As a teacher, I believe in neutrality. I want every student and their family to feel supported by me regardless of their household faith. I feel the best way to do that is to keep my own cards close to the vest.
But...
If you force me to pick up a Bible in my classroom...
Understand, Christian Nationalist, I know your Bible better than you do. In your churches, Bible studies, and Sunday schools, you have been given a carefully curated version of scripture. There are 31,000 verses in the Bible but only a small fraction of those are ever read from the pulpit. You are used to your scriptures being read in a devotional manner. They are presented in a way to support your narrative.
But outside the four walls of your sanctuary, the Bible is read critically. It is no longer read through your filter. We start reading stories about a sensitive deity who slaughters kids because his prophet was teased for his male-pattern baldness. You encounter a God who insists on human sacrifice before he will bless the harvest.
Using political power to force-feed your scriptures outside your church may cause you to reap the whirlwind.
While you and I (respectfully) disagree about faith and Christianity in general, I am confident my Christian brethren miss the point when they try to force the teaching of the Bible in schools and such. Your points are well taken and, while we should never discourage discussion of various ideas (including faith) in the marketplace and public square, teaching the Bible in public schools is a bad idea.
ReplyDeleteJust to clarify, I am cool with the teachings of a number of Christian denominations and support their efforts to build a better world.
ReplyDeleteI do think we could teach about religion in schools in a respectful manner... I just don't think we could ever get the various interested parties to agree on what that would look like.