Jessica,

First of all, thank you. I found out about your lawsuit this summer at the CFI Student Leadership Conference, and it made me proud to know you. I’m a proponent of fighting the so-called “small fights”, from nativity scenes on city hall lawns to postings of the ten commandments in courthouses to, as in your case, prayer banners in public schools. There are no small fights, and we both know that letting this go would have been the sort of apathetic passivity that has allowed Christianity to take such a strong hold over American society. So thank you for not being apathetic or passive, and thank you for taking action. You’re already ahead of most people with that act alone.

Congratulations on winning your lawsuit, and I applaud you for persevering through the shitstorm that it caused. I’m sorry that this country is the type of place where it is not shocking to see someone like yourself treated the way you’ve been treated. There’s no reason to harass, threaten, insult or hate anyone because of religious reasons, yet it doesn’t surprise me that these were people’s responses to your actions. Of course it’s not fair to expect that all religious people would act this way in the face of a restriction on their free practice (which, in a way this is; free practice is about balancing everyone’s free practice while not allowing one group to have more freedom), but why wouldn’t they? I would not like to say that following your case has made me cynical toward religious people, but it’s certainly a representation to me of a darker side of dogma. I’m sorry that you were affected by that and I hope you don’t let it make you cynical.

As I’m sure you know, you have the full support of the secular community. I see nothing but overwhelming support on my facebook wall, in blog posts, and in conversations with activist friends. We are doing our best to counter the negativity you’ve received with our own positivity. Just look at all this love! You’re a hero, really, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

I congratulate you with all of my heart for your success and hard work, and I admire you greatly for your poise throughout the ordeal. I really am very proud to be considered amongst your peers in the secular movement and I look forward to your continued activism in our community. You’re outstanding.

With Respect,

Carly Casper
Secular Alliance at Indiana University President

Carly Casper is a third-year student at IU studying Creative Writing. She is the President of the Secular Alliance. Her future plans include eating pancakes and programming the world’s most successful physicistbot.

Let’s celebrate the start of classes with pizza, baked goods, tea and funtimes!! We will be meeting on Sunday, January 15 at 7pm in Student Building 231. Please note the change in location! We no longer meet in Wylie 115. There will also be discussion of upcoming events and ideas for this semester.

* Please come to this meeting with ideas for what you’d like the group to do this spring!

* Also: post in the comments if you’d like to bring a food.

Respond to the Facebook event!

On Friday, January 27 at 5:30pm we will be volunteering for Hoosier Hills Food Bank’s Meal Share program.

According to the Hoosier Hills website, “The concept of Meal Share is to safely capture prepared food from restaurants, catering businesses and other food preparation entities and distribute it to families in need … The end result is a program that has helped provide nearly 4,000 pounds of healthy nutritious food each month to those in need.”

The repack session is from 5:30 to 7 and will be held at the Hoosier Hills Food Bank (2333 Industrial Park Road). However, SAIU members will be meeting at the IMU at 5PM to offer people rides! In order to efficiently set up the carpool, please tell us in a comment below if you are able to drive or are in need of a ride! Hoosier Hills also needs to know how much food to have ready for us to pack so I need an estimate of how many people are planning to volunteer. So, if you are interested, please respond in the comments, on the facebook page or by sending an email!