What if the Teacher Had Been Muslim?

[Guest A Concerned Parent]

A lot of parents have supported this teacher because they shared his faith.

That is not the point. If we allow him to do this, then how can refuse to allow another teacher to do the same thing--as a muslim? We can't, in short. To protect our kids from religions we don't like, our only choice it to protect them from all religions. That's a central principle that the United States was built on, like it or not.

[Guest sea393]

A lot of parents have supported this teacher because they shared his faith.

    That is not the point. If we allow him to do this, then how can refuse to allow another teacher to do the same thing--as a muslim? We can't, in short. To protect our kids from religions we don't like, our only choice it to protect them from all religions. That's a central principle that the United States was built on, like it or not.

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You make a very interesting point. I think you're right about this one. Just because he believes in God and Jesus and the manger and angels and how witches should be stoned, it's okay because the majority of those in this country that are religious are Christian.

And on the flip-side, as you mentioned, we have to protect our kids from religions that can be damaging, or offer no educational credibility to a well-rounded education, so that means banning ALL religions, not just the ones we don't like.

[Guest herbert cloudhopper]

You make a very interesting point. I think you're right about this one. Just because he believes in God and Jesus and the manger and angels and how witches should be stoned, it's okay because the majority of those in this country that are religious are Christian.

And on the flip-side, as you mentioned, we have to protect our kids from religions that can be damaging, or offer no educational credibility to a well-rounded education, so that means banning ALL religions, not just the ones we don't like.

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what about the church of satan? are they going to get a fair shake in the classrooms?

[Guest Fran Mulcahey]

A lot of parents have supported this teacher because they shared his faith.

    That is not the point. If we allow him to do this, then how can refuse to allow another teacher to do the same thing--as a muslim? We can't, in short. To protect our kids from religions we don't like, our only choice it to protect them from all religions. That's a central principle that the United States was built on, like it or not.

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The constitution states that the government will not sponser a religion. Catholic ,Calvinist ,Druid, Jew ,Muslim, Wiccan, Scientologist- there is no state sponsered religion in this country. No where does it say or imply we must protect the "children" from religion or the the practice of it--whichever one YOU chose.

[Guest F.M.]

You make a very interesting point. I think you're right about this one. Just because he believes in God and Jesus and the manger and angels and how witches should be stoned, it's okay because the majority of those in this country that are religious are Christian.

And on the flip-side, as you mentioned, we have to protect our kids from religions that can be damaging, or offer no educational credibility to a well-rounded education, so that means banning ALL religions, not just the ones we don't like.

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see above!

[Guest Guest]

The constitution states that the government will not sponser a religion.  Catholic ,Calvinist ,Druid, Jew ,Muslim, Wiccan, Scientologist- there is no state sponsered religion in this country. No where does it say or imply we must protect the "children" from religion or the the practice of it--whichever one YOU chose.

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AND.. what YOU decide what dogma YOUR kids will get to be influenced in no one posting on this forum will give a damn. However, when YOU start deciding that MY kid must be indoctrinated into YOUR dogma then we have a reason to eject dogma from public school. Since this teacher was an agent of the state and decided to proselytise in the classroom he was crossing the line.

Now, I realize that you will gnash your teeth and fight tooth and nail just because HIS beliefs match your own...

...but we ALL KNOW how you would react if YOUR little johnny came home and told you that his Buddhist substitute teacher used publicly funded class time to teach YOUR child about HIS religon.

face it. This man was wrong to use this forum to preach.

YOU are wrong to be desperatly looking for a "christian loophole" that you know damn well you would NOT apply to any other dogma in the classroom.

but go ahead and be the pharisee christian all you want. No one expects christians to look for any other solution beyond lighting the bonfire and burning the witch.

[Guest Guest]

I think it's pretty simple.

A teacher, with enough tenure, can say what they want in a classroom, if he/she thinks they have a support system in place to either a) back them up, or get them out of trouble if scrutiny arrives.

The school will support the teacher and publically tell the masses that the situation is being dealt with. When all the attention goes away, and something else comes up, it's back to business as usual. It's how it goes.

My personal opinion is:

If a teacher, whatever faith they have, opines on his personal religious beliefs in front of others who may or may not share the same views, better be able to open up the discussion to all religions and their beliefs, on school time. Otherwise, it's a blatant misuse of power, given the subject matter of which he's hired to teach.