Damon Fowler

Damon's battle against his schoolboard is being well-covered throughout the atheist world, so though I've been reading a lot about it, I haven't done anything on it other than to offer my support via a comment on the Support Damon Facebook page. If you want to know the whole story, Hemant Mehta has some pretty comprehensive coverage here.

Having just taken a peek at that page, which is being maintained primarily by his very supportive brother - the only member of his family who hasn't kicked him to the curb - it appears Damon himself has made a statement. It's a short paragraph, but the first couple of lines are what really caught my attention.

"Thanks everyone for the support... to everyone else, if you don't agree with what I did, I'm sure crying about it will render it constitutional."

That pretty much sums it up for me. Despite my views as an atheist, despite my opinion that a world lacking in religion would be a much better place, it all really comes down to the separation of church and state. That's why Damon started this whole thing, and that's why we're all yelling about it. Public institutions, run on public money, are required by law to be secular. Full stop.

My own opinion: If your religion isn't strong enough to survive when it isn't being pushed at people in every facet of their lives, then it doesn't deserve to survive.