DIVERSITY PLEDGE MAKES ROOM FOR ATHEISM
Red Bank has adopted a diversity statement as a “tremendous strength and asset to the community.” (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
The Red Bank Human Relations Committee must’ve thought it had all its bases covered when it drafted a diversity statement and sent it along to the borough council for adoption last week.
But even though it was a “wonderful gesture,” said resident Stephen Mitchell, the statement, which highlights the borough’s acceptance of diversity, was missing one contingent to make it fully embracing: non-believers.
Mitchell, an atheist, pointed out that 15 percent of Americans are religious non-believers, and thus the statement should reflect that.
So the council amended the statement to include the group.
Now it reads, with the amendment in bold:
Diversity, when it is accepted and respected, is a tremendous strength and asset for any community. It encompasses an understanding that each individual is unique and valuable to the welfare of the community. It recognizes and celebrates the differences amongst individuals, and capitalizes on the strengths resulting from these differences. Diversity works best when a community explores these differences in a safe, positive, and nurturing environment. The Human Relations Advisory Committee of Red Bank, NJ, in an effort to set an example for inclusivity, adopts the broadest definition of diversity with the following statement: The dimensions of diversity shall include, but are not limited to the following: race, ethnicity, persons of faith and non-believers, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity, disability, socioeconomic status, cultural orientation, physical abilities, political beliefs, age, and national origin and status.
Simple enough. And now, with the adoption of the statement, Red Bank has on the books a document that Mayor Pasquale Menna called a “no-brainer” and, along with the pending completion by council members of a diversity survey, helps earn the borough points in the Sustainable Jersey program.
When the council was first asked to review the statement in April, Menna said “Diversity has been our credo forever, since Moses came down from the mountain. We haven’t deviated from that at all.”
Jun 01, 2011 @ 13:25:04
All those Cluck-U stickers all over that sign always make me thing of diversity in terms of the amazing and wonderful variety of ways human being express themselves in saucing up chicken wings – hot, mild, sweet & sour. The list goes on. It is truly a wonderful world.
Jun 01, 2011 @ 13:37:14
Snore Red Bank
Jun 01, 2011 @ 19:34:53
I think Cluck U should have someone go around town and take down those stickers. I know they’ve said they can’t help it if their “fans” put them up – nonsense.
Jun 02, 2011 @ 07:49:45
Annoying little things aren’t they ? Isn’t this the same as graffiti ? With someone’s name on it ? I thought that was illegal i dont know how they continue to get away with it. If i was plastering every thing in town with my companies name or logo im sure someone would be knocking at my door
Jun 02, 2011 @ 12:38:14
If more people voted with their wallets, maybe Cluck U would reconsider the wisdom of those marketing stickers. But what would you expect from a company with a suggestive name like Cluck U?
Jun 02, 2011 @ 17:01:39
If we really want to promote diversity here, we can always put up KFC stickers next to the Cluck U ones? Maybe Chicken Kitchen in Shrewsbury has stickers too?