What should I do?

Question

I attend a small liberal arts college in South Carolina. I am an Education major and have noticed that most of the Professors go to church and they talk about religion in the classroom constantly. They assume that all education majors attend church and they make comments about how they like to see the Ten Commandments hung up in a school. I feel that this is ridiculous. I was taking a course on the child, families, and communities and all the professor and the other students talked about was religion (Christianity) and how they can judge a school when they first walk in it. Some even suggested that Title I schools were "bad" schools and anything above that was a "good" school. I feel very strongly about this but was afraid to speak up for fear of being ostracized. What do I do? They are warping the minds of future teachers.

Answer 1

First off, I'll say that everyone here who is not a Christian judging us as one entity are being just as ridiculous as the Prof. assuming that all edu majors are Christians.
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I think you should politely ask the prof. to leave religion out of the next session. Explain that you don't have anything against his beliefs, but that you feel it would better serve the student body if there were a wider (and more useful) range of information being shared.

Answer 2

I feel your pain. Unfortunately this "Jesus cult" is far more widespread than you could ever imagine. Don't get me wrong. I do have a faith in a higher power but I feel that Jesus was just a man. Big difference. There was a recent (in the last week or so)show on TV about the Jesus camps....and it was truly, horrifically frightening. It is decidedly pushed on these children exactly the same way that cult leaders sway their flocks.
If you ever did any serious research, the magnitude of this cult would send chills down your spine.

I don't know about speaking your mind to your peers...that could be a high price to pay. These people all live from a place of fear and a deep twisted need to oust anyone that they have been taught is evil in the eyes of "Christianity". And I agree with just changing classes and going with a different professor.

Just know that when you teach your classes that you also will have the opportunity to broaden the minds of those kids and encourage them to understand the right people have to choose their own beliefs. Remind them that the Bible does say "Judge not, lest ye be judged."
There are many historians that think the bible was written by men of the church who wanted to rule through fear so as to continue to live off the labor and money of the peasants. There is much research pointing to this.

Answer 3

Record a classroom session, and make a transcript.

Then, see if the dean of the school feels that the content being taught in the class is appropriate. If so, there's probably not much you can do. If not, then you can make your complaint official.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, instructors have freedom of speech and can abuse that to express their own opinions instead of teaching pure content.

You can always "vote with your feet" and walk away from that class; or risk a poor grade and speak up for the apposing point of view. Take a stand, and then the impressionable future teachers in that class will at least know that not everyone is a sheep that will blindly follow this weirdo's ideals.

Answer 4

By all rights you SHOULD speak up, but you likely will be ostracized...Christians are not as forgiving as they want to believe they are, and for the most part are very closed minded about their religion. Anyone speaking against the idea of shoving their religion in their faces is usually thought of as either 'evil', or a special project to convert.

Best of luck to you...you probably can't even go higher than your own professor, as governing bodies are all brainwashed too...