Indiana Teacher Demands Parents Tell Kids to Stop Talking About God in Class

Religiophobia: (Noun) An irrational or obsessive fear or anxiety of religion, religious faith, religious people or religious organizations.  See also religiophobe, religiophobic.

From here:

MCCORDSVILLE, Ind. – Parents of McCordsville Elementary School students are upset after a first grade teacher sent home a letter asking kids not to talk about “God,” “Jesus,” and the “Devil.”



According to a release from the school, a debate about God took place in a first grade classroom earlier this week.  In response to the debate, the teacher wrote a letter about expectations in the classroom and sent it to parents.  The letter talked about school language and asked parents to have a “talk” with their children about the appropriate time and place to talk about religion.

[Notice that the teacher's letter (see photo above) doesn't say anything about a "debate."  It merely says the students were "using the words God, Jesus, and Devil in conversation."]

FOX59 obtained the letter from a parent of one of the students in the class, which reads in part:

“With Mccordsville Elementary being a public school, we have many different religions and beliefs, and I do not want to upset a child or parent because of these words being used.”

[Frankly, I doubt that McCordsville, Indiana (population: 6,485) actually has "many different religions and beliefs," whatever this relgiophobic, politically correct teacher may think.  But, even if it does have "many different religions and beliefs," all of those 6,485 residents, including their children, still have a First Amendment right to discuss their religion(s)—as the school superintendent rightly clarifies:]

But a letter from the Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation Superintendent Dr. Robbins says it is okay for students to talk about their beliefs as long as it does not disrupt class.

“To simply summarize, MVCSC employees can neither advance nor inhibit religious views.  Trying to limit a student’s view on religion is a violation of a student’s first amendment rights.  However, if the discussion becomes an academic disruption, then as a district, we can intervene to maintain the integrity of the educational process while at the same time being sure to not violate a student’s constitutional rights.”

District officials say they have met with the teacher about the school’s policies.  It is unclear whether she will face any disciplinary action.

When I was growing up two of the teachers in my elementary school were also Sunday School teachers at my church.  Two other teachers that I know of were Sunday School teachers in other churches.  Could we talk about God, Jesus, etc. Monday through Friday the same as we did on Sunday?  Well, perhaps not exactly the same as we did on Sunday; but religion wasn't a forbidden subject.  The end result was that we developed an integrated worldview where religion was a part of life, right along with math, science, history, literature, etc. 

We learned the Golden Rule (Do unto others as you would have them do unto you) wasn't just in the Bible, it was sound ethics and a good guideline for building a healthy society where people respected and cared about each other.  Needless to say, bullying wasn't as much of a problem as it has become once we started taking things like God, the Bible, the Golden Rule, etc. out of our schools. 

If Christian parents don't stand up for our First Amendment freedoms, we are soon going to have a society where even common courtesy has disappeared and where our social ethics resemble the Lord of the Flies.

I'm just sayin'...