I'm out of school 14 years, but if someone tried this where I went to school, people'd be shitting bricks! I live in a town of about 800 people that has 3 churches!

if they didn't i'd contact the governor as that would be unconstitutional.

Eh. No offense but the Secular Students Association sounds to soft atheism/agnostic to me. I'd make my club a bit more militant with events like the war on easter or something. More interesting that way.

Wow, godstopper. Uncool. Very uncool.

Just because someone doesn't prescribe to your particular brand of activism, does not make them any less serious than you. Would you call me unserious, seeing as I co-founded the War on Easter?

He was frank about his motives. He said, "I'm going to form an atheist/secular club at my highschool. Already found 5 members."

Maybe your SSA info might be pertinent to the OP who still hasn't weighed in since you posted it.

I almost started a Secular organization here at VCU through SSA, I had gotten my start up kit etc.. however due to the fact I work 40 hours a week, and the rest of my free time is tied up in research another 40 plus hours a week, I haven't had time to actually start one. SSA, however is a great organization. I recommend getting in touch with them. With high schools it would be a bit different I would imagine.

As Sam Harris said "I think this is a war of ideas that has to be fought on a hundred fronts at once. There?s not one piece that is going to trump all others."

What bothers me is that the hard work of certain atheists would be discounted as "unserious." That, my friends, is a big load of bullshit.

I'm all for the multi-faceted approach as well, I simply think what we're doing is a hell of a lot more fun (at least for me) than anything "mainstream" efforts might do. :twisted:

Actually, if you think about it though, the RRS itself is multi-faceted. We talk to professional apologists and everyday believers, and generally I think you tend to get what you give with us. You want to push, count on getting pushed back. You want a friendly discussion, we can do that too.

Just remember, every Easter and Christmas are going to have us dressed as bunnies and St.Nick bringing thithings or reason

I like the SSA and have been involved in organizations that went through them in the past. Frankly though they were boring and didn't hold my interest for precisely the merits ELGS pointed out ("SSA would probably discourage you from negative campaigns or offensive outbursts against religion. Instead, they would want you to hold meetings that serve the nonbelievers in your school, host speakers, moderate sincere debates, perform community service, and the like". If I wanted a social club I would have joined one.

yeah, but the "social" clubs is what, the mainstream likes, unfortunately. People like things sugar coated. but, don't get me wrong....the hard core in your face approach also is needed in order to set the standard.

The SSA is a professional, structured organization.

To see how they would help a school's student group, go here:
http://www.secularstudents.org/community/services.html

These are some of the things the Secular Student Alliance does: They provide a startup kit. They provide grants so your group can afford to get a speaker, and they can even provide the speaker (usually a well-known atheist or secular activist). They give you a 58-page guide on how to run your group. They provide webhosting for your group's site. They have an e-newsletter (which I and many secular leaders subscribe to). They also help guide you and support you as you navigate through your school's requirements for legitimate student groups.

It's likely that your group will need a teacher to "sponsor" you, so poke around your school to see which ones might be most receptive to sponsoring a freethought club on campus.

Once started, your group may also qualify to participate in the American Atheists Affiliate program, for details, see: http://www.atheists.org/affiliation/

thanks, godstopper, I'm gonna request the packet and see what I can do when my high school starts back up again

Yeah, well, what i'm going to do is find people that'd join first. I already know about 5 or so.

Alright, I should be able to get back to you guys on august 18th, when we have our "tip off".

If we play the War On Christmas just right, we could have a great formula on our hands as far as the fight against theism is concerned...

Like LeftofLarry said, a multi-faceted approach. Hardcore activism to get publicity, than a more soft-core approach when we have peoples attentions.

For example, we go out and put flyers everywhere. We preach some atheism (so-to-speak) and hella advertise Anti-Theist.net and the No God Network. So then everyone gets riled up about it, and visits our sites online.

This is where we should really pump the rationality. Make the homepages of all our sites better looking and informative and easy to navigate, so the theist-passer-by can stop and look around. Post links to essays that explain our position clearly (from asktheatheist.com, or Samuels “The Irrationality of Theism” essay, for example).

What I'm saying is, we can be really hard-hitting and everything to start, and to advertise or site, but when people come here, they shouldn't feel threatened, but welcomed. We should always re-assert that we are here to help them. Am I being clear?

I live in a town with 7,396 people as of the 2000 census, that is just 7 sq. miles. There are 37 churches listed for just the town. That is 5.29 churches per sq. mile. I had to ask myself. Why so many churches? So I did a search for any kind of local atheist groups, and came up with a big fat zero.
So to anyone wanting to start a local atheist group in your area. Please do it. I am sure that the statics of my town are repeated over and over across america. We need to put and end to it.
Until Next Time

I'm thinking about starting a group at my University, though I would like someone else to do it since I'm an introvert.

I ordered a kit from the SSA.