via the telegraph.

More news that churches are failing.  It will be a long battle but, we are slowly winning the war!

It is one of Britain’s oldest and most prestigious public schools, founded 500 years ago by the Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral.

Yet St Paul’s School in south west London has knocked down its chapel to make way for new science classrooms, becoming the first of the country’s leading public schools to do without a place of worship.

The decision has upset the Church of England and brought complaints that the institution is turning its back on its Christian heritage in favour of a more secular approach to education

The Bishop of London, the Rt Rev Richard Chartres, has expressed his dismay in a private letter to the school.

The decision to knock down the chapel comes as St Paul’s undergoes a renovation programme for which it has raised £77 million.

While £5 million has been spent on a new theatre and £4 million on a sports complex, no money has been made available for a replacement chapel.

In the original blueprint, a new chapel would not have been built until around 2040.

There are now plans to start saving money in 2020 to pay for the construction of the remaining buildings, but no date has been assigned to the chapel, leading to fears that it will be seen as expendable.

At other leading public schools, including Eton, Charterhouse and Rugby, the chapel is one of the most impressive buildings, providing a home for daily acts of religious observance.

By contrast, pupils at St Paul’s have this term been singing hymns in the foyer of the school’s assembly hall.

Whilst the Bishop has declined to speak publicly about the row, other clergy and alumni have voiced their concerns.

The Rev Robert Stanier, an Anglican chaplain and former pupil – or Old Pauline – said he was appalled that providing a place of worship appeared to be a low priority for St Paul’s.

He said: “If it wants to be a secular school they need to be explicit about that, but if they want to have a Christian soul they should support it rather than shunt worship into an assembly hall.

“It’s not just that the chapel’s being ignored in the redevelopment, it has been demolished to make way for a science block and there’s no clear commitment to when it will be rebuilt.

“This is a school with a Christian foundation. They’re spending nearly £80 million and yet they can’t find any space for a chapel.”

Basil Moss, an Old Pauline who has been involved with the school’s Christian Union for 45 years, said he hoped there would be a rethink on rebuilding the chapel.

“The school has such a wonderful Christian tradition that we want to make sure that it continues to find a home for its spiritual life,” he said.

“I hope that the chapel will be put high on the priority list because there should be a place for such an important aspect of a pupil’s development.”

Among the illustrious pupils to have attended St Paul’s – which has the motto ‘Fide Et Literis’, meaning By Faith and By Learning – are John Milton, the poet, Samuel Pepys, the diarist, and George Osborne, the chancellor.

The single-sex school has around 1,200 boys on its roll, with fees of £18,825 a year for day pupils.

Professor Mark Bailey, the school’s High Master, said that the current arrangements for worship were “entirely suitable” and that the school remained committed to its religious dimension.

“There’s no clear date for when a new chapel will be built, but it is in the master plan and there is planning permission for it,” he said.

“The reason it’s not in the first phase [of rebuilding] is because of the sequence in which planning consent means we must proceed, but there will be a place for it.”

St Paul’s was established in 1509 by John Colet, the cathedral dean, to provide education for pupils of “all nacions [sic] and countries indifferently”, primarily in literature and etiquette.

It originally admitted exactly 153 pupils, representing the number of fish caught in the Sea of Galilee in a miracle attributed to Jesus. Foundation Scholars at St Pauls are given the option of wearing a silver fish emblem to mark the connection.

Great news!  I will be giving a talk at Purdue University On Wednesday October 19, 2011.

The talk starts at 6:30PM and the fools have agreed to let me talk for 2 full hours.  Mwhaa haa haaa.

I will be giving my talk on “Breaking the Cycle of Religion” and some other fun bits.

Facebook page here!

If you can make it to West Lafayette, IN please stop by and say hello.

If you are in a college group and would like to have me talk just send me an e-mail and we can work on a time.

As my regular readers may know I often help the world’s best secular student group ISSA.  Well, those wacky heathens sent me a card full of signatures to say that they were thinking of me in my time of loss.

They made me cry.

