Can I Get A Teacher Into Trouble For Shoving Her Religious Beliefs Down Her Students Throats?
The issue here is whether or not her use of religious-themed literature constitutes an unconstitutional privileging of one religion over another (or over non-religion.) It sounds like, given her choice of material, the answer is no. Courts have held that the use of religious-themed literature, and even the Bible itself, is not an unconstitutional privilege if the material is chosen and taught on the basis of its literary merit. The same goes for religious-themed musical work in choir and band classes. However, what sounds like it does cross the line is her exposition on the material, beyond what is necessary to assess its literary merit and/or cultural significance. If she’s going on for 5-10 minutes about religion itself, not about the literary or cultural value of the piece, then she has gone beyond the scope of what is legal and began promoting a religion. Theoretically, you could have a basis for a lawsuit. But any judge will want to know you’ve exhausted all your administrative re
I don’t think so. There are ‘religious’ references in many of the classics that you will study in school. In literature study, you will also be asked to tell why someone is the ‘anti-christ’. It’s just a term that you will need to be comfortable with using. It doesn’t mean that it’s religious. As far as her going on about it…well that’s not necessarily right, but I don’t think you could do anything about it. It was, in fact, relating to a historical work that you were covering. You don’t have to believe it, but the religious influence was pretty huge in a lot of classic literature…it’s not necessarily a lesson in religion, but more a lesson in history of literature. Unless she says what religion is right or wrong, she’s not in any trouble.
Well, putting the freedom of speech and freedom OF religion, not FROM, but OF, aside…maybe you should just ask for a transfer from her class to another teacher. However, and I think this could be a bit more of a benign answer, if transferring would cause too many problems, just look at the education you are getting from her class as useful knowledge. While it may seem she might be advocating God in her class, you didn’t say anything about whether she is making the class pray. I am a Christian myself, so I personally don’t see anything wrong with her talking about it. If all else, you can use her talk about religion to deepen your knowledge about how people are. It would really be harmful to try and hurt this person’s career over your beliefs. After all, isn’t that what bothers most people about other’s beliefs is that they are pushed on them? If you try to being legal matters into this affair, then you are also doing the same. Try this…if you are really offended, ask your teacher i
