<p>Record your teacher's rants and then play them for the school board or principal. That should raise some eyebrows. But, you have to be prepared for the consequences from teachers, parents, and others, who might be a little bit angry at this approach.</p>
<p>I hate religion and even I think that this sounds pretty bad. A teacher should not be openly giving only one opinion on a subject as controversial as religion. They should be allowed to criticize Christianity IMO, but only if relevant to history (which in World History might actually be). Really, it depends on the context.</p>
<p>Even though I fully know this is wrong, I wish I had a teacher that made snide remarks about Christians. There are some ultra-christian's in a few of my classes and I would like a good debate going.</p>
<p>im just saying that she can approach this situation in one of two ways:</p>
<p>she can sulk about it and tell the administration and have it ended, opening up a can of worms so that whenever the teacher says anything potentially offensive he can be attacked. </p>
<p>Or she can llok at it as an oppornunity to learn, grow, reflect, and see a different perspective. Perhaps have a good debate or contest his opinion. </p>
<p>The only reason i can think of why she wouldnt choose the latter is that she is afraid of learning something new.</p>
<p>Just DON'T go to the administration behind his back. That'd make you lose a ton of respect with your classmates, your teachers, etc.</p>
<p>I think a distinction needs to be drawn between criticizing Christians and criticizing Christianity. An example of the first would be talking about the Crusades or the Spanish Inquisition, and is perfectly acceptable in the context of a history class. An example of the second would be talking about "odd beliefs" and "made-up gods", and is not.</p>
<p>I'm as politically correct as the next liberal Christian, but childish put-downs do nothing to foster intellectual discourse (on that note, quoting Psalms is exactly the WRONG thing to do, as is heading straight to the administration). Judging purely by what the OP has said, I think the teacher is out of line.</p>
<p>When the OP says, "I'm a Christian, which she knows" does he/she mean that the teacher and the OP have already had a conversation about it, and the teacher has persisted? I think it matters, in terms of how the OP should proceed. </p>
<p>Tyler09 also has a pretty good take on the situation. I don't