Brown Deer is a small Milwaukee suburb of about twelve thousand people. Today as I went to vote at the Lutheran church that had its community room transformed into a polling center, I was keenly aware of the paper crucifix proudly thumb-tacked to the bulletin board between the cutout pictures of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. My leering gaze was interrupted by a cordial salutation from one of the volunteers who knows me by name. I smiled and said, “Good morning.” As my gaze returned to the offending icon, representing thousands of years of oppression and bloody killing, I was interrupted again by another smiling face issuing another genuinely friendly salutation. Should I stand out of the line I was in and make a scene and demand that the offending 12” piece of paper be removed. After all it is the principle of the matter. I was genuinely offended. On the other hand, this is my community and these simple people meant me no harm. Why should I ruin their day and by the angry atheist? In the end, I decided not to say anything. I went and voted and promptly left the church.

Those of you who know me, know what a difficult position I was forced into by the ignorant Christian majority of Brown Deer. I suppose I justified my inaction by rationalizing it was a matter of degrees. Had the cross been larger, had there been someone preaching in the room, I would have been forced to take action. But the little paper cross was so small. And yet, it was large enough to offend me. I decided I will send a letter to the Village President and perhaps someone at the state election board just so they are aware of the situation. Legal precedent would not be in my favor if I filed a formal complaint. Curious if anyone else has had a similar situation?

Today the State of Wisconsin has two important elections of interest to us non-theists. The position of State Supreme Court Justice and that of Superintendent of Public Instruction.  Both are pretty much a no-brainer for us. In the Supreme Court race we have challenger Randy Koschnick who is suported by the religious right. He is verbally anti-gay to the extend of recently chastising the Iowa Supreme Court for upholding constitutional rights. I formally endorse Shirley Abrahamson as an excellent and fair judge. We do not need a radical right-winged intollerant extrmist running our court system.

In the battle for Superintendant of Public Instruction I don’t see much to argue about either. Rose Fernandez is supported by many religious organizations and is a proponent of home schooling! That’s right. The person running to take control of the State’s public education advocates home schooling.  Furthermore, Fernandez, who is a nurse, has never worked for the public school system. Her opponent, Tony Evers has served the State of Wisconsin for over 30 years. He does not favor home schooling and is very much against taking money away from public schools. Wisconsin schools are in need of much reform. Our educational standards need to be restructured. However, home schooling and funneling money to religious organizations is not the way to do it.

Four Southeastern Wisconsin public high schools and a public community college are planning to hold their graduations at a church. Brookfield East, Brookfield Central, Mukwonago High School, New Berlin Eisenhower High School and Waukesha Country Technical College are all planning on holding their graduation ceremonies at the Elmbrook Church in Brookfield Wisconsin. This clearly violates the rights of the students at these schools. The Elmbrook Church is a Christian church complete with a large crucifix and plenty of Jesus signs and banners. Public schools that are funded by our tax dollars cannot choose to endorse one religion over another. The Supreme Court has ruled on this several times. School officials have claimed that graduation is not mandatory and that if a family is offended they need not attend. We’re talking about graduation, one of the biggest milestones in a child’s life. “Not to attend” is not an acceptable option! This is so unfair and irresponsible that I implore everyone reading this to please write to these school districts and ask them to reconsider their choice of locations for their graduations. Our children deserve far better than this.
Below is the contact information for all of the school districts.

Elmbrook School District
Superintendent Matt Gibson
13780 Hope St.
Brookfield, WI 53005
Fax: 262-901-0056
Email: matt.gibson@elmbrookschools.org

Mukwonago School District
Superintendent Paul A. Strobel
423 Division St.
Mukwonago, WI 53149
Fax: 262-363-6272
Email: strobpa@mukwonago.k12.wi.us

New Berlin School District
District Administrator Dr. Paul Kreutzer
4333 S. Sunny Slope Rd.
New Berlin, WI 53151
Fax: 262-786-0512
Email: paul.kreutzer@nbexcellence.org

Waukesha County Technical College
President Dr. Barbara Prindiville
800 Main St.
Pewaukee, WI 53072
Fax: 262-691-5593
Email: bprindiville@wctc.edu

Today Dan Barker, the Co-President of The Freedom from Religion Foundation, was the guest speaker at the monthly SWiFT (Southeast Wisconsin Freethinkers) meeting. Those of us that were there were treated to thought provoking discourse and musical entertainment. Barker is an accomplished musician and composer. He entertained us on the piano and sung various songs from his repertoire including Friendly Neighborhood Atheist and Vatican Rag. The Freedom from Religion Foundation has a lot to be proud of. They have successfully launched numerous lawsuits against separation of state and church violations including the current lawsuit against President Bush and others for the National Day of Prayer, to name just one.

Barker is an amazing individual and someone who is who should be looked at as a roll model for how to lead a meaningful and fulfilling life. His appearance motivated me – and hopefully others present. Today, especially, we need to stand up for our rights. The political climate of the United States is very hostile toward Atheists, Agnostics, Freethinkers, and just about anyone who is not a Christian. The United States is not now, nor has it ever been a Christian nation. We owe it to ourselves and our descendants to make a stand and rock the boat whenever we can to set things right. I am proud to be an Atheist and proud to say that someone like Dan Barker resides among our ranks.