Printer-friendly versionA recent issue of Teaching Tolerance magazine addressed two subjects that I see converging in news stories from around the country – intolerant attitudes toward students who are atheist and teachers using their positions to bully students.
Students who don't adhere to the traditional religious views of their community are met with hostility, both in the community and in their own home. Atheist teens list the many repercussions of "coming out" as a nonbeliever. Some have been kicked out of their parents’ homes. Most lose friends and find their traditional support groups viewing them with apprehension. And when these teens begin to speak up for their rights as citizens in a country where the freedom of religion is codified in the Constitution, they are met with open hostility.
Jessica Ahlquist of Rhode Island felt the scorn of her peers, teachers, media and elected officials. Jessica questioned her school administrators about a prayer mounted on the wall of her school. By mounting a Christian prayer on the wall, the school endorsed a single religious.view. Her concerns were dismissed by both the school and district. The ACLU filed suit. The courts ruled the banner should be removed.
Community retribution was harsh. Rhode Island State Rep. Peter Palumbo referred to Jessica as an "evil little thing" to the press. A local talk radio station broadcast her home address. She was the subject of harassment by other students at school. Several members of the school faculty turned a blind eye to the harassment and even expressed their own feelings of hostility toward her.
She received death threats on social networking sites like Twitter. And when a secular organization tried to send her flowers after the court decision, local florists would not take the order. She was vilified for asking the school to follow law. Teachers did not support her. Despite all this, Jessica has taken it all in stride, appearing poised and intelligent on CNN and speaking to several secular organizations about the struggles of atheist youth.
Jessica is not alone.
Take Damon Fowler, the Louisiana teen who informed his school of the law regarding official prayer at graduation ceremonies and incurred the wrath of the community.
Another student at the center of the battle for the rights of nonbelievers in school is Krystal Myers of Tennessee. Krystal, as editor of the school newspaper, wrote an editorial about the treatment of nonbelievers at her school. She questioned whether her school was violating current case law. The school’s administrators refused to print the editorial, citing the article's "potential for disruption."
In fact, Krystal merely asked the faculty and administration difficult questions about their attitudes towards students with beliefs outside of the community mainstream. This situation became an example of school administration silencing unpopular opinions rather than seizing an opportunity for learning.
These situations can be problematic for many educators. Some may believe they are compassionately steering students in what they feel is the “right” way to save their eternal soul. But they fail to realize that their good-natured guidance may cross the line and be viewed as an explicit endorsement of faith by an authority figure in a government institution.
Letting students find their own path in these matters is our obligation in the public schools. We all have views on the universal truths. A public institution is not the place to judge or endorse these views in our official capacities. Creating a society that accepts different views will help our students be prepared for full participation in our American democracy.
Coleman is a social studies, computer applications and sound recording teacher at a high school in Alabama.
Comments
It seems to me that the
It seems to me that the rights of one somehow always manage to infringe upon the rights of others. Shame on anyone who bullies or mistreats a child for religious beliefs (or lack thereof). But, frankly, I am expected as a Christian to be tolerant of all other religions and practices in public places. I have spent a substantial amount of time doing charity fundraising at a local Jewish synagogue during the past year. I attend a book club at a local book store that is owned by a Pagan/Wiccan couple. I have encountered signs and quotes that are contrary to what I believe. I don't consider it a threat or an attack or an attempt to convert me. I wish atheists would do the same. It seems just as intolerant to sue over a prayer or demand a neutral holiday tone and then get irritated when Christians give credit to Jesus during December. Probably not my most eloquent argument, but it's how I feel.
This is the core of the
This is the core of the problem, I think. A student asks that there not be an explicit endorsement of a specific religion at her school, and the response to that is to feel that it tramples the rights of the followers of that religion. Somehow that translates to the "War on Christmas" or war on Christians, or some other such...
As if the right state of affairs is Christianity everywhere, and any request that it be limited in the public arena is an attack.
There is no equivalence to an adult voluntarily doing business with other adults of other beliefs, and young people who are forced by law to attend school, where they are expected if not required to absorb the messages they are given there.
It seems that any time those
It seems that any time those in the "minority" ask to be treated and respected as equals, they are always accused of asking for special rights, making waves, being absurd, you name it. It also seems that such accusations are offered up to "excuse," detract from, or turn a blind eye to the legitimacy of a very serious concern. I think it's time we take a serious look at Christo-normativity (the real issue, in my opinion), stop making excuses and accusations, and swallow the bitter pill that schools and places of business are not the place to "do religion."