ISSA – Thank you again for making the world a better place!

Post By Sam Shore.

——————–

Ever since Phil added me to the crew here at Skeptic Money, I’ve been debating whether to do some sort of introductory post or jump right into the issues. Serendipitously, it looks like I’ll be able to kill two birds with one stone. As Hemant Mehta reported a couple of days ago, a new chapter of the Secular Student Alliance was initially denied approval to form at the Carbondale campus of Southern Illinois University by that school’s Undergraduate Student Government. This story piqued my interest for a few reasons. As an officer in the Illini Secular Student Alliance, I am well aware of the communal, educational, and charitable benefits of having an SSA affiliate on campus. That one would be denied the blessing (well… not blessing. But you know.) of the host university is troubling to me, doubly so that the incident occurred so close to home – less than 200 miles away. On a larger scale, this is another chapter in the tale of American atheist horror stories which showcases the growing pains our country is facing as it makes the glacial move towards embracing reason.

According to members of the newly-formed SIUC SSA, student senators cited their perception of the proposed group as mocking of religion when initially voting against its recognition as a Registered Student Organization. Even if secularism is inherently antagonistic to the religious (and it isn’t) I cannot see the relevance of this – surely Catholic RSOs are not disallowed despite their allegiance to a philosophy which is innately hostile to LGBT students. My own organization has been accused of mocking religion after chalking stick figures of Muhammad in support of the creators of South Park after they received death threats from Muslim extremists for depicting that religion’s beloved prophet. There are three important points to make about this incident: Never was our perceived mockery a threat to our standing as a Registered Student Organization, in its wake we have been able to forge a strong relationship with the Muslim Student Association on campus, and it has allowed ISSA to take a leadership role in setting the tone for how secular and faith-based organizations interact. Some of Interfaith’s largest biggest names have taken notice of our new “Transfaith” initiative based on the belief that we can still work with those we disagree with while still airing those disagreements rather than packing away all intellectual honesty. In my experience, the perception that something is mocking can have some positive outcomes and should not be immediately disavowed.

Dangerous religious mockery...

Of course, none of the things that ISSA does and I get to brag about could be done without significant support from the community at large. Phil helps out greatly, so do CFI and the SSA. But our largest contributor is consistently the university itself. When a group of us went to Florida to rehab houses with Habitat for Humanity, we were eligible as a Registered Student Organization to have a large portion of travel expenses covered. When we’ve brought in engaging speakers like biologist PZ Myers and historical researcher David Fitzgerald (coming this week!), the University of Illinois has been there to help foot the bill. That SIUC’s chapter of SSA is already facing resistance from its home school concerns me. If they work together, the potential for educating and helping the community is great, but that relationship is off to a rocky start.

Inciting discussion and planning events are two great facets of what a strong secular student organization can accomplish, but to me the most fundamental aspect of ISSA is the community it creates. Earlier in this post, I linked to an entry in Greta Christina’s blog which in turn cites a number of studies highlighting just how alienated secular individuals can be from their neighbors. Providing a haven for the nonreligious, especially in a campus environment which is many students’ first experience away from the comfort of home, is essential. Furthermore, doing so empowers members to feel secure in their beliefs despite being confronted by a brainwashed theistic mainstream, perhaps even allowing them to challenge that norm. As a student of social science, I have come to the conclusion that the principle of Garbage In, Garbage Out applies to societies as much as it does computer systems and that fostering reason in our everyday lives is paramount to ensuring a stable, productive, and safe society.

While the SIUC SSA is now an approved student association, that the road it took to reach this point was a bumpy one should be a cause of concern for the students of that university, its administration, and the Illinois taxpayers who fund public schools like Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Aside from the clear First Amendment issue, chapters of the Secular Student Alliance can and do provide leadership in promoting science, reason, and philanthropy – pillars of any thriving collegiate community. For my part, I welcome ISSA’s new sister organization and look forward to working with its members.

The worlds best secular student group ISSA (Illini Secular Student Alliance) has opened a store.  You can go and buy some great shirts and help them raise funds to go help more students let go of god!  Here is their cool store logo!

