I’ve been saving it up – just for YOU!

Atheist Student Groups Flower On Campus (Eric Gorski/The Associated Press/The Sioux City Journal; Nov 21)

AMES, Iowa: The sign sits propped on a wooden chair, inviting all comers: “Ask an Atheist.”

Whenever a student gets within a few feet, Anastasia Bodnar waves and smiles, trying to make a good first impression before eyes drift down to a word many Americans rank down there with “socialist.”

Bodnar is the happy face of atheism at Iowa State University. Once a week at this booth at a campus community center, the PhD student who spends most of her time researching the nutritional traits of corn takes questions and occasional abuse while trying to raise the profile of religious skepticism.

“A lot of people on campus either don’t know we exist or are afraid of us or hate us,” says Bodnar, president of the ISU Atheist and Agnostic Society. “People assume we’re rabble-rousing, when we’re one of the gentlest groups on campus.”

As the stigma of atheism has diminished, campus atheists and agnostics are coming out of the closet, fueling a sharp rise in the number of clubs like the 10-year-old group at Iowa State.

Campus affiliates of the Secular Student Alliance, a sort of Godless Campus Crusade for Christ, have multiplied from 80 in 2007 to 100 in 2008 and 174 this fall, providing the atheist movement new training grounds for future leaders. In another sign of growing acceptance, at least three universities, including Harvard, now have humanist chaplains meeting the needs of the not-so-spiritual….

As teenagers move into young adulthood, some leave God behind. But not in huge numbers.

More than three-quarters of young adults taking part in the National Study of Youth and Religion profess a belief in God. But almost 7 percent fewer believe in God as young adults (ages 18 to 23) than did as teenagers, according to the study, which is tracking the same group of young people as they mature.

What young adults are less likely to believe in is religion. The number of those who describe themselves as “not religious” nearly doubled, to 27 percent, in young adulthood.

Growing hostility toward religion was found, too. About 1 in 10 young adults are “irreligious” — or actively against religion — after virtually none of them fit that description as teenagers.

At Iowa State, most of the club’s roughly 30 members are “former” somethings, mostly Christians. Many stress that their lives are guided not by anti-religiousness, but belief in science, logic and reason.

“The goal,” said Andrew Severin, a post-doctoral researcher in bioinformatics, “should a PhD student in biophysics, “should be to obtain inner peace for yourself and do random acts of kindness for strangers.”

Severin calls himself a “spiritual atheist.” He doesn’t believe in God or the supernatural but thinks experiences like meditation or brushes with nature can produce biochemical reactions that feel spiritual.

When the ISU club began in 1999, it was mostly a discussion group. But it soon became clear that young people who leave organized religion miss something: a sense of community. So the group added movie and board-game nights and, more recently, twice-monthly Sunday brunches to the calendar.

“It’s nice to be around people who aren’t going to bash me for believing in nothing,” said Bricelyn Rector, a freshman from Sioux City who, like others, described community as the club’s greatest asset.

Members also seek to engage their peers at Iowa State, a 28,000-student science and technology school where the student body leans conservative. There’s a “Brews and Views” night at a local coffee house and talks by visiting speakers common to any college campus.

“This is not a group of angry atheists. It’s a group of very exuberant atheists,” said faculty sponsor Hector Avalos, a secular humanist and well-known Biblical scholar who used to be a Pentecostal preacher. “Their primary aim is not to destroy the faith of Christians on campus. It’s more live and let live.”…

On most college campuses, secular groups take shape when non-believing students arrive and find a couple-dozen Christian groups but no home for them. It isn’t that atheism is necessarily growing among students — surveys show no uptick in the number of atheist and agnostic young adults over the last 20 years.

But the greater willingness to speak out, paired with the diversity within the movement, has resulted is a patchwork of clubs across the country united in disbelief but different in mission.

At Texas State University in San Marcos, a group of freethinkers led by a former Lutheran organizes rock-climbing outings and has co-sponsored a debate with a campus Christian group.

The University of South Florida is home to two active clubs: a freethinkers group that held a back-to-school barbecue and an atheist group that protested an anti-abortion group’s campus visit.

Still other clubs embrace rituals. At the University of Southern Maine, a secular humanist organization has celebrated HumanLight, a secular alternative to Christmas and Hanukkah.

Just in the past year, the Iowa State club has evolved in new directions. Some are things churches have traditionally done — like the club’s first foray into volunteerism, sleeping outside in cardboard boxes to raise money for homeless youth….

Judge OKs Winter Solstice Display At Arkansas Capitol (Jill Zeman Bleed/The Associated Press; Dec 14)

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas: A secular display celebrating the winter solstice and “freethinkers” such as Albert Einstein and Bill Gates can be placed at the state Capitol alongside a traditional Christian nativity scene, a federal judge said Monday.

The Arkansas Society of Freethinkers sued last week after Secretary of State Charlie Daniels rejected its proposal, saying it wasn’t consistent with the Capitol’s other decorations and displays. The group asked for a quick hearing before the winter solstice, which is Dec. 21.

U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright granted an injunction Monday allowing the display to go up.

The group never wanted to remove the nativity display, said Tod Billings, president of the Arkansas Society of Freethinkers. Billings said he hoped the display would go up Wednesday and that it would remain until the nativity scene came down after the holidays.

“We just wanted the freedom to be included in the holiday celebrations publicly, just like anybody else can do if they fill out the appropriate paperwork,” Billings said.

Natasha Naragon, a spokeswoman for the secretary of state’s office, said that they respected the judge’s decision and that they’ll work with the group to erect the display.

The society proposed building an 8-foot-tall, 4-foot-high plywood display that would detail the solstice’s history. It would also include photos of people it considers “freethinkers,” such as Einstein, Gates and Eleanor Roosevelt.

