Worldtraveller

It is ok (constitutionally speaking) to express your personal beliefs in a one on one situation (and religious types do it all the time), as far as anything I have read of CSS related court decisions, but I'm not a lawyer.

I wouldn't even mention it though, unless directly asked. I would respond to 'do you pray?' with 'I try to do things that directly help.' or something along those lines. I wouldn't suggest that praying is bad (even though it is, in some ways), just that there are better things that could be done.

If asked if you believe in god, the most appropriate answer is that it is a personal question, and if they really want to know, they can talk to you after class/school, on your own time.

I wouldn't hide it though.

Cheers,
Lane

reddhedd

gaillardia,

I work for Gwinnett Board of Ed.
When this subject comes up, I have a firm rule. I do not ever discuss my personal beliefs about god with children.
When the kids ask about god, religion, prayer, etc (and they do) I say "I do not discuss my personal beliefs while at work." If they are persistent, I say, " If you really need to keep talking about this, please have your parents call me this evening." The kid thinks they are getting into trouble, so they don't have their parent call.

I plan on telling the parent that I do not share their beliefs and that their child seems quite curious about the beliefs of others in school.
However, this has never happened. In 11 years, not one child has had his/her parent call me, nor do they bring it up again.

Regarding the child's homelife, I would pass the info on. I wouldn't try to decide myself if social services needs to be called. That's why administrators get paid more than I do.

She's a child, and although you can try to be her friend, I don't think it will help a child already going through a rough time at home, if you take away her support system. You and I might not think prayer helps, but if she does, who are we to discourage her? Something like "Honey, would you like to talk about this with the counselor?" is appropriate, but "What you think just ain't so" isn't, IMO. ( I'm sure you wouldn't be so harsh.)

Welcome to the fora, BTW! Are you going to the cook out in May?


Redd

Splarnst

$6.80 per hour?!?

It's $12.32 per hour (with a bachelor's degree) in Clay County, Florida!

Rathpig

I thought about this statement and though not enough information is present to form a strong opinion it has been my experience that most fundamentalist churches consider "any" smoking and drinking to be "excessive". It may be you are only detecting an "impression" of what the child has been indoctrinated to believe.

I am making the assumption that this child is praying at a fundamentalist church because the information given seems to fit that pattern. I think any child praying for their parents at a mainstream Protestant and especially at a Catholic church would not have phrased this to a teacher in such a manner. It seems as if the "smoking and drinking" are the focus for the "prayer" and not the parents.

Sounds very fundamentalist to me. Very dangerous ground to insert atheism into. I already detect a religiously brain-washed child or the way the situation happened would have been completely different.

Rathpig

southernhybrid

I would never tell a student my beliefs if I was working in a public school. It's not appropriate for theist or atheist teachers to get invovled in that area of a child's life. If it comes up again, why not just tell the kid that religion is something that's not appropriate to discuss with teachers. Be firm and then change the subject.

Not exactly correct. The law, which was passed and signed by our fundy gov allows that a Bible course be taught as an elective. It doesn't mandate that it be taught as part of a literature class or anything else. I have not heard about any law mandating the teaching of ID. I'm sure they would like to do it, but there'a quite an active group of people in the ATL area that have been fighting this type of thing for years. In the past, the group has included some biology teachers from UGA, and some activists from the Atlanta Freethought Society.

gaillardia

I quite agree with this, and have had the identical thoughts. But I don't think the number of fundie teachers would bear on the impact, because a public lawsuit(s) would inevitably emerge when a science-oriented teacher refused to back down from teaching EVERYthing about ID or the Bible. This would put the facts of the debate squarely in the public eye, where they need to be, yea verily seemeth it unto me.

gaillardia

Okay, I getcha. That's prolly a good idea for how to deal with the student(s), under current law. How would the Bible be "taught" under this "elective" law, if you know? As an elective in......science, literature, or just "here's what the Bible says?" Seems that it would have to be presented under the aegis of some academic discipline or other.

gaillardia

We-ell, welcome t'rural jawja!

gaillardia

Okay, I sound bigoted there. It isn't the accent, it's the money, that is, lack thereof, whether socially or politically derived. Georgia has a state income tax, and FL doesn't....hmmmm.

gaillardia

Good suggestions, too, Redd. Thanks, all, for relieving me from inventing the wheel here and clarifying my own thoughts. What cookout, Redd? I'm in Pickens County.... y'all are so smart, why is my tractor carb backfiring?