AspenMama

Keep us up to date-- this is a good topic for SL&S!

LogicMage

I also thank everyone for the ideas. I have been wanting to start such an organization as well. I may start the process before the end of this school year.

Shake

When you see who shows up for the first meeting, you might want to do introductions: ask them to say (briefly) what their religious affiliation (if any)/philosophical viewpoint, what they think might be discussed in this club, and why they came. Or some thing like that. See, you may get some ideas of what to do based on what the attendees preconceptions of the club are!

Good luck and congratulations on getting it done!

James Hamlin

Thanks for the suggestions and kind words, all. I will be sure to write updates as events occur. Heck, maybe even a transcript of a modest high school debate. Speaking of which, would it be wise to debate a severely inflammatory topic, such as the existence of a god, or should the topic be less confrontational, like "under god" in the Pledge or something similar? Or a purely philosophical topic? Hmm...Should probably discuss this with Christian Club.

ebolamonger

I'd say start with something less inflammatory, like the "under god" topic. That way, you don't start off looking super-confrontational, like you just want to pick fights with christians. you had said before that you didn't want the club to be anti-religious, so starting off by having a debate about the existence of god, where you would obviously be taking the side of non-existence, would not be wise.

the pledge idea is good, i think. by debating it, you can get people to see that no matter what their religion or lack thereof, paying attention to the constitution is just a really good idea.

-nikki-

Shake

An issue like this will also serve to educate some of the folks who think it's like so many godspams, that we're just trying to get god out of the schools for our own evil purposes, and not about protecting everyones' freedoms.

As an idea of another way to share and help educate, you could post or handout a list of websites that your fellow classmates might want to check out. The II pops to mind of course, but also sites like:
Religious Tolerance
FFRF
American Atheists
Americans United for the Separation of Church and State
ummm... and a host of others. I'm sure the folks here could recommend some more. These were just a few off the top of my head that I thought might be worth looking at or sharing.

By II above, I meant the parent site of the IIDB.