p> Foundation member Jan King recently sent this thoughtful reply in response to a solicitation to rejoin a local club:
I received an invitation to a special “Night Out” Toastmasters meeting. The list of former members brought back many fond memories.
I quit the club because the heavy focus on religion was offensive to me. Over the ten years that I was a member I watched the Business & Professional TM Club membership evolve from an overly-Christian organization to an unbearably-Christian organization due to the insensitivity to other faiths by the majority of the members. I now have first-hand knowledge of why the U.S. Constitution sought to protect the minority from the oppression of the majority.
Encouraging a diverse group to carry out God’s will is a task doomed to failure because there are many gods and many interpretations of what each person’s god requires.
When I joined the B&P TM Club I had the erroneous idea it was a secular organization. Instead I found a club that welcomes everyone with smiles and other warm friendly gestures and then insults and proselytizes and makes anyone not Christian feel very uncomfortable and most unwelcome because of the club’s overwhelming preoccupation with religion.
Perhaps you should rename your club “The B&P Christian TM Club.” Be right up front with it like the Alzafar Shrine Club and some other closed TM Clubs. So in the case of B&P, people of other persuasions wouldn’t waste their time and suffer the Christian religion. Religion is very personal.
All people have every right to attend the church of their choice and worship as they choose, without burdening others with their specific beliefs.
Toastmasters can be determined to reach their goals of learning to think, listen, and speak while at the same time being aware of and sympathetic to the needs of others. Using critical intelligence to solve problems and to understand nature as a whole and the specific nature of all forms of life would not only enhance compassion for those around you, but would provide each member with more information to speak about.
I do not have any expectation that the religious climate has changed, therefore, I must decline your invitation.
Jan King
Texas
Jan reports “no response” from her letter.
She has been camera operator for about three years on “Freethought Forum,” a cable TV show directed by Catherine Fahringer in San Antonio. She has written two books, “Do You Really Want What You Want?” for adults, and a children’s picture story book, “I Have A New Name” which she also illustrated.
“Freethinking became important to me 41 years ago when my first child was born. My husband and I wanted our children to think for themselves. Completely shedding erroneous beliefs and attitudes put upon us by a coercive society is probably impossible, but I feel compelled to try. We all must try.”
