Last Monday, I attended the inaugural meeting of the Wooster Freethinkers Club (freethinkers being atheists, agnostics and so on) and left feeling what can only be described as elated and deeply relieved.
It was an instance of not realizing how much I felt the Wooster campus was missing just such an organization until after it came into being. It transformed my understanding of how valuable a diversity of student groups can be to their individual members and to the campus as a whole.
Iíve considered myself an atheist for as long as Iíve given the issue of God any serious thought. Iím not sure that I parade that fact openly, but I certainly don’t hesitate to lay my views on the table when the subject comes up.
However, before the meeting, I could identify very few other nonbelievers on campus with any certainty. I suspected there were others, or even quite a few, but I had no way of knowing.
Therefore, the fact that the first meeting of the Wooster Freethinkers Club was extremely well-attended, and just about filled Babcock basement lounge, really surprised me. I already knew a good number of the people there, too, without realizing that we all had this fairly significant trait in common. It made me aware just how taboo the topic is, and the feeling of breaching the silence was exhilarating. I was floored, for a moment, by basic gratitude that I could look around the room and know I was not alone in my views on a topic of great importance to me.
The fact that this taboo does exist, then, indicates how valuable the Freethinkers Club is not only to its members but to the greater student community.
Thereís no reason that, at a liberal arts college, nonreligious students should feel like thereís a tacit blanket over their views. No sort of gag exists officially, of course, or is even, to my knowledge, advocated by any individuals at Wooster. However, up to this point, the discourse on religion on this campus has been severely limited.
Religious student groups have always been a visible part of campus life, and there’s a definite spotlight on ìreligious diversity,” but where does this leave atheist and agnostic students?
Itís essential that what I imagine is a fairly sizable portion of the student body have some kind of organization representing their views and interests, especially given that atheists are statistically the most discriminated-against population in America.
If thatís ever going to change, we need for the nonreligious to be able to ìcome out,” to identify themselves as normal people and not to feel like they canít express their views for fear of offending someone. Iím really looking forward to seeing what the Freethinkers Club is capable of doing for Wooster.
Alex Parrott is a contributor for the Voice. He can be reached for comment at CParrott12@wooster.edu.