Dear Editor,The ETSU campus is no stranger to intolerance.
Acts of bigotry and intolerance seemingly occur on a daily basis for many of our students.
From LGBTies to Black Affairs, student groups attempting to provide a safe and healthy environment for their constituents frequently encounter intolerance and discrimination by students who don’t seem to share the values of a free society, such as the right to organize, the right to free speech and the right to choose one’s own beliefs.
In that light, the members of the ETSU Atheist and Free-thought club feel it is appropriate to bring to the attention of our campus yet another example of the pervasive intolerance that besets our school.
Recently, our organization paid to produce a poster promoting our organization on campus. That poster was placed, in accordance with university policy, in a display case along the wall of the ramp leading to the cave in the D.P. Culp center.
Sadly, our poster was stolen from that case sometime between Saturday evening, when it was put up, and Monday morning, when we first noticed it was missing.
It didn’t even last a full school day before some self-righteous individual became determined that a recognized student organization ought not to be allowed to exercise their right to free speech and expression.
We are understandably upset by this act, yet we are not at all surprised.
This was by no means the first time we’ve had our posters vandalized on campus. Our flyers are frequently torn down, or covered or scribbled upon.
This incident, however, is a bit different, since unlike paper flyers our poster was printed professionally for a significant amount of money.
So what was it that was so offensive that convinced someone that no student should have to suffer its message? It read simply, “Don’t believe in God? You’re not alone,” followed by our group contact information.
It remains unclear to the members of our organization why a fairly innocuous statement of fact would incite someone to commit an act of vandalism.
Intolerant individuals, however, are not generally characterized by their commitment to things like facts or rational thought, let alone freedom.
It is an indisputable fact that a significant number of students on our campus have doubts about the existence of any God or gods.
Our organization seeks to provide a space for ethical, skeptical and rational students to come together, to voice their concerns and to overcome the isolation and frustration that accompany skeptical thought in a predominantly religious part of the country.
Our poster was an attempt to let those students know that they’re not alone, that they don’t have to compromise their values and intellect, that there are people like them who feel bullied and harassed by an environment saturated by religious dogmatism.
It is our hope that by organizing students around such principles that we can overcome the bigotry and intolerance that would motivate someone to violate not only university policy and state law, but also the tenets of the Ten Commandments, “Thou shall not steal.”
If anyone has any knowledge of the whereabouts of the missing poster, or information about who might be responsible, you can contact me, Daniel Maurer, vice president of ETSU Atheist and Freethought club, at maurer@goldmail.etsu.edu.
For more information about our group you can visit our blog at http://etsuatheistclub.blogspot.com/ or you may join our Facebook group, Atheist and Freethought club at ETSU.
– Daniel Maurer
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