I have been to hell. I have faced down the forces of evil. I have descended into the darkest reaches of existence and I have seen the blackness which resides in the hidden corners of men’s souls. What I mean to say is that I’ve gone to the comments section on an online article related to religion. I will never find a more wretched hive of belligerence and stupidity. Or at least I hope I won’t. Honestly, I don’t really want to talk about it, but I will. I set out on this Orphean journey in order to learn about the controversy surrounding the funding that Atheists, Humanists, and Agnostics received from the Associated Students of Madison for next year. According to their website, AHA is a student organization dedicated to “promot[ing] the discussion of faith and religion on the UW-Madison campus” and “educat[ing] students on issues important to the secular community, and encourag[ing] the personal development of one’s religious identity.” Basically, it’s a student organization for, well, atheists, humanists and agnostics. The group has gotten a lot of publicity lately following ASM’s provision of almost $70,000 for their budget next year.
While the response from students has been mostly positive, there are (of course) many, on campus and off, who oppose this decision by the student government. Understanding this opposition is what led me to wander into the darkest depths of the Internet and subsequently cry myself to sleep. I did learn about some of the issues people have with AHA and their new funding, however, and in these 600-700 words I will attempt to dispel some of the controversy.
University funding is distributed to student organizations based on their service to the student body. Yes, it’s our money. It’s part of the small fortune we fork over every year and it goes to the countless services we as students receive through student organizations. I think of it like taxes. We pay taxes and in return the government builds us roads, educates us and fondles us at the airport. We pay segregated student fees and in return the university gives us free condoms and some other stuff.
In the case of AHA, this money goes to two services they provide to the student body: faith questioning and secular support groups. Faith questioning is one-on-one counseling for students struggling with existential or religious issues. Secular support groups provide opportunities for nonreligious or questioning students to discuss these issues in a larger group setting. Think Alcoholics Anonymous for atheists, except not really anything like Alcoholics Anonymous.
I’ll begin by addressing the most obvious issue. How can the university use our money to fund the atheist agenda? Well, it isn’t doing that. What the university is funding is the aforementioned services the group provides. According to my covert informants within the organization, and by that I mean according to the group’s response to the email I sent them, half of their budget will go directly into these services while a large chunk will go into other ways of serving the student body and the remaining bit into operational overhead. This leaves no room in the budget for advancing the atheist agenda, so, unfortunately for AHA, it will have to be handled out-of-pocket along with goat sacrifice and greeting cards that say “Happy Holidays,” two other well-known staples of secularism.
Another point of contention is that of fairness. Why is an atheist organization getting university funding while religious organizations get no funding? Well, they aren’t. Badger Catholic, a religious student organization, gets over $100,000 annually. As I said before, funds are given based on service to the student body. The student government does not take the views or religious affiliations of organizations into account. Badger Catholic and AHA actually provide very similar services, both bringing speakers to campus and offering religious counseling.
The university’s funding of Atheists, Humanists and Agnostics is both warranted and fair. In short, we’re all getting free condoms, AHA still has to pay for their own sacrificial goats and no one is being discriminated against. Everybody wins. Well, everyone without hooves.
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