Something that has caught my attention on campus since I've been at Towson is the fliers for the Secular Alliance Club. There are all these quotes on the fliers for this club that appear to promote atheism/secularism, but I think they are actually insulting the intelligence of people who believe in God. I read something like "we don't have to pretend there is someone in the sky to figure out the mysteries of the universe" and variations of this kind of condescension. I don't know what the students of this secular club have experienced at the hand of religious folks, but I find their fliers disturbing.
It's one thing to promote your beliefs or lack thereof; it's another to criticize someone else's, considering a lot of people who have faith in a Higher Power have the intellectual capacity to understand what they believe in. This is the power of free speech. You can say what you want and I don't have to like it. But I can also say I don't like what you're saying and you don't have to like what I said either.
Do you find yourself tiptoeing around your right to speak freely due to the sensitive political climate in our country, or do you speak your mind no matter what popular opinion is?
This sounds like an example of young people struggling with the right to effectively exercise free speech. I have a feeling that many students go to college so anxious to express their views openly, free of their family's constraints, they sometimes take this right to free speech to the extreme. Letting their voice be heard stretches to the point of disrespect.
ReplyDeleteIn the context you've described, I don't think these students understand that this sort of rhetoric is probably not the most effective way to gain new club members. For example, what if the students who write things like "we don't have to pretend there is someone in the sky to figure out the mysteries of the universe" made their message more general, intriguing, and far less hateful? Do you think they could persuade more students to learn about their club by posting a flyer that said something such as "Join us in unraveling the mysteries of the universe"? I know that's a bit corny, but people would already know it's not a religious group because the word "secular" is in the club name. Those students could accomplish the task of gaining new (and maybe more!) club members without insulting the beliefs of their peers. I find open rhetoric far more persuasive than hate-based rhetoric.