You can get shirts like this…  Check out the back!

Or you could get their portal themed shirt…..  Go check it out!

A few people were kind enough to tag some cool photos on facebook and I thought I would share them here with you.
This is a photo of some of the bloggers that raised over $30,000 for camp quest.  From left to right is Me, Hemant Metha (Friendly Atheist), Camp Quest executive director, Amanda Metskas, Jen McCreight (Blag Hag), JT Eberhard (WWJTD),  Greta Christina (Greta Christina’s Blog), and PZ Myers (Pharyngula).

Here we mock PZ for losing the contest!

This is a photo of some of the members of ISSA (Illini Secular Student Alliance).  They won the coveted group of the year award!  Way to to ISSA!

from the New York Times.

Atheists are on the rise.  A new college group is starting every week and now they are starting up in high schools all across America.

PANAMA CITY, Fla. — Every other Wednesday, right after school at 2:45, the newest club at Rutherford High, the atheist club, meets in Room 13-211.

Last Wednesday, Jim Dickey, the president, started out by asking his fellow student atheists (there are a few agnostics, too) whether they wanted to put together an all-atheist Ultimate Frisbee team for a charity event.

“We can pay the entry fee from the club treasury,” said Michael Creamer, the atheists’ faculty adviser, who urged them to take part.

See it can be just for fun.  Helping a charity is also very cool.  Atheist are going to change the world.

These atheists even get along with their fundie friends…

The Christians and atheists at Rutherford High get along better than some might expect. Joshua Mercer, a senior, who is president of Ignite, a Christian club, and Jim, the atheist president, are close friends. They love comparing philosophies, and giving each other a hard time. “We like to go to Taco Bell together,” Joshua said.

Still, he worries about Jim and the other atheists. “If they don’t accept Jesus Christ as a savior, they will definitely go to hell,” said Joshua, who rises at 4:30 each morning to read the Bible with his grandmother.

ARGHH…. It’s the old go to hell thing.

There have long been college atheist clubs, and at present there are an estimated 240 nationwide, said J. T. Eberhard, 29, of the national Secular Student Alliance. But recently they have been springing up at high schools. In the last three months, the number has risen to 21 from 12, Mr. Eberhard said.

The alliance, which is based in Columbus, Ohio, provides support services to atheist organizations. Several months ago, the Stiefel Freethought Foundation donated $50,000, enabling Mr. Eberhard to organize full time at high schools. His target is 50 clubs by year’s end.

Whoo… Hoooo.  For me this is all about breaking the cycle.  Religion should end with this generation.

One of the largest and most creative secular student groups in the world has done it again.

ISSA (Illini Secular Student Alliance) has launched “National Ask-An-Atheist Day”  and they want you to help!

This year the event will be held on April 13th – Just 9 days away.

Here is their poster.

(get your free generic copy here!)

Print one and go to a central place on your campus (make sure you follow proper procedures to get space or a table.)  It should look something like this.

They even wrote a generic press release you can use.

You can get more info at their facebook page!

If you are in the Champaign-Urbana area look for the cool students on the quad!  I may stop by after work.

From Arkansas Online.

Arkansas lawmakers have advanced a bill to lay out guidelines for public schools that want to offer elective courses on the Bible.

Will it be church or study?

The proposal, which passed by a voice vote in a House education committee on Tuesday, would discourage teachers from using such a class as a pulpit.

That sounds good but, who will check?

 But several lawmakers voiced concern that the bill might not prevent teachers from injecting their own religious views into the classroom.

What? some smart lawmakers?

The bill does not deal with other religious books, such as the Quran or the Torah.

Republican Rep. Denny Altes called the Bible the most accurate history book and says students could learn about its influence on literature, culture and politics in a nonreligious setting.

That measure now heads to the House for a vote.

The most accurate history book?  Well, we know this guy it nuts.  So every civilization that was around before 6,000 years ago just did not exist.  I’m sure we would not want this maroon teaching any classes!