I came across this article today.
The article discusses how a student who gave a speech on his religious beliefs was refused a grade by his teacher because of it. The student got an attorney, and it was ruled that his speech was fine, because it falls within his right to freedom of speech.
In his speech, the student discussed the basic tenets of the Christian faith and how one can become a Christian with Bible verses Romans 10:9 and Matthew 22:37-38.
The teacher even went so far as to cut the student's speech short by interrupting him during his speech with a rude statement about being ignorant.
Has anyone here ever been, or felt, condemned in a room full of your peers because of your faith?
I have, on one occasion in particular. I was in 12th grade, and we were reading the play Macbeth. The teacher was asking us a question about who or what a character in Macbeth reminded us of, and I raised my hand and told the teacher that the character reminded me of satan as he is portrayed in the Bible. Right after I said that, the teacher shouted out, "This is Macbeth we're talking about, not the Bible." The teacher's comments made me feel like I had no right whatsoever to express my faith in school.
In stark contrast, I was learning about how we "evolved from apes" in 7th grade. The teacher gave us an assignment which was to demonstrate our knowledge of evolution, and our opinion on it. For my paper, I described how evolution went against my belief system. When I got the paper back, the teacher put a nice comment on it saying "I'm glad you feel comfortable sharing your beliefs with me."
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When I was a music teacher in a public school I ran into a similar situation with an assistant principal. I always programed a large portion of my chorus concerts with sacred music. One day the assistant principal called me into her office to question my choice of music in the public school. I told her that probably 80% of all choral music written was sacred. I cited the works of Handel, Bach, Mozart, and many more. I asked her if we should be eliminating those great works from our curriculum. Then I asked her if she believed in teaching tolerance. (That one of the important buzz words in the public schools.) Of course she believed in that. Then I asked her, "if you eliminate the music that represents most of the people in our culture, how are you going to say that you promote tolerance. If if you did still say that you promoted tolerance, who would believe you." She never questioned my choice of sacred music again.
Hi Valia,
Being both a college student myself for many years and now being a college professor, I have some advice along the lines of this discussion. What does one do when faced with antagonism in a classroom toward Christian beliefs? I say we should "respond" rather than "react." Let's take the examples of worldly attack given already in this discussion--a Christian shares his/her beliefs and someone in control or another student expresses outrage toward the Christian beliefs and the Christian's person. A reaction deals with the negative toward the Christian's person and the feelings that are felt. A response deals with giving Truth in return. A reaction is one in which we are immediately silenced and withdraw because of being wounded and rejected. A response is one in which we say the Truth back with courage and boldness even while being wounded.
Here are some examples of responses:
(1) (right after a public negative comment) "I respect your opinion and your feelings that you have just now shared with me. Are you able do the same for me in return?"
(2) (at the end of an answer to a test question that is obviously anti-Christian or human secularism) "I trust this is the answer you were looking for on this question. Did you want me to believe it as well?"
Who knows, perhaps your response (not reaction) will intrigue the antagonistic person honestly to explore the Truth.
In all cases of antagonism, we need to look past the feelings involved and present the Truth. In most cases, the world is genuinely looking for Truth, but they don't know how to deal with the negative feelings associated with what happens when Truth sinks into their hearts and understanding. Nor do many Christians know how to deal with the negative emotions of confrontations. I hope this helps the next time anyone is involved in a rejection.
Replies
Being both a college student myself for many years and now being a college professor, I have some advice along the lines of this discussion. What does one do when faced with antagonism in a classroom toward Christian beliefs? I say we should "respond" rather than "react." Let's take the examples of worldly attack given already in this discussion--a Christian shares his/her beliefs and someone in control or another student expresses outrage toward the Christian beliefs and the Christian's person. A reaction deals with the negative toward the Christian's person and the feelings that are felt. A response deals with giving Truth in return. A reaction is one in which we are immediately silenced and withdraw because of being wounded and rejected. A response is one in which we say the Truth back with courage and boldness even while being wounded.
Here are some examples of responses:
(1) (right after a public negative comment) "I respect your opinion and your feelings that you have just now shared with me. Are you able do the same for me in return?"
(2) (at the end of an answer to a test question that is obviously anti-Christian or human secularism) "I trust this is the answer you were looking for on this question. Did you want me to believe it as well?"
Who knows, perhaps your response (not reaction) will intrigue the antagonistic person honestly to explore the Truth.
In all cases of antagonism, we need to look past the feelings involved and present the Truth. In most cases, the world is genuinely looking for Truth, but they don't know how to deal with the negative feelings associated with what happens when Truth sinks into their hearts and understanding. Nor do many Christians know how to deal with the negative emotions of confrontations. I hope this helps the next time anyone is involved in a rejection.
I heard the report on the student who was ridiculed for his faith. I am glad it came to light!!!