by Justin Scott, the founder and director of the Eastern Iowa Atheists
(Due to an increase in my workload lately, this blog post has taken far longer than I would have liked. Thank you again to everyone that helped make last weekend a triumph for atheists struggling with the pain of losing someone to suicide.)
| The event's official banner. |
This past weekend's Alive and Running 5K, a very popular annual suicide awareness and prevention event in the small Northeast Iowa town of Dunkerton, provided the Eastern Iowa Atheists yet another opportunity to connect and network with atheists.
Unlike many other community efforts we've undertaken however, this one provided the most delicate set of circumstances as these individuals were taking part in the two-day event to remember and honor loved ones lost to suicide. This was a new and exciting and yet rewarding challenge for our group.
Unlike many other community efforts we've undertaken however, this one provided the most delicate set of circumstances as these individuals were taking part in the two-day event to remember and honor loved ones lost to suicide. This was a new and exciting and yet rewarding challenge for our group.
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| Welcome to Dunkerton, Iowa, where "Jesus is Lord". |
The event has blossomed into one of the area's biggest and most memorable suicide events, that has gone from a few hundred runners early on to well over 1,000 at the peak of popularity; the event had a reported 845 runners cross the finish line according to a Facebook post by one of the event organizers.
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| I thoroughly enjoyed serving as the event's official photographer. |
Full disclosure before we get too far into this...I served as the event's official photographer from 2011-2016 giving me a unique perspective on the entire event and its overall presentation. I feel it's important to point that out so that you understand that this is a mix of my experiences working with this event influencing my decision as an atheist to have a presence at it this year.
With that said, one thing has always stood out to me: while this event is focused on suicide, it always seems to come with a heavy serving of Christianity from not only the event participants and supporters but also the event co-founders. The Alive and Running event organizers aren't shy about sharing how their religious beliefs played a big part in them getting through the grief of losing a high school buddy to suicide, sharing the story over loudspeakers several times during the event.
With that said, one thing has always stood out to me: while this event is focused on suicide, it always seems to come with a heavy serving of Christianity from not only the event participants and supporters but also the event co-founders. The Alive and Running event organizers aren't shy about sharing how their religious beliefs played a big part in them getting through the grief of losing a high school buddy to suicide, sharing the story over loudspeakers several times during the event.
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| From the 2014 Alive and Running sky lantern event in Dunkerton, Iowa. |
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| The pre-race prayer before this year's Alive and Running 5K. |
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| From the 2015 edition of Alive and Running. |
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| A sign posted along the race route at the 2014 Alive and Running 5K. |
LET ME BE CLEAR: They all have every right to do this. They have every right to turn the event into a giant Christian revival if they want. It's a private event, they're not breaking any laws, rock on! They have every right to give off the vibe that suicide is something that only Christians experience or that the only grief options available require a belief in a god. (I'm sure there are other suicide events within the Alive and Running network that aren't so religious and that the Iowa version doesn't represent the others...I hope.)
But for the event organizers themselves and for the sake of the event itself, there is a huge opportunity being missed here to be more inclusive to all worldviews and life experiences by making it so Christian driven/focused and by opening the offerings of grief support to many worldviews. I get that the organizers are Christians that experienced a great deal of pain at the suicide of their high school friend. I realize you feel that one religion out of many helped get you through it. I get that a church in your hometown allows you to use their parking lot to conduct the Saturday portion of your event. I even get that a Pew Research Center's "Religion and Public Life" study shows that 77% of Iowans profess to being Christian, but that still doesn't mean that the Alive and Running shouldn't appreciate that not every participant or every victim of suicide for that matter is Christian or even religious for that matter, especially considering that a good portion of the participants aren't from Dunkerton or even Iowa.
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| From the 2011 Alive and Running 5K. |
Imagine being an atheist in Iowa that loses someone to suicide. In your grief you do a google search for a suicide event in your area hoping to find something to help you through your pain and up pops this event. You feel you've finally found something where you can harness your grief, network with others that have experienced the same kind of loss and emotions that come with and then when you finally show up to it, you're bombarded with religious references, Bible scripture, a pre-race prayer and personal testimonials about the power of religion, prayer, the Christian god and Jesus Christ, statements about how the loss of your loved was "part of god's plan" and that your loved one is "in a better place"...not to mention the fact that the majority of Saturday's activities take place on the parking lot of church and there are various info tables and boards with religious materials on them.
As an atheist, how do you think that would make you feel? Would you walk away feeling like this event offered you any real solutions to dealing with grief? Or would you instead walk away feeling like this was just a big pep rally for religion under the guise of a suicide event?
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| A panoramic shot from the 2013 Alive and Running sky lantern event in Dunkerton, Iowa. |
WORTH THE STRUGGLES
So it was with all the questions above in mind that we decided we HAD to make an appearance, even if just to show support for atheists that might be caught off guard by how religious this whole event is despite from what we can tell, not being promoted as a religious event. We needed to make sure that everyone there knew that suicide isn't only for the religious or Christian, that grief doesn't require a belief in a god and that atheists experience the pain of suicide as well. Most importantly, we needed atheists (especially the closeted ones) know that there was someone there for them.
We tried having an official presence at this year's event but were denied by the Alive and Running board. We really wanted to set up an info table the way we do for Ask an Atheist tables at colleges and other events to better connect with atheist event participants or those that are seeking an alternative to the overwhelming religious "answers" out there. In an email response by event organizers, it was stated that"We already have an informational table of free items that are from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. These items are non-religious and can benefit people of all worldviews."
Okay, sure, they're "non-religious" but are they by and for atheists? Not that we can tell. Do they speak about suicide rates by atheists or by our LGBTQ brothers and sisters? We seriously doubt it. That's great that there are handouts from the AFSP but at the same time, the event has tables that are SPECIFIC to Christianity and the answers it provides for suicide, death and grief. There are conveniently no other tables for any other religious viewpoint on these issues.
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| A Christian based information table featured exclusively at the 2015 Alive and Running event. |
So with our request for an information table denied, we had to consider what our next approach would be. We contacted City Hall and began asking if and where there was public space for us to have a safe and legal presence at the event, one where we couldn't be made to move or leave. The City and later Mayor informed us that there really weren't many options. The 5K happened to weave through a part of town that didn't have much for public sidewalks. The City Attorney returned our call and said that Alive and Running had been approved a permit for the event and that we were to respect the terms of that permit--although no one could provide us a copy of it or outline exactly what streets the permit had included.
Interestingly enough, the mayor was the first city official to make it obvious of his hostility to the whole idea of us having a presence in his city during the event. In multiple phone conversations he responded to our questions with answers that were followed with a comment like "Well, we don't want any problems" or "Don't worry, if there are any problems we're ready to take care of them" and "Ya know, we really don't want any troubles in our town".
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| We had many phone call conversations with Dunkerton Mayor Ed Jessen. |
When I asked him what he meant by these comments and whether he was implying that we were somehow planning to come over to disrupt the event or do something illegal in some fashion he replied by saying that he didn't know a thing about us but that he didn't care to know. It definitely made me think that he had made up his mind after hearing the word "atheist" and pictured that we were the godless versions of The Westboro Baptist Church. It was very unfortunate that the Dunkerton mayor appeared to be hostile to us or our efforts. Rather than being welcoming and helping us figure out a way to have a safe and legal presence at Alive and Running in his city, he made us feel unwelcome. Is this how atheists are treated in Dunkerton? Makes ya wonder (then again I wonder if he's ever had an interaction with an atheist as mayor).
Next we contacted the school Superintendent hoping that there would be an opportunity to have a presence on the grounds of the bus barn across from the school (where Alive and Running sky lantern participants park and mingle on Friday night) or at the school (where Alive and Running 5K participants meet before and after the 5K for breakfast/lunch) but we were informed that Alive and Running had rented the facilities for the entire event, thus putting them in control of who would be welcome on the premises.
So we moved onto a different approach to our outreach: We would stick to the main sidewalk that runs along where the runners line up and start their race down to where the church is where most of the event centers on race day). We would only announce who we were and why we were there but we would not begin preaching about atheism, why we feel no god exists, why believers should deconvert and definitely wouldn't threaten those that didn't accept our message with some threat of some kind of eternal damnation.
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| We were limited to the sidewalk on the left of this image, down past the port-a-potties. |
We contacted the Dunkerton Police Chief (who was EXTREMELY helpful and courteous to our ideas) who not only helped us get a better idea of the best way to approach the event but also gave us tips and recommendations on how to best handle those who may not agree with our messaging or even our presence at the event. Having the opportunity to speak with him, share with him our vision for our outreach and our reasons for wanting to take part really made me feel completely comfortable moving forward with our plan. At one point, he even took a call from us on his cell phone and proceeded to drive around the areas of town where the event was going to be taking place just to give us an idea of what streets had sidewalks and which ones didn't. That was incredible and greatly appreciated. We want to sincerely thank him for his time and commitment to treating us fairly and with respect!
OUR GAMEPLAN FOR OUR OUTREACH
Our messaging for the event was simple and to the point: The pain of suicide is the same for everyone.
We weren't going to be the atheist version of the Westboro Baptist Church. Hell, I didn't want us to do anything that would remotely come off as anything other than informational. This was not a protest so there was no reason that there should be any disagreements with anyone, any shouting matches or any reason for us to be told to leave. (Not that that's our normal M.O. but you get the point).
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| Our simple 2x3 handouts we printed on photographic paper. |
We printed up 125 4x6 color photos (yes, photos, not brochures or flyers) of our design, with two designs on each print, cutting them out manually. This worked very well (and was very economical for a group with zero budget) as many of those that took our handouts were able to hide them in their pocket and didn't have to fold them up the way they would if they were 8.5x11 sheets of paper.
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| Enough to make an impact but small enough where they were easy to transport, deliver and tuck away. |
Since we couldn't have a table anywhere (there was a city ordinance, like in most cities, about not blocking sidewalks and roadways so a table was out of the question for us) we needed whatever materials we were going to hand out to be easy to hold onto, easy to distribute and easy for the event participants to tuck away. These 2x3 handouts were perfect for that. Not only that but they were full color and high quality (versus printing them off on a laser printer).
SIMPLE OUTREACH OPENS DOOR TO NEW OPPORTUNITIES
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| We posted our handout near the official event flyer at a local gas station. Wonder how long it lasted. |
Things started off slowly for us. At first there weren't a whole lot of people walking by us (which is fine, it was about an hour and a half before the 5K started). Then a woman with two children stopped to hear us out. She said she appreciated us being there and said she'd take the handout and share it with others at the main meeting area. The next woman was just as generous and took several to do the same (we never did end up checking to see what they did with these...it would have been awesome to find out that they had pinned them to the public bulletin boards that are featured by the registration and church info tables!).
As the second woman walked away we noticed a guy that was with her came back to chat with us. He said that woman was his wife and that they had both struggled for years with substance abuse. He then said something very interesting. He shared that the specific AA group that he meets at doesn't try to push religion or Christianity onto its clients but that he struggles to find an outlet for those that show up that are either atheists (even if they don't go by that label) or are also struggling with their religious beliefs.
He said oftentimes it's not just the struggle with addiction that these folks are going through but rather the strange and poisonous relationship between their addiction and the religious beliefs that they were indoctrinated with as a child. I can't even imagine what that is like. Talk about dealing with all sorts of demons (not to mention the supposed holy ones).
Then came the best moment of the day for our group! He asked if we'd be willing to accommodate some sort of partnership with the counseling service, one where they'd refer their clients that mention a struggle with religious belief along with their addictions to us for a friendly conversation that would hopefully help to address the questions and concerns they had.
I immediately responded with a very proud "Absolutely we'd be interested in helping however we could!"
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| A close up of volunteers releasing a sky lantern into the night sky during the 2014 Alive and Running sky lantern event in Dunkerton, Iowa. |
The man smiled and lit up a stogie. He said that he had to start moving as the race was about to get underway but asked for contact info. The race was only a week ago this Saturday and we haven't heard back from him just yet but even the fact that we were approached by someone with an opportunity speaks volumes about 1) the fact that are many that are battling through religious indoctrination and its side effects, 2) the importance of having atheist/secular/post-religion groups up and going and 3) the opportunities that are out there for us if we're willing to put ourselves out there.
If any of you reading this have any advice/suggestions/thoughts on how we can best help any and all individuals that may be referred to us please send us your thoughts to easterniowaatheists@gmail.com with the subject line "Addiction and Religion Feedback". We'd like to hear your thoughts as we take on this awesome opportunity to positively impact the lives of many deserving individuals across Eastern Iowa.
POST-EVENT REFLECTIONS
Ever since I formed the Eastern Iowa Atheists I've always suspected that having an atheist presence at Alive and Running would be nothing but a positive. The odds are in our favor that there has to be a pocket of participants that are either atheists themselves or know an atheist somewhere so it was important that we at least show up and see what happens.
While we would have loved to have been welcomed as an official part of the event, we are happy with how things went. We connected with atheists, we networked with those are allies in our journey, we were inspired by those that shared their stories of loss with us and we appreciate everyone that told us they were happy to see us there.
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| Me and our awesome morning crew that came out way early to help connect with atheists taking part in the event. |
Our goal for 2018 will be to try once again to have an official presence with Alive and Running. It is a fantastic and much needed event for those who have been devastated by the loss of a loved one by suicide. We feel that having handouts and information from national suicide awareness and prevention groups at the event is a good thing but they don't specifically speak to the atheist experience of suicide which comes with no reliance on a god belief or religious doctrine to fall back on. Having a table for the Eastern Iowa Atheists or even just a table with a secular perspective on grief (and even from other religions to be fair) would not only be greatly appreciated by the countless secular minded participants but it'll show that Alive and Running is a truly inclusive event for all, not just those that are religious or Christian for that matter.
If you agree that Alive and Running would benefit from allowing the Eastern Iowa Atheists to have a booth in 2018, please share your thoughts with them by sending them feedback on their website! Thanks for reading our longest blog post yet!
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One of my all-time favorite images from my five years photographing the event. This is from the 2013 Alive and Running 5K. The girl in the green was there with her family and her friend in the black shirt, running for her grandpa and uncle.
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