When you see a stand you know needs to be taken, you have two options. You can wait and hope someone does something. Or you can do something yourself. The first option is by far the easier one. Doing something yourself is much harder, but it's also what gets results.
I would much rather not have to fight with religious people. My preference would be to not counter protest anti-choice people[1]. I would rather not constantly fight for science to be taught in science class instead of Creationism. It's exhausting.
But the alternative is letting them win. The alternative is giving (more) power to people like Rick Santorum & Pat Robertson. The alternative is letting terrible laws like the Louisiana Science Education Act stand.
Zack Kopplin chose to do something about it. However, that wasn't his first choice.
No one was more surprised of his becoming a science advocate than Kopplin himself. In fact, after writing his English paper in 2008 — when he was just 14-years-old — he assumed that someone else would publicly take on the law. But no one did.
Now the law has a chance to be repealed, thanks in large part to Kopplin's efforts. Like other young atheist activists, he stood up for what was right. And like the others, Christians have tried to vilify him for it.
His efforts, needless to say, have not gone unnoticed — particularly by his opponents. He's been called the Anti-Christ, a stooge of "godless liberal college professors," and was even accused of causing Hurricane Katrina. Kopplin cooly brushes these incidents aside, saying they're just silly distractions.
They are indeed silly distractions. It's meant to distract from the real issue, their blatant violations of the Constitution. It's meant to intimidate us into silence. Good for Kopplin for recognizing this and keeping up the good fight.
Unfortunately, Texas might need even more of a fight.
(Found via @rdfrs)
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