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2003-01-31 - 11:45 a.m. I would like to bring a serious issue to the forefront. Some public school teachers use the state-run classroom to preach Christianity. In general, I don't have a problem with people standing up for that which I believe, but this country was founded in part upon the concept that church and state are to be separate. It is not right to use a state taxpayer-funded classroom as a vehicle to further a religious agenda, no matter the religion of the teacher. I now proudly introduce a friend of mine, Kat, a very intelligent and brave 13-year-old student at Morrow Middle School in Morrow, Ga. Kat has found the courage to openly declare herself an atheist at a young age in a region where the fires of religious ferver burn deep, wrote this to her crusading teacher with the topic "I have a dream..." - an assignment to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. No words have been changed and only minimal stylistic editing has been done on my part. Without further ado, here is Kat's essay: "I have a dream that one day mankind will appreciate Earth and all of its creatures. That one day we will not hurt or kill animals and respect them for what they are. That we will not enforce religious teachings on those who find it inane to do so. People think that if we do not believe in God then our lives are just an abyss of pain, cascading and flowing into everything we do. But that's not true. People live happy lives without a deity guiding us through it. I am so tired of hearing people speak or their religious beliefs in every sentence that comes from their mouths. It's nice that you have something to put all of your time into, but I for one don't want to hear about it. And on another note, you pray to God to guide you through things. If he didn't want you to have to endure them then he wouldn't have made them happen in first place, now would he? I have a dream that one day new laws will be enforced. People wonder why there are so many homeless people on the street? It's because we don't have enough room for all of them! There should be a limit of two children per family. GIVE THE PLANET A BREATHER! It already has to go through enough of us, at least let it live. I have a dream that one day people will stop being so consumed with the idea of popularity. People are 'cool' in their own individual way. Just because we refuse to conform to your system of thinking doesn't mean that you are better then us. Another thing- Those shirts that say,"You laugh because I'm different and I laugh because you're all the same." How different are you when you wear a mass produced shirt owned by hundreds of people? I hope that one day the Earth collapses on us and implodes. We deserve it. The downfall of mankind will come from it's own stupidity. In the words of Albert Einstein, "Only two things are certain. The Universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure of the former." What people need to realize is that there will never be world peace. People will always have their differences, and they will always fight for what they believe to be correct. There will always be war, genocide, homicide, suicide, etc. GET OVER IT [Oh, and P.S.- I know I'm going to fail for this but I don't care.] Her friend, Kala, wrote this for the same assignment about the herd conformist mentality at schools, underscoring a possibly dangerous situation if Christianity is forced as the norm in the environment: "Everyone is different. Different from whom, you might ask. Different from you, different from me, different from anyone and everyone that ever existed. Therefore there is nothing that can be categorized as normal or weird. We may encounter something that's different because we don't know how or what it is. When this happens, we tend to judge this thing or person by it's outward appearance. And most of the time, you don't realize it until it happens to you. This type of differentiation happens everywhere; in our schools, in our communities, and in society. Examples of this are most prevalent in school. Here, social status seems important to almost everyone. Those who don't fit in are ostracized because they have come to the realization that school isn't about popularity. Those who are constantly tormented try their best to ignore it and move on. The things I have illustrated are worse then most people take the time to realize. We can put a stop to this and it's easier then you think. The only solution is to accept everyone. Race, religion, or ethic background should not define a person. -------------------- Now, I would like to add this: If you hold both strong religious beliefs and you are in the education field, and you want to bring religion into the classroom, I suggest working at a private church school. Not all students there follow the religion - many are there because their parents want them educated in a religious institution - and in fact many atheists, pagans, Satanists, etc. I have met attended some type of private church school at some point in their lives. For these teachers, there are people in these institutions who have not been exposed to the religous message, and in that environment it is not improper to try and spread that message. However, in a public, taxpayer-funded school, no one should be forcefed any religious teachings in a place where they are required by law to attend. It's bad enough, in most schools, that everyone is obliged to pledge allegiance to a flag representing a nation "under God." (Many people are not aware, but those two words were not in the original pledge - it was added in 1954 by Congress in an effort to "Christian-ize" the United States so as to differentiate it from "godless" communism.) Kat told me this about her daily classroom experience in an online conversation: "Mr. Graydon...he has religious discussions with me. He said he doesn't care if he gets fired. He said, 'By the time you leave my class I bet you'll believe in God' Oh, yeah....another thing that they did at Christmas time: They made everyone in the school go to the gym (You had to go) and they sang songs like "Jesus is the Reason for the Season" and other stupid songs. I hated it. Like when we were talking about our dreams (The project) He said his dream was for Jesus to be brought back in the school systems. He said he doesn't agree with the seperation of church and state I don't want my teacher to get in trouble, though. I admire him for standing up for what he believes in without caring if he is fired or not." To me, it sounds like the indoctrination effort goes beyond a few crusading teachers. It makes me reflect on school memories; of being graded in general music class on singing religous hymns, of countless recitals of that pledge to a piece of cloth representing a nation "under God." It establishes the Christian religion as the standard, the norm; and in the herd mentality that permeates both Christian thought and the nature of schoolchildren, anyone who speaks out against it or even suggests a different philosophy are marginalized, harrassed and even physically attacked. I remember being in a sort of Christian after-school day care run by a Baptist church when I was 10 years old, where I was jumped and beaten by no fewer than five other kids for speaking what I thought of the religion. I remember being held down while others kicked me, shouting things like "you're going to hell, you faggot." Is this what we want to bring into the public school environment? For every Columbine-style bloodbath, there is an underlying cause. This hatred in a supposed environment of love and education made me afraid at an early age to speak my mind around people I didn't know. I extend the most profound gratitude and admiration to Kat and Kala for standing up for what I was afraid to at their age. Now, I don't mean to make things hard for this Mr. Graydon, and I don't want him to lose his job. However, these types of educators need to draw the line between education and indoctrination as public servants in a state-run classroom. Consider the things said here - do you really think that bringing Christianity into the public school system is going to make the problems go away? Or are we going to have more harrassment and violence against people who don't believe (we are people, too.) You may share your views with Mr. Graydon at [email protected]. If you would like to give feedback to Kat and/or Kala, e-mail it to me at [email protected] and I will pass it on to them. I do not post childrens' e-mail addresses here, and all mail directed at them that does not pertain to this subject will be ignored (take note, ROBIKUS and other pedophiles). Obviously, if you have something to say to me, this is where to send it. � Most recent rants! Queer Eye For The Savior Guy - 2003-08-02To whom it may concern... - 2003-06-25 Getting in touch with my inner deity - 2003-06-13 Jesus In Drag - 2003-06-11 Heathen Sunday - 2003-05-20
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