 70s. They had absolutely no tolerance for the unbelieving godless heathens. I may have had it rough being an atheist in those times, but thanks to letter writing campaigns I initiated, North Carolina has calmed way down. However, I still believe that at least 90% of all government, legal, and media are still controlled by the Baptists. Shame.

rmfr

SecularSonOfABiscuitEater's picture
"is pretty much pointless

"is pretty much pointless though since nobody takes them"

You just need a sample size, not everybody needs to take it. Plus, if you are involved and ask the questions, it would be a lot more productive. I've surveyed in school before. It wouldn't hurt to try would it?

Rohan M.'s picture
In that case, then go for it.

In that case, then go for it. As for getting members, you could just sort of advertise your club at the beginning of the semester, along with all of the other student clubs.

Rohan M.'s picture
You could make it a debate

You could make it a debate club; challenge a few theists to debate scientific issues like evolution with you or something.

Additionally, you could even extend it to skepticism if you want; that means in addition to debating religious things, you could also have debates involving things like homeopathy or alternative medicine.

Or you could just make it a kind of get-together club... anyway those are just a few ideas of mine...

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