Clubs are a major part of high school culture and are one of the many reasons students are able to connect with one another. Although clubs are versatile, what really permits a club to be made? Are there limitations or standards to how a club is made? Do we really need a club to be made for every little thing?
Establishing Clubs
In order to create a club here at John H. Pitman there are some requirements that must be met. These requirements include finding a teacher administrator for your club and filling out an application form alongside creating a group of officers. Creating a club is a very simple and easy process for students so many students can create clubs for whatever reason.
Christians In Action: CIA
Recently it’s been brought to my attention that Pitman High actually has a club for Christians called “Christians in Action” or the CIA. This irked a little bit as having a Christian club at school did not really make sense to me. Mixing religion into school just felt off to me, I could not quite place it. To me, having a religious group on campus felt like just having a place where hate could so easily spawn and be spread.
Obviously not all religious people are hateful people, but a large majority of them have proven to be very hateful. As religion dictates many people’s life choices, it is woven into their daily life which sometimes causes distaste in others’ actions. This often leads to hateful conversations between peers. As a majority of religions do not allow same sex relationships this also becomes a very easy way for hate to be taught.
The whole thing just feels weirdly off to me. Especially since their message on the official club website states “The purpose of this club is to provide a place where students can come together to talk about what Christianity is how to live an authentic Christian life as described in the Bible.” It just weirds me out a bit, which bible, what “authentic” life. The one where it’s normalized to shame people based off how they live and who they love?
In my experience I have only ever come across hateful heavily religious people at this school so I will admit I am a little biased on this subject but if that’s such a common pattern simply being a student without interacting with the club what’s stopping the club from being like that.
The Other Side
While discussing this topic with my father, he brought up a very interesting point, “If Christians shouldn’t have a club why should cultural clubs exist?” To combat this, I would like to mention the fact that Christians have outside resources and cultural clubs do not. Christians have multiple youth groups, Sunday service, Saturday service, and entire schools catered to Christians such as our local Turlock Christian. What do cultural clubs have? Nothing, they do not really have a space created to show their culture, so they have to create one.
Cultural clubs are also open to the public to learn about their culture, but the CIA is only shown to advertise towards already established Christians. While cultural clubs are actively educating and expanding their audience, religious groups are catered towards already religious people. In talks of culture sometimes the topic of religion does come up because religion can be a major part of culture, but whenever it is brought up it is not the main subject of the group. When religion is brought up, morals are not the center subject.
While I believe that everyone should be able to express their own values and beliefs, I also believe that there is a time and place for everything. Unfortunately, I do not believe that school and religion should mix, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion as am I. What’s important is that we do not react on our beliefs and still respect one another despite our differences.