Church and State
Wow, so, I've got a new mommy blogger I'm reading. Her name is Denise.
She recently had an incident where a teacher gave a church flier to a student.
This is, as you may know, a violation of that whole Seperation of Church and State thing that keeps us from being one nation under a Christian God (but we won't go there).
Do note that if a student had distributed this flier, it would've been okay. But for the teachers to do so, that is forbidden.
Anyway, after she unsucessfully tries to track down the offending teacher, she finds her way to the library and into one of the most common and sad conversations I've ever seen.
Worse, I get this myself all the time (key phrase bolded for extra hilarity):
OK...so I decided that I would go speak with the librarian, Mrs. B. I volunteered in the library quite a bit last year and I felt comfortable asking her about this. She looked at it and said that she knew nothing about it and was suprised that this would even surface at school. She said that although she understands that legally it should have never been given to my child, but she was curious as to why this bothered me so much.
Mrs. B - "Is it because it's not from the church you attend?"
Me - "No. I don't attend church."
Mrs. B - "Oh, OK...why is that?"
Me - Because I'm an Atheist. (Hey, might as well get it out in the open, right?)
Mrs. B - "Wow. I'm really surprised to hear that. You always seem so nice."
Insert guffawed laughing here. Unbelievable eye rolling. Knee-slapping funny.
For some reason, as the recent 30 Days episode explored, those who don't believe that Jesus is magic are seen as weirdo serial killers who can't wait to rape a baby.
She then goes on to explain how she had to call the Superintendent and so on. Feel free to read the whole thing (it's worth it).
This gets me thinking about the possible collisions of Church/State violations when my own children go to school and get passed out fliers, literature, and other trinkets (crosses, mini-bibles, etc) and how I might deal with them.
I for one consider Denise a hero. She's not putting anyone down, she simply wants to keep it fair. Yet I'm sure she will be villainized and criticized before this is all over.
What do you think?
Again, with anything religious, I'm fascinated as to what Gary, quite possibly the most "progressive" pastor I know of, may think of this.
4 Comments:
Thanks for the mention! I guess time will tell if my efforts are going to pay off.
Ok, I'm not from the US, so my opinion can't take in to account the somewhat unique church vs state issue going on there at the moment.
That out of the way, I do honestly think that this is perhaps being blown out of proportion. Me, I'm an atheist. My wife, whilst not a strict adherant of a specific church, definately believes in a god. I plan on raising my son to let him choose his own path. I'm going to openly and outrightly tell him my beliefs and the reasons for them, but if he disagrees, more luck to him.
I also fully expect him to actually have the chance to take other options onboard. That will require that he have some interaction with people that have beliefs different to mine or my wifes. I would have no trouble with a teacher handing him a pamplet on her church, beliefs etc. It's up to him to choose for himself, and it's up to me to help create an environment where he's aware and able to make that choice for himself.
The "I'm really surprised to hear that. You always seem so nice" however, I'm not so understanding of, and if it were me, that is the comment I'd be getting upset about. It's one thing to try and share your own beliefs, it's entirely another to denigrate someone else for their beliefs).
Hey Evan,
You always post about something interesting:-) I am a conservative Christian and am sorry that others treat you guys that way. Some people just say the wrong things. But, trust me, there are more things that you'll have to worry about when your kids start school besides a church flyer. One day, you'll wish all they had in their backpacks was a church flyer:-) Most people are good, but the bad ones exist too and some are teachers and you'll have to be very alert. You can know someone all your life even and not really know what's in their heart. Yes, we've had a recent experience. Oh, how I wish it had been a church flyer!
Good writing!
:-)
I think Denise has a valid point. As a Christian, I hope that my life is a testimony of Christ (not in some lame, wimpy way), but I have NEVER thought the church should have a right to push religion down the throats of everyone in schools or anywhere else for that matter. School is school and is run by the government.
I have never bought into the whole America is a Christian nation. America is a place where you are FREE to worship whoever or however you want.
It is too bad that over zealous christians think that means you can worship anyway you want as long as you believe like we do.
I think religion has no place in schools and such.
I just taught our church about how God doesn't care if we are a blue church or red church, he cares whether or not He is being lifted up.
Now, because I am an American I do get to vote based on my religious convictions and that is nice.
I have no problem with what this lady did.
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