One day a 6 year old was sitting in a classroom. The teacher was going to explain evolution to the children. The teacher asked a little boy:

TEACHER: Tommy do you see the tree outside?
TOMMY: Yes.
TEACHER: Tommy, do you see the grass outside?
TOMMY: Yes.
TEACHER: Go outside and look up and see if you can see the sky.
TOMMY: Okay. (He returned a few minutes later) Yes, I saw the sky.
TEACHER: Did you see God?
TOMMY: No.
TEACHER: That's my point. We can't see God because he isn't there. He just doesn't exist.

A little girl spoke up and wanted to ask the boy some questions.

The teacher agreed and the little girl asked the
boy:
LITTLE GIRL: Tommy, do you see the tree outside?
TOMMY: Yes
LITTLE GIRL: Tommy do you see the grass outside?
TOMMY: Yessssss!
LITTLE GIRL: Did you see the sky?
TOMMY: Yessssss!
LITTLE GIRL: Tommy, do you see the teacher?
TOMMY: Yes.
LITTLE GIRL: Do you see her brain?
TOMMY: No.
LITTLE GIRL: Its because she doesnt have one...

BURN!

"FOR WE WALK BY FAITH, NOT BY SIGHT" 2 CORINTHIANS 5:7

amen Katie.
thanks for sharing

Nicely stated!

so people who don't believe in God are brainless.i don't think thats very nice.

it's not nice cutie. But people who try to teach little children in public schools that God does not exist, they are brainless.
Hugs for u jax

Cute joke. Its not a teachers job to teach them there is no God. Course I can only speak for the state of California. I have my teaching degree from here.

good thread. Amen.

Then likewise, it is not for a teacher to instruct that there is a god. A teacher should make minds objective, not subjective to one philosophy or an other. More often than not a teacher is going to have to teach toward the christin side of things. (What about those muslims, buddhists, taosist, etc in the class?) A teacher should invite choice. The "burn" thing makes me wonder why such hostility towards fellow people? I do not hear altheists as being as hostile in their beliefs. And I don't remember reading it in the bible that christ bestowed the right to judge to anyone - let alone himself.

I think the hostility is more appropriate if you think of it in simpler terms- religious instruction, of any kind, has no place in public schools.

Doesn't matter if the teacher was trying to show that there is a god or that there is not a god. It's wrong for a public school teacher to try to influence children on something that should be between them and their parents.

i agree with anoasis.
public education have just to limit to math, science, and english.
religion education is up to the parents, and the individual when it's conscious enough to decide.

That's pretty much the way it is Miguel.

The scenario in the OP is pretty unrealistic and is getting everyone riled up for no good reason.

As mentioned by others, teaching religion in schools is not part of the job and any teacher who would do such a thing is doing it on their own to begin with which is totally wrong.

And that's true whether they're teaching atheism or any specific religion.

"When the student is ready, the teacher will arrive."

Abra-

It's the way it should be- no religion in public school.

But in my experience, in the south anyway, it is not always the case. When I lived there, several teachers in Raleigh, North Carolina eventually came under scrutiny for teaching their classes that homosexuality was "against god' for example... hopefully these are exceptions and not the rule...

well anoasis, things are not always perfect.
we have to start from the goevernment. it should be a non-religious body. When they start issuing policies like discriminating against gay people because that is against God we have a big problem.
BTW, as a religious person I believe that homesexuality is something contra natura. Nevertheless, gay people are still my brothers and sisters. I'm not anybody at all to judge.
I have good friends who are gay. And what we do is just not talk about either politics and religion.
We are just friends hanging out.

I know, Oasis, people can’t seem to just stick with what they are supposed to do.

Tis is a shame.

Very well said

I knew that one too, Kat!

One has to really wonder what vicarious release runs through the mind of someone committing these drive-by spiritual napalm attacks.

"Nothing says lovin' like something from the oven."

-Kerry O.

You cannot teach history without teaching religeon, all of them.

M-

"contra natura" means against nature yes?

I have heard this said before but it is incorrect, if you look at the animal kingdom a bit more closely you will see a variety of homosexual behaviors. Is that not "nature"?

We had many examples in biology classes in college- especially marine biology where some animals actually change sexes in response to external cues. Here's a more main stream article: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/07/0722_040722_gayanimal.html

As for the rest, yes, I agree the less interaction between church and state the better IMO...