Rock Beyond Belief has a busy weekend planned (with that exciting 24 hour telethon that you are going to watch). However, I really want to shift gears for a second.

This is from reddit:

My graduation from high school is this Friday. I live in the Bible Belt of the United States. The school was going to perform a prayer at graduation, but due to me sending the superintendent an email stating it was against Louisiana state law and that I would be forced to contact the ACLU if they ignored me, they ceased it. The school backed down, but that’s when the shitstorm rolled in. Everyone is trying to get it back in the ceremony now. I’m not worried about it, but everyone hates me… kind of worried about attending graduation now. It’s attracted more hostility than I thought.
My reasoning behind it is that it’s emotionally stressing on anyone who isn’t Christian. No one else wanted to stand up for their constitutional right of having freedom of and FROM religion. I was also hoping to encourage other atheists to come out and be heard. I’m one of maybe three atheists in this town that I currently know of. One of the others is afraid to come out of the (atheist) closet.
Though I’ve caused my classmates to hate me, I feel like I’ve done the right thing. Regardless of their thoughts on it, basically saying I am ruining their fun and their lives, I feel like I’ve helped someone out there. I didn’t do this for me or just atheists, but anyone who doesn’t believe in their god that prayer to Yahweh may affect.
Moral of the story: though the opposition may be great, majority doesn’t necessarily mean right. Thank you for reading. Wish me luck at graduation.
EDIT: Well, it hit the fan a couple hours ago. They’ve already assembled a group of supporters at a local church and called in the newspaper. I’ve had to deactivate my Facebook account and I can’t reason with any of them. They refuse to listen. The whole town hates me, aside from a few closet atheists that are silently supporting, which I don’t blame them looking at what I’ve incited here. Thanks for the support though.
If anyone would like to offer support, the superintendent is who I emailed and the school’s website is mpsb.us
Thanks for the support. It’s really helping. This has just gotten sickening.
Edit: I’ve had requests for my Facebook info… I don’t mind giving that out at all. Damon Fowler – Bastrop, LA. I could use all of the support I can get. Not sure if this link will work: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001146281052

Please support this brave young atheist

Obviously if you’re reading this, you ‘support the troops’ and care deeply about the separation of church and state. Many of you are Soldiers or Veterans yourself. We fight against repression, and for the integrity of the U.S. Constitution. Sometimes our fight requires talk and intelligent discourse, sometimes it requires litigation. As the ‘evangelical creep’ effect continues to manifest itself, perhaps it’s possible to head off the impending war with rational dialog in many of these cases.

Send an Email to the superintendent of his school.

Write a letter to the editor at Bastrop, LA’s local newspaper.
Contact: Mark Rainwater (318) 281 2691

Read the comments at the reddit article to hear even more ideas on how you can help.

If Damon happens to read this, he should definitely contact the Secular Student Alliance and the Louisianna ACLU. You will get some muscle to back you up in case they take the wrong side of this issue. Thanks for being a brave young defender of the Constitution, we foxhole atheists are proud of you.

**Update**

This story has already been published in Bastrop’s local paper. Please go ahead and make use of the stupid poll that accompanies the article.

How do you feel about a student at Bastrop High School stating they were an atheist and pledging to contact the American Civil Liberties Union if a Christian prayer were offered at the school’s graduation on May 19?