Hope for the future...

[Stuckinthebush]

My wife and I were asked to dinner the other night by some friends and parents of a friend of our 8th grade daughter. They informed us that she was being bullied at school by a kid and his cronies for being an atheist. They would taunt her in the halls by yelling "Here comes the atheist!" and would scream down the halls that she worshiped the devil. Our daughter, true to form, didn't tell us about this and took it upon herself to ignore them. We found out from concerned Christian parents and friends.

They said that our daughter had been fully supported by her Christian friends who yelled back at the boys and deflected their ire. Evidently, many many friends were doing this for her.

I called the school the next day and spoke to the principal. I told her the situation and she was horrified. She said, "That has no place here and we WILL deal with this today."

Moments later I get a text that the ringleader had been called to the office and placed in in-school-suspension. His parents were contacted and they were having an intervention regarding religious bullying.

I live in the heart of the deep south. Let this sink in for a minute. There was massive support for our daughter and us at the child level, adult level, and school administration level.

Wow. Perhaps there is hope for the future!

[Binkie The Clown]

1. A few atheists I knew, myself included, got the same treatment in the 1960s in the U.S. Air Force.

All through boot camp we were harassed for being "godless" by the Bible belters. After boot camp, nobody cared one way or the other, but in basic, those "Christian" souls sure heaped on the hate.

[Stuckinthebush]

2. Yep

It was that way in the 70s and 80s in school.

Things are changing I hope. Slowly.

[RussBLib]

3. so the message would be

don't just take it, speak out!

Glad things are working out for you and yours.

[Stuckinthebush]

5. That is indeed true

You never know what support is out there

[Brainstormy]

4. I'm astonished

things worked out that way. Maybe you're right in this being a hopeful sign. I live in the Bible Belt, too, but can't offer any comparisons because EVERY F-ING ONE of my grandchildren and ALL of our friends children and grandchildren go to church schools. The children, however, have been taught not to bully Grandma. So there's that at least.

But good story. Thanks for sharing.

[mountain grammy]

6. Indoctrination! They're praying for ya, I'm sure.

[progressoid]

7. See? You atheists are getting special treatment!

Seriously, this is pretty cool that it worked out like that.