Religion has been and will probably always be a touchy topic, especially here in the Bible belt. Recent events at the University of West Florida have drawn students to question the presence of religious tolerance on campus. Recently, a Muslim student at UWF made a post on the UWF students’ Facebook page. She requested for Christians on campus to stop giving her pamphlets about their religion because she is Muslim; her religion is apparent because she wears a hijab. The student claims that the Christians who are giving her the pamphlets about their religion are disrespecting her religion.
Students who commented had a variety of responses to her post. Some students showed compassion for the Muslim student, while other students believed the Muslim student was overreacting.
Another instance of religious polarization is UWF’s Secular Student Alliance’s recent flyer. Some students believe the flyer is offensive toward their religion because it reads, “Not buying it?” with a picture of Noah’s ark. While other students believe the flyer is only a joke.
This situation is compelling because both ends of the spectrum are being accused of religious intolerance. In order to gain the entire school’s perspective on the issue of religious intolerance or tolerance on campus, I conducted an interview with an Atheist named Haley, a Christian named Becky Saults, an anonymous student who is Muslim, and the president of SSA, Carla Rodriguez.
Q: “What is Secular Student Alliance? What are the organization’s values? Is SSA an organization for only Atheists?”
Rodriguez: “SSA is not only a group for Atheists, but for everyone regardless of faith or lack-thereof.”
Q: “What is religious tolerance to you or your organization? Is religious tolerance important to you or your organization?”
Saults: “Religious tolerance to me is respecting others’ religions no matter what they are. I believe that everyone should be accepted no matter what their religion is.”
Anonymous: “Religious tolerance means basically just accepting that people follow different religions, and it’s important because so many people use another person’s religion as an excuse to harass them.”
Hailey: “I believe religious tolerance means the ability to coexist with people. I think learning to live with people who are different than you is a vital part of creating peace.”
Rodriguez: “Religious tolerance is a personal policy of nondiscrimination, and SSA, as well as myself, advocate for it in public policy too.”
Q: “Do you believe the situation the Muslim student experienced resembles religious intolerance? Please explain your reasoning.”
Saults: “I believe that her situation represents religious intolerance because they are pushing their religion upon her.”
Anonymous: “There’s a difference between informing someone and straight-up harassing someone, and a lot of the people who give out pamphlets easily cross that line.”
Hailey: “I do feel like she was targeted due to her hijab and her faith because they persisted and tried to convert her on the spot.”
Rodriguez: “The disbursement of religious material becomes harassment when the distributor does not take ‘no’ for an answer.”
Q: “Do you think the Secular Student Alliance’s current flyer is religiously tolerant or intolerant?”
Saults: “Tolerant because they are not forcing it upon you to join but intolerant because of their use of words like “not buying it” makes it sound like people’s religion is just a joke someone made up.”
Anonymous: “I know it’s poking fun about the story of Noah’s Arc, but it doesn’t seem to insult the people who believe in it.”
Hailey: “I do not think the Secular Student Alliance’s flyer is intolerant. It’s simply asking “don’t believe? You’re not alone” in a humorous way.”
Rodriguez: “The flyer is merely posing a question to the student body. It does not express disagreement.”
Q: “How do you think our university achieves religious tolerance?”
Saults: “UWF should encourage students to make clubs, even like the secular club, but they should not make posters mocking or bashing other religions.”
Anonymous: “Honestly, I just think that people need to crack down on others when they hear them say something out-of-line.”
Hailey: “I think that we can do a lot to improve people’s attitudes toward each other by having discussions surrounding religious differences.”
Rodriguez: “I think UWF is very tolerant of all religions and beliefs or lack-thereof. UWF gives us a space to freely express ourselves and our views regardless of what it is.”
Q: “Do you think UWF is religiously tolerant or intolerant as a whole as of right now? Please explain your answer.”
Saults: “As a whole, I believe that they are pretty tolerant, but maybe a little intolerant because they are letting a club make posters like that.”
Anonymous: “I feel as though religious intolerance isn’t really a big problem at UWF, but I do think that a lot of students can be unaware about other religions.”
Hailey: “UWF as an establishment, is very fair. It’s the students with their bigoted beliefs about others that are the problem.”
Rodriguez: “UWF is very religiously tolerant.”
I am happy that the UWF students that I interviewed believe, for the most part, that UWF is a religiously tolerant campus. However, I think the fact that the Atheist and the Muslim were not comfortable enough to provide their names implies that maybe our campus isn’t all the way tolerant since these students feared retaliation for their responses. In the end, there is always room for improvement but I am proud of where UWF stands.