“As the old year passes and a new year is born, we reflect on that which has passed and hope for a better tomorrow,” the proposed display reads. “May the light of reason be a beacon to a brighter future for us all.”

The nativity scene, which includes wooden carvings inside a wood structure south of the Capitol’s entrance, is maintained and displayed by a nonprofit group based in Little Rock. It has been on display on the Capitol grounds for more than half a century.

Faith-Based Prison Rehab Case Reversed (Catherine Whittenburg/TampaBayOnline; Dec 16)

TALLAHASSEE, Florida: Advocates for the separation of church and state scored a victory Tuesday when the 1st District Court of Appeal reversed the dismissal of their claim that state-funded, “faith-based” rehabilitation of ex-prisoners is unconstitutional.

The Council for Secular Humanism, a New York-based organization with membership in Florida, had appealed a Leon County Circuit Court judge’s 2008 dismissal of the group’s complaint that the state’s contract with Prisoners of Christ and Lamb of God Ministries is unconstitutional.

Specifically, the appellant complained that the contracts violate the “no-aid” provision of the Florida Constitution, which bars the state from spending taxpayer money “directly or indirectly in aid of any church, sect, or religious denomination or in aid of any sectarian institution.”

Lamb of God Ministries is located in Okeechobee and has facilities in Pompano Beach; Prisoners of Christ is based in Jacksonville. Their state contracts derive from a law passed in 2001 authorizing the Department of Corrections to hire faith-based service providers to operate substance abuse transitional housing programs for people recently released from state prison.

The organizations clothe, feed, house and provide religiously based substance abuse rehabilitation and other services.

The 1st District Court of Appeal’s decision remands the case back to the lower court for trial.

The state contracts with about 25 faith-based providers to operate the program.

In its opinion, the panel of three judges found that Judge John Cooper erred by not applying the appellate court’s prior ruling in another church-and-state case: Bush v. Holmes. That 2006 case went to the state Supreme Court and ultimately struck down a school voucher program that spent state dollars on private schools, some of them sectarian.

Ronald A. Lindsay, president and CEO of the Council for Secular Humanism, said he is convinced his side will prevail at trial. “By bringing this case, we are protecting religious liberty for both religious and secular individuals. No one should be compelled to subsidize any religion with their tax dollars.”

Mike Lewandowski, pastor, CEO and founder of Lamb of God Ministries, said he was disappointed by the ruling but had no qualms about facing trial in the case. On the bright side, he said, the publicity surrounding the case highlights the services his organization provides.

Ten Commandments Removed From Ohio Village Hall Grounds (Quan Truong/The Cincinnati Enquirer; Dec 17)

LOCKLAND, Ohio: Lockland officials have quietly taken down a Ten Commandments sign that has been displayed outside village hall for several years.

A recent lawsuit claims the sign is unconstitutional – a conclusion the village’s own lawyers reached as well. Still, village officials said, it was hard to part with the sign.

Former Mayor Jim Brown, who spent $1,000 of his own money for the plastic display, called it a disappointment, although acknowledging the village had no choice but to “bow to the powers that be.”

Resident Christopher Knecht filed a civil suit against Lockland in late September, claiming the “theological display” on public property violates constitutional rights.

After being served with legal papers, current Mayor Ron Johnson and council members met with attorneys and was told it was a battle they would not win. In previous cases, the Supreme Court has ruled that government entities cannot endorse one religion over another, unless the display is there for historical purposes.

Johnson ordered the sign removed on Monday. There was no vote among council but all agreed with the decision, Johnson said.

“The village of Lockland is no different than other places and we need to obey the law,” he said….

While there is widespread support from the community, it was clear the sign had to go, Johnson said.

“You can’t just put village citizens’ taxpayer money in a lawsuit that we cannot win,” he said. “I think it’s only just that we try to get the lawsuit behind us and do what’s right by the Supreme Court and follow the law.”

Meanwhile, Knecht said he was glad the administration “stepped into the 21st century with the rest of us. That’s a start that they recognize this is the law of the land and that religion is secondary to that.”…

Violent Crime & Property Crime Down In US (AFP; Dec 22)

WASHINGTON: Violent crime fell in the United States during the first six months of 2009 compared to the same period last year, preliminary data released Monday by the FBI showed.

“Murder declined 10 percent, robbery fell 6.5 percent, forcible rape decreased 3.3 percent and aggravated assault declined 3.2 percent,” between January and June, the FBI said.

The fall in violent crime was greater in cities compared to rural areas, falling seven percent in urban areas with populations of one million or more and by 3.8 percent in non-metropolitan counties.

Small cities, with populations of 10,000 to 24,999, were the exception to the decline, reporting a 1.7 percent increase in violent crime.

But property crime, which includes burglary, larceny and motor vehicle theft, was also down nationwide, the report showed.

Motor vehicle theft dropped 18.7 percent, larceny decreased 5.3 percent, and burglary declined 2.5 percent for the first six months of the year compared with the same period in 2008.

Again, large cities saw the biggest fall in the number of property crimes. They fell by 7.7 percent in cities with populations of one million or more, the report said.

The full report on US crime statistics is due to be released next year.

Another big blow to the idea that things are just getting worse and worse in the US as the country becomes less Christian, more diverse, and more secular.

Another blow, too, to the idea that small towns and rural areas (which are typically more religious) are more likely to have crime under control than large urban areas.

The version of this story that appeared in the Columbus Dispatch included the statement that “much of the national decline in property crime has resulted from dramatic declines in vehicle thefts, resulting from improved security features on cars and trucks.” Got that? “Improved security features” – NOT divine intervention, NOT prayer, and NOT any surge in church attendance.

*Passing around a fresh tray of cookies to celebrate*