Well, you know, the Catholic Church has a huge influence in European History for well over a millenium, and then there's the Lutheran church and the Reformation movement...there are plenty of good reasons for religion in particular (and MAYBE even Creationism, though as a medieval studies minor I can't think of when I even might have talked about it in class) to be brought up, but I can't think of a single good reason for a history teacher to dismiss it as "superstitious nonsense" when he's clearly not a religion or a science teacher.
Personally, had I been a student in that class, I would have walked out of the class and requested permission to sit out of the class until the man could refrain from insulting my religion. Honestly, if he were talking about Mohammad's visions of Allah's angels as superstitious nonsense, the man would be in serious shit. If he were talking about the Torah as superstitious nonsense, he would have the Anti-Semitic League all over his ass.
I believe 100% in freedom of religion, but that means ALL religions, which means that Christianity is just as free as any other. That means that no one of faith should be persecuted for their faith, even if it is that all blue M&Ms should be worshipped as tiny alien gods. (Okay, maybe that's a little extreme, but still, as long as they aren't hurting anyone, why does it matter?)
BUT.
All that said, I also think that the teacher has a right to free speech. So where do we draw the line? Where does his exercising of his rights to speak freely cross the line into my exercising of my rights to believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead after three days of truly being 100% dead and not just mostly dead?
It's a fine line to walk, and maybe the teacher erred a little and maybe the students' parents overreacted. Either way, I think it's sad that they had to resort to a lawsuit instead of just agreeing that they have different beliefs, and maybe a history class wasn't the appropriate place to discuss them, anyway.
*sigh* Um, sorry, you want your soapbox back? *sheepish grin*
no subject
Personally, had I been a student in that class, I would have walked out of the class and requested permission to sit out of the class until the man could refrain from insulting my religion. Honestly, if he were talking about Mohammad's visions of Allah's angels as superstitious nonsense, the man would be in serious shit. If he were talking about the Torah as superstitious nonsense, he would have the Anti-Semitic League all over his ass.
I believe 100% in freedom of religion, but that means ALL religions, which means that Christianity is just as free as any other. That means that no one of faith should be persecuted for their faith, even if it is that all blue M&Ms should be worshipped as tiny alien gods. (Okay, maybe that's a little extreme, but still, as long as they aren't hurting anyone, why does it matter?)
BUT.
All that said, I also think that the teacher has a right to free speech. So where do we draw the line? Where does his exercising of his rights to speak freely cross the line into my exercising of my rights to believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead after three days of truly being 100% dead and not just mostly dead?
It's a fine line to walk, and maybe the teacher erred a little and maybe the students' parents overreacted. Either way, I think it's sad that they had to resort to a lawsuit instead of just agreeing that they have different beliefs, and maybe a history class wasn't the appropriate place to discuss them, anyway.
*sigh* Um, sorry, you want your soapbox back? *sheepish grin*