There seems to be some ignorance on what atheism is and what freethinking is and whether a group of atheists would deny entry to the club to those who profess religious beliefs. It is a rule for all Student Union clubs that membership be open to everyone. This also means religious campus clubs must allow none believers to join; also that ethnic groups allow people from different ethnic backgrounds to join their groups.

The representative from WLUSU who responded with the intolerant denial is probably a second year student (according to Mike) (with religious beliefs (according to me)) and did not carefully consider his/her response to the LFA. WLUSU regrets that those comments were made in the denial to LFA.

As of this date Mike McMan has assured me that the group is approved to be a campus club.

Thankfully the name an honour of my alma mater is restored.

I would take James’ advice and weaken the language. So instead of the word promote, just use “talk about” and make sure you drop in the word tolerance. Buzzwords are key. If partisan political clubs can get funding to promote their ideologies, so can you.

I was thinking of start a pro-war group, but I think I may have a better chance of getting approved if I simply state in my application that the club aims to support the troops and promotes tolerance and diversity. Weakening the language is crucial.

In fact, don’t bother weakening the language, do away with it altogether and play mad libs with a standard form.

“We would like to create a club called the Laurier Association for the Discussion of _______________ that promotes ____________, tolerance, diversity and mutual respect. We will organize events such as discussion nights and movie nights. Once a semester, we will also invite other groups to be a part of a discussion night that will address issues of tolerance in our multi-faceted campus.”

Fill in the blanks!

Furthermore:

Quoting Anatoly and Tyler on LFA’s facebook group. After posting the Mohammed cartoon, the following comments were posted as well. (spelling mistakes left in for accuracy)

Anatoly: “That’s the one of the ‘infamous’ Muhammad cartoons! Sweeeeet.”

Tyler: “should i take it down? … i’m scared now”

Anatoly: “Yes Tyler, I’d suicide bomb your ass if it wasnt for the shortage of virgins”

Yes there really is a difference between a gathering of Atheists and a gathering of the anti-Religious. Which does this constitute?

First I must declare for the required that if your club was denied by Campus Clubs, then in fact it is WLUSU that you have the beef with, not WLU. Second, I am wondering what it is that you would do with Campus Club status. Are you seeking funding? Will you be running campaigns? What are your goals as an organization?

Campus Clubs does not approve every other group, nor do they approve of every other group that is associated with a religion. You must understand that every group that becomes an official Campus Club under WLUSU, results in WLUSU being responsible for any illegal or harmful actions taken by that club. Therefore, WLUSU must take care in who they approve and look at every application as a possible liability.

Do I believe that your club should be approved? Probably. The thing that you need to be aware of is that the Campus Club Co-ordinator is not out to defeat atheism or discriminate against atheists, the CC Co-ordinator simply wants to ensure that all Campus Clubs are enhancing student life, and not posing a threat to any other students.

If you are still unsatisifed with this response then I recommend that you attend the WLUSU Elections Open Forum Tuesday February 5th (Today) at 1:00 and ask the potential candidates who will run WLUSU next year, how they feel about this issue.

I further recommend that you re-evaluate you purposal, weaken your language, outline all events as inclusive, explain that funding will be used in a way that is not harmful, and resubmit it. I know it will probably be months until your club will be reviewed again, but patience is the price paid for advancement.

From one Atheist to Another,

James – Concerned Laurier Student

The problem with this is that any legitimate criticism will sound like “pot shots” to the religious. Are we to be unconditionally tolerant of all ideologies? What of naziism, as an obvious example? It would seem far wiser to be tolerant of something based on its merit, rather than tolerating religion because it’s religion. That’s the sort of un-questioning special treatment that we’ve been conditioned to give religion for literally thousands of years, and it’s about time that we asked ourselves whether religion in its most prevalent form truly deserves to be tolerated.