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Atheist Scholarships Not Welcome in CA School District

Atheist Scholarships Not Welcome in CA School District
6/21/2016
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Susan Dutca-Lovell

California's Antelope Valley School District banned atheist scholarships from being listed on student publications and must now pay $10,000 in legal fees. They claimed it would upset parents, "promote anti-religious expression," and have "argumentative" and "aggressive undertones." Freethinkers instead saw it as anti-atheist prejudice.

The district was sued by FFRF for refusing to allow college-bound seniors to compete for $17,950 in scholarships from the Freedom from Religion Foundation and $1,750 in scholarships from the Antelope Valley Freethinkers. According to The Friendly Atheist, the scholarship essay prompts are not the least bit aggressive but rather allow students to "develop opinions based on science and reason in contrast to faith and dogma' by writing about their experiences when "objecting to or raising logical- or evidence-based challenges to statements of faith of dogma within their family, school, or Antelope Valley at large."

For students who may face ridicule, harassment, or punishment for speaking up against religion in the classroom, at school events, in government, or their own homes, the FFRF's prompts are: "Young, bold and nonbelieving: Challenges of being a nonbeliever of color" and "Why I'm Good Without God: Challenges of being a young nonbeliever."

While the atheist scholarships were banned, the district accepted scholarships from other religious groups, such as the Church of Scientology, which "solicited religious speech, required applicants to be religious, and dealt with the historically controversial topics of homosexuality and guns."

In your opinion, do you think the schools were right in banning the scholarships? Why or why not? Leave us your thoughtful comments below. If you are looking for scholarships based on your personal faith, check out our extensive list of religious scholarships.

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