Dear Mrs.

Perez,
My name is Shelby Conway, I am 14 years old, and an
eighth grader at Straub. Today at lunch, our table was
aroached by a youth astor who said he was !rom a
Christian church out in South Salem. "e then roceeded
to reach to our entire table, se#eral o! whom are not
Christians. $hen he %nished, he as&ed us !or our religious
belie!s. I relied that I am an atheist, which I am, and I
am #ery %rm in my belie!s, and that he should not try to
con#ince me otherwise. "e began insulting me, my
belie!s, and my intelligence, saying that, '(ny logical
erson would see that atheism is wrong' and telling me
that I am 'too young' to choose this belie! and saying
that he belie#es I am simly trying to 'rebel'. I e)lained
that it was *uite the oosite, that I %nd religion itsel!
illogical. "e got uset here and started telling me that my
belie! was 'bad,' 'stuid,' and 'e#il,' and that I was as
well. I was already *uite uset, so I told him to 'lea#e me
alone' and he simly continued, telling me that I needed
to come to a church !unction to 'cleanse my mind and
soul o! e#il' and ga#e me a card !or his youth grou,
because, as he said, which I romtly got rid o!. I &now
there were other things he said, but some were not
direct, and I don+t remember e)act *uotes.
I ha#e no roblem with religion, and I resect all eoles
belie!s, e#en i! they aren+t li&e mine. Some o! my best
!riends are #ery strong Christians, and I ha#e no roblem
with it. "owe#er, I am #ery willing to de!end mysel! and
others when they+re insulted, which they were. I was #ery
uncom!ortable and ersonally o,ended with the way he
was sea&ing to both me and other non-Christians around
the lunch room. I re*uest that we &ee things li&e this,
such as astors and religious seeches, in laces where
they are welcomed, such as churches, or religious
schools. It o,ends me, and se#eral other non-Christians,
that it was assumed that we were both a small minority,
and unintelligent and easily con#inced. There is a wide
array o! religious belie!s here at Straub, and we should
not assume that all eole belie#e the same.
The man re!used to o,er his name, but I assume that
there is a way to contact him. I+m !airly certain that he
was here because he was welcomed by the school. I as&
that he does not return.
Than& you #ery much !or your time and consideration,
Shelby Conway