Why? Because their high court says so. So there.

Because we all know saying “______ is science” makes it so. Not, you know, if it’s based on evidence or experimentation. I mean, come on. Astrology uses stars and angles. Super scientific.

And I thought it was just the creationists who used this tactic…

Oh, wait, I don’t live in Indiana anymore.

Neener neener.

Don’t I work in a pretty building? Right on the water too! *salts those wounds*

Or do you know someone who is? Well, exciting news for the younger godless folks – the Secular Student Alliance is making a push to start groups at high schools around the country!

Even in conservative parts of the Bible Belt, atheist teenagers are starting to organize clubs of their own. The Secular Student Alliance, a national nonprofit devoted to supporting nonreligious students, announced early success in its expanded efforts to foster groups for secular high school students. In the past month alone, five new high school groups have affiliated with the SSA, after it took four years for the first twelve to join.

The Secular Student Alliance already offers services to over 200 college affiliates, but says that high school atheists often face unique challenges including stronger pushback from parents and school officials. To confront these challenges, the organization hired JT Eberhard, former student activist and creator of the acclaimed Skepticon conference, as a Campus Organizer and High School Specialist.

“Every teenager deserves a safe space to meet with like minded peers, but hostile administrations and prejudiced communities are stonewalling them from having it,” said Eberhard. “We’re gearing up to give the students the backing they need. Our goal is to see 50 groups for secular high school students by the end of 2011.”

Educating students and teachers about the legal issues involved will be a key part of the effort. Students in conservative areas have difficulty finding a willing faculty advisor, who often report fearing career repercussions. But according to Supreme Court rulings on the Equal Access Act, schools cannot use the lack of a faculty advisor as a reason to bar the group from forming. The Secular Student Alliance is prepared to help mediate those situations and protect the students’ rights.

“While the law is certainly on our side, we would rather have social understanding than legal victory,” remarked August Brunsman, the SSA’s Executive Director. “We want to demonstrate to our fellow Americans that people who don’t believe in a god are nothing to be afraid of.”

Secular groups are encouraged to focus on activism, building community, education, service projects, and cooperation with other groups. The SSA provides such student groups with resources like group-running guides, activity packets, project grants, and a go-to staff member to answer questions.

The development of these new resources and the creation of Eberhard’s position were sparked by a grant from the Stiefel Freethought Foundation, whose mission is to gain respect for freethinkers and ensure the complete separation of church and state.

As someone who started a college group, I can’t stress how rewarding it was. Having hundreds of people thanking me for providing a voice of reason in the community and reminding people that they weren’t alone meant so much to me. Your impact will have lasting effects!

And as someone who attempted to help a friend organize a Gay Straight Alliance in high school but failed thanks to bigoted push back from administrators… I wish I would have had an organization like the SSA to help me out.

If you’re interested in starting a group, make sure to email JT Eberhard (JT@secularstudents.org). You don’t have to be 100% sure yet – JT is an awesome guy, and he’ll provide you with info about what starting a group would entail.

My friend Jason and I accidentally invented this game while at a party last week. The rules are simple:

1. Make an observation about a particularly odd aspect of human behavior.

Example: “Why is it that everyone congregates in the kitchen at parties, even when there’s plenty of space elsewhere?”

2. Come up with an explanation for how that behavior would have increased fitness in hunter gathering societies.

Example: “Well, food used to be sparse, so humans would congregate at food sources, so you’d be more likely to find a mate there, and thus have more babies.

3. Bonus points are rewarded for including 50’s era gender stereotypes.

Example: “Well, we KNOW women are drawn to the kitchen because they’re inclined to gather food, so they’re always in the kitchen anyway. The men just go there to be around their potential mates.”

Hours of fun guaranteed.

Over at Atheism Resource, Katie Hartman discovered that you can send Mormon missionaries to anyone’s house by simply providing a name and address. Oh the discoveries boredom makes. I feel bad for the missionaries that end up at JT’s house.

Oh, and those of you that know my address? Don’t even bother – I live in an impenetrable fortress known as an unmarked basement apartment with a practically hidden entrance. And that’s even if you can find the house at all, which is tucked behind a wall and shrubberies. My apartment is totally missionary-proof.

And anyway, even if they could find the address, they’d just end up bothering my landlord.

…on second thought…

That is all.

No, you don’t get context.

Okay, I’m not sure if we were technically breaking any laws at my talk last night…but it was pretty damn close. Most of the Seattle Skeptics meetups in the pub have around 15 people attending, at least the ones I’ve gone to. When I arrived 15 minutes early, there were already 35 people there, and I got the last seat at one of the tables. 20 to 30 more people came after that, and some just could not physically fit into our side room of the pub. We were even making the restaurant run out of clean glasses.

To those of you we had to turn away, I’m sorry! We never thought the talk would be that popular. If you couldn’t hear or see anything, I’m sure I’ll give the talk again in Seattle at some point.

Thanks to everyone who came!

It’s at 7:00pm at the Blue Star Cafe in Wallingford (more info here). It’s my favorite talk to give, so hopefully if you’re in Seattle you’ll come check it out!

Male Labmate: Isn’t it kind of funny that a feminist blogger is researching the Y chromosome?
Me: I’m just doing it so I can scientifically prove that males are inferior.

Or so I can study human evolution on a haploid chromosome. Something like that.

I’m having lunch with my grandparents and uncle, then I’m off to the airport. Yep, spending my Christmas flying back to Seattle. Oh well, I don’t really mind. I got to see my family and friends, and that matters more than the date I see them on. Plus it was hundreds of dollars cheaper to fly today.

I’m still kind of sad that I didn’t get to see my brother, sister-in-law, and nephews. It snowed too much yesterday to make the drive… stupid Midwest. I’m kind of tempted to keep my nephews’ dinosaur coloring book, though.

Merry Christmas, everyone!