Teacher asked about my religion...

Well today in Law and Society we had nothing to do so we played hangman. I am sure most of you know how to play it, its similar to Wheel Of Fortune... well my hidden word was Vishnu... I knew nobody would guess who that was, and my teacher was like.. you dont worship the Hindu gods do you.. and I said no I dont... She is a big christian woman who believes in ignorance. She tries to shield us from everything, we watch a lot of court cases in that class and if someone says hell or damn, she has a cow and goes balistic and almost starts crying... I have told her that the world is like that, its called REAL life and that shielding people from it is going to do more harm than letting us see the whole show without her fast forwarding or turning the volume down every 5 minutes... Well she asked me "what are you" and I knew she meant my religion/spiritual path, so I said Pagan. She said well I'm gonna have to convert you, and I said Why? and she was like because you need to know the truth. I told her I had read most of the Bible, and people were like "YOU READ THE BIBLE!?!?" I have already told them I read as much as I can about ALL religions, because if I'm not gonna believe in something I need to understand why I dont believe in it, and not blindly excpet the religion that was taught to me and disregard others just because they are other religions.

She said she was going to convert me through "examples".... Isnt that a bunch of bull, maybe she will forget about it or something...

 

RE: She said well I'm gonna have to convert you, and I said Why? and she was like because you need to know the truth. I told her I had read most of the Bible, and people were like "YOU READ THE BIBLE!?!?"

Contact the ACLU and get her fired.

 

unless you're in a Cristian school which I doubt, she has no right to talk that way - you could have her fired, next time, bring a tape recorder. I can't believe some people... gee do I fucking hate religious freaks

 

I wouldnt want to get her fired because I can shoot down any argument she tries with me... but if I notice my grades to start to decline after this(I make A's in her class and she supposedly likes me because I have a lot of stories to tell) or if she makes a point to point out the fact that I am a Pagan and starts treating me different I will definatly do something.

Its a public school. And I seriously think I am the only Pagan there, I havnt met any others, there were some Wiccans but they graduated, and my cousin graduated last year and he was into the Kaballah(sp?). This teacher is a joke tho for real.

 

dont try to get her fired, that would be too easy

try to convert her. point out the flaws in her beleifs, and the good points in other beleifs.

or, seeing as how its a law and society class, you could ask her to explain the laws dealing with religion in public schools

 

lol good point Mr Migu.

 

RE: I wouldnt want to get her fired because I can shoot down any argument she tries with me...

You might, others might not.

She's proselytizing in school AND antagonizing you for your beliefs. Both are NOT PERMITTED.

Give her an education in "law and society". Report her to the ACLU and have her marched out the door.

 

That's what I was thinking, that's harrasment if she actively tries to convert you.. It's none of her damn busioness.

 

That sucks that she did that.

It makes it hard to argue what I believe: that religions should be taught in public schools, just as a knowledge and awareness thing..not to convert anyone. After all, it's silly to raise kids until they're 18 with absolute no knowledge about religions, then throw them into a world full of people with religious faith. It seems to just propogate generations and generations of ignorance.

 

yeah I have talked about the Quran in there because most people in that class thought all of Islam was just a bunch of terrorists, and there are some good people in Islam. She didnt say anything about that, it was a clash discussion, she did ask me why I read the Quran tho and I told her that same thing again, If I personally dont believe in something, I need to understand why I dont believe in it...and not go believing something blindly.

 

She's not allowed to practice dentistry there, either.

 

Or psychiatry.

But dude, you're 17 and you live in Alabama...

Were you expecting anything different?

I left Florida in 1982 and have been back exactly three times. No income taxes, but no income either, pay homage to the mouse, watch for blue hairs on the road and pray to Jeebus thrice daily.

No thanks.

 

The only thing I like about Alabama is the fact it isnt one huge piece of asphault, I hate the city, I get sick when I go into a city... I belong in nature and nature is still alive around here.. and that is the only thing that keeps me here.

 

Ask her if she can explain to you why she believes God has limitations. Or, to be more specific, ask her to explain what, if anything, are the differences between Jesus and Vishnu.

I love to talk theology with fundamentalists. If you're good at it, eventually you'll see that look on their face . . . beautiful.

 

Not in school.

Don't encourage her.

 

I live in NC and so I know what it's like to be around a lot of religious zealots a lot.

I can't offer much advise, but personally I would agree that I would not bring the law into it unless your grades begin to drop. What do you think they expect? They live for excuses to brandish their slogans on how the conservative Christians are subjugated at the hands of the liberal government. Suing just adds fuel to their passions.

If I were you, I would just passively accept her and not get "caught in the fray." That's not to say you should let yourself be taken advantage of, but if you engage her in debate you're just "fueling the passions" of their conversion efforts.

As for converting her or pointing out the inconsistencies in her beliefs, these people don't respond to logic (Why do you think they believe what they believe to begin with?) and will not be turned around by the force of reason. They're not evil...they're just confused. If they are going to change, they have to be ready to, and only they will decide when that day comes.

Namaste.

 

don't point out things wrong with her beliefs just tell her your not going to convert its my life get the hell away from my beliefs. conversion is an idea equal to racism no one is ever going to be one thing or another but everyone should be allowed to practice whatever they want. if she bothers you tell her to stop.

 

Ditto

It's that way in Britain, and seems to work just fine. I loved those lessons.

Ha, Americans can be such fucking hypocrits, though religion wasn't allowed in schools.... or did Christianity become something else, and they forgot to mention it?

 

Not much can be expected out of us Americans and our culture's insular ways; it seems somewhere along the way time froze in America while Europe went along with its business.

Though I must say, in North Carolina there was a course in which we were taught about the five major world religions. However, there was a cynical connotation attached to the whole process (mainly the teacher's fault). And, to be truthful, I've seen a lot more bias than scholarly pursuit of knowledge on these subjects in my experiences.

I remember in my World History class a few years ago the teacher made us all stand up when she called out our particular denomination (as if we were all automatically Christian). I obviously did not stand up. Also, she would skip over pretty much all chapters about the non-Christian civilizations like the Chinese, and skip straight to the European affairs. Worst of all, we read two excerpts of flood stories from Hindu and Christian mythology. Afterwards, she asked "Now, which one is more believable? Obviously, ours is more believable."

It's the little stuff that gets me pissed. How they can be so sneaky and get away with it, while they can't teach evolution without people jumping down their throats.

 

That is such a huge contrast to England (can't really speak for the whole of Europe). Obviously we have faith schools, but in mainstream school there may be a slightly Christian ethos, because hey it's predominatly a Christian* country, but are for the most part secular.

We have the curiculum in place which is designed to teach with imparitiality, and give a good overview of the diffrent beliefs. On hearing that teacher's comment the general reaction is to be utterly incredulous. Teachers here are unbiased, as far as is humanly possible. No one would consider stepping out of line like that

So it's a very interesting comparison, and rather disturbing.

*Well it's more like predominanty 'people who got baptised but can't be arsed to go to church and honestly don't care', but yeah whatever.

PS As for the evolution thing. Here it is taught as fact in science lessons. The creation story , as the average person doesn't seriously by it, is kept as an interesting detail in religious studies.