 |
Metroplex Atheists
American Atheists Cowtown RAM 2000
On September 10, 2000, about 60 atheists from various parts of Texas came to the Worthington Hotel in Fort Worth to hear a terrific collection of speeches. We heard about activism in general, protests in particular, book covers, freethought in the wild west, pseudoscience and quackery as religion, and how church and state is threatened in D/FW with the city-sponsored "God Pod" in the Fort Worth jail. A good time was had by all, and we hope to see you at the next one! American Atheists' official Cowtown RAM page with more commentary and pictures.
The next national convention is in Orlando over Easter weekend. We'll be there with our ears on, and we hope to see you there!
Shelly's Presentation Metroplex atheists is an organization that has been around in the D/FW area for many years. Through the dedication of people such as Colin Seward, Elanor Eastman, and the late George Hahn, this organization has been able to stand the test of time and still be here today. The goals of Metroplex Atheists are two-fold. First, we like to meet other atheists and have meaningful discussions with each other. This has been the main focus of the group over the years and has worked very well. Second, we are atheist activists. The activism has really been jump started with the recent addition of Randall Gorman. He's our protest guy. Randy will be up later to tell you his escapades of protesting alone. John will discuss our recent protests as a group. Along with protests, we also have been successful in keeping equal access an issue whenever the wall between church and state becomes blurred. Two examples come to mind. First is the Weatherford Winter Solstice sign. Second is the Grand Prairie atheist book covers. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Winter Solstice sign, the Parker County courthouse allows a nativity scene to be put up on the lawn every Christmas. Dick Hogan tried to get the nativity scene removed. Instead of removing the nativity scene, the judge decided to make the courthouse lawn an open forum. Any organization can put up a display on the courthouse lawn, as long as a permit has been awarded. So, we had to do something for the first open forum season in December, 1998. Curtis Severs did an outstanding job of making a nice bright sunny sign saying "HAPPY WINTER SOLSTICE, THE REAL REASON FOR THE SEASON". It was vandalized with a black "JESUS [heart] YOU" spray painted across the face of the sun. The placing of the Winter Solstice sign has become a tradition for Metroplex Atheists during our Winter Solstice party. I encourage each one of you to come out to Dick Hogan's party barn for this year's Winter Solstice party. The second equal access project we've undertaken is the grand prairie ISD atheist book covers. At the beginning of last year's school year, a Christian woman by the name of Karen Weigman bought some Ten Commandment book covers from the Family Research Council and began handing them out to students as they entered into the schools. The school district put a stop to in stating that she was violating the separation of church and state. Ms. Weigman did not give up. She began attending the local school board meetings and was successful in exploiting a very vague rule regarding non-school materials. She initially wanted the district to distribute her covers instead of the traditional local business sponsored book covers. In May, the state ACLU director spoke to the board and stated the distribution of the book covers by the school district would be a direct violation of the separation of church and state. The board opted to allow the Ten Commandment book covers only if Ms. Weigman distributed her book covers. During the board meeting, a board director was quoted as saying, "If we allow these book covers, anyone can submit a book cover. Even a Satanic group." I read these words, and had my husband read them. We had a solid church/state violation and we needed to challenge it. Thus, over the summer, we designed the cover and contacted a sympathetic printer and had 1,000 covers printed. And here's the design. . .
Dick Hogan sent a letter to the superintendent of schools exactly one week before school started. He followed up the letter with multiple phone messages to the superintendent. The first day of school, August 14th, came and still no phone call. Dick left several messages with the superintendent that day. It was very obvious at this time that the super was avoiding the whole issue. Dick then called Ramona Logan, a local channel 5 reporter, late on Monday. He had an interview set up early on Tuesday. Dick Hogan was interviewed and so was the superintendent. Surprise, surprise, surprise! Dick received a phone call from the super on Tuesday afternoon. He stated that we needed to comply with district policy. Dick asked for a copy of the policy so we can determine if our covers comply. Of course the covers complied with the policy and we submitted a small version of the book cover to the super for his review. The story ran on the local Tuesday evening news. A board member was interviewed on camera and stated that we were making the school district a battle field and the book covers may need to be revised. We were expecting the book covers to be turned down. The school board policy states that "failure to act within the 24-hour period shall be interpreted as disapproval." We pulled together a quick press release and faxed it to all the local news stations stating that "Grand Prairie school board turns down atheist-themed book covers in the wake of their decision to allow Ten Commandment book covers." Dick Hogan took a lot of flak from reporters on this press release, but I really feel we had to send the press release to force the district's hand. It was a successful tactic. We were given permission to distribute the book covers the next day. We only had to submit a real book cover to the super to verify the item we were distributing. This gave the district more time to stall. We didn't get official permission to distribute the book covers until Tuesday, august 22nd, a full two weeks from when we originally approached the district. On Wednesday, August 23rd, we distributed the book covers to all the schools in the district. We had three other people (Randall Gorman, Brian McIntosh, and David Penn) who graciously donated their time to help hit all the schools. We decided to distribute the book covers to the Grand Prairie high school together in order to gage the reception we were likely to receive, We arrived at the high school and hung out in the parking lot waiting for the local newspaper's photographer to show up. We had a really nice time speaking to Tawnell Hobbs, a Star-Telegram reporter. We were met at the door by Grand Prairie policemen, not standard security guards, and escorted to the principal's office. The principal met us out in the hall and we were not allowed in his office. I showed him the permission slip I received from the assistant superintendent. He made us wait in the hallway while he called to verify it was a valid permission slip. He then came out and asked me for the book covers. He would make sure the covers would be put in their proper place. I looked at the principal and told him that I wanted the same access to the area as Ms. Weigman had been afforded. He instantly became inflammatory by saying, " what, you don't trust me?" I told him it was not a matter of trust but a matter of equal access and I wanted the same access as Ms. Weigman. Having the press there really helped. He backed down and escorted us to the library, cleared an area off, and allowed me to place the book covers. A couple of days later, one of the reporters called the principal back and verified that the book covers were still in the library. All in all, this was a very positive experience. We received, at least to me, unprecedented media coverage. Channels 4, 5, 11, and 33 all did stories on the issue. The Star-Telegram, the Dallas Morning News, and the Houston Chronicle all had written several articles. And we were the subject of a couple of local radio talk shows. The Star-Telegram reporter later confided to me that this was the biggest story of her career. Her article was picked up by the AP wire and was sent around the globe. She said she had over a hundred emails asking questions about the book covers and almost as many phone call messages. Personally, we have received nothing but support from the atheist community around the nation. We've only received one negative email from an outraged Christian. In Florida. Okay, now we're in the evaluation stage. What did we do right, what could we improve. What we did right.
What we could improve:
What's on the horizon for Metroplex Atheists:
Metroplex Atheists really represents grass roots activism. It is at the grass root level where we, as individuals, can institute the most change. I hope you will find what we do intriguing enough to try it out for yourself.
|
