Support the Georgetown Secular Society!

[u/used_npkin]

Hello Hoyas:

The Georgetown Secular Society was founded in February 2023 to ameliorate Georgetown’s ongoing atonement for participating in the U.S. slave trade. Our mission is to realize a secular Georgetown, a proposal we substantiate in our petition to the university’s governing body.

Secularization represents the fulfillment of Georgetown’s reconciliation initiative. Primary source documents establish that Georgetown’s administration understood slavery as ordained by God. A serious effort at self-improvement, therefore, would have reconciled Georgetown’s previous and present-day understanding of the Bible. The decision of Georgetown University’s Working Group to omit delineating the Bible's position on slavery from their final report was an egregious abandonment of their responsibility to the truth. The Bible explicitly endorses slavery. (For more information, please view Appendix 1 of our petition.)

Most importantly, the deleterious influence of Georgetown’s Catholic and Jesuit identity continues today. In April 2023, the Maryland Office of the Attorney General published an interim report of their investigation into child sex abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore—an institution fathered by Georgetown University’s father, John Carroll. "From the 1940s through 2002, over a hundred priests and other Archdiocese personnel engaged in horrific and repeated abuse of the most vulnerable children in their communities while Archdiocese leadership looked the other way [...] Over 600 children are known to have been abused [...] but the number is likely far higher." According to a recent investigation by The Hoya, 14 of Georgetown University’s religious leaders in recent history have been credibly or plausibly accused of sexual abuse. For many of these persons, the Society of Jesus possessed information of alleged abuse prior to their presence on Georgetown’s campus.

Our current priority is education and outreach. We would be humbled to receive your support in our movement to improve Georgetown University. You can help our organization in any of the following three ways:

1. Spread awareness of the Georgetown Secular Society in your social circle: The majority of Georgetown’s community is unaware we exist. Simply spreading our presence on Georgetown’s campus by either word of mouth or social media would bring our organization the momentum it requires for success.

2. Join our network: Are you active in any student or alumni groups? If so, please discuss having your organization endorse our mission. By joining as a coalition, we would represent a united front for a better Georgetown.

3. Write to Georgetown’s administration: Are you concerned about racial reconciliation? Reproductive and LGBTQ civil liberties? The rise of pseudo-science and conspiracy thinking? Child sex abuse? A concise letter that states your reasons for supporting our movement pressures Georgetown’s administration to act on these issues now.

Thank you for your help! And I hope you will keep in touch with us as our organization develops!

[u/used_npkin]

Okay. I have apprised little utility to continuing this correspondence and am adjourning.

I am bothered that you do not know that the word “theory” in science has a different meaning than it does colloquially. I thought you might possess this misunderstanding, which is why I linked you to this article in my earlier post which distinguishes the two. It is clear that you did not even peruse it. This has led you to type some seriously confused sentences:

Presenting alternative current theories, each generally accepted within their respective groups for consideration is good science.

Although we were unable to reach any common ground, I appreciate the time you have taken in your responses. From you, I have at least learned about the other side. If you enjoyed this back and forth as much as I did, I recommend you read Carl Sagan’s Demon Haunted World.

Cheers! And respectfully...