Hemant Mehta of the Friendly Atheist blog recently established a scholarship fund for 16-year-old Jessica Ahlquist. Ahlquist has received death threats and general hate from Christians in Rhode Island and around the nation for taking a stand supporting the Constitutional principle of the separation of church and state. She sued her school to remove a prayer banner from the gymnasium and won.
Recently the scholarship fund has made the news on various websites like the Huffington Post and television networks like CNN (see video in the sidebar). The fund is currently at about $44,000 and growing. This certainly isn’t a fortune, but it is a nice way for atheists and secularists to let Ahlquist know that we appreciate what she has done and to add some joy to counter-balance all the hate she has received.
Looking at any of the articles or stories about the fund however shows a whole new round of hate toward Jessica from the religious. On Huffington Post, commenters questioned Ahlquist’s motives in fighting for the separation of church and state implying and sometimes outright accusing her of doing it for the money.
This is of course absurd on many levels. Most notably is that the scholarship is hardly a fortune, it would have been nearly impossible to predict atheists would create one for her, and the money certainly doesn’t offset the hate, threats, and general harassment she has received from Christians. Still, this remains a popular comment.
There are of course a large number of other hateful comments too. Many of those comments speak of divine punishments and eternal tortures that await her. With over 17,000 comments on the Huffington Post article alone, it seems Ahlquist has stirred up a conversation at the very least. While many of those 17,000 comments are from atheists or secular minded religious believers praising Ahlquist’s efforts, too many are from angry Christians using the news of her scholarship as an excuse to unload more hate.
Click HERE to donate to the scholarship fund for Jessica Ahlquist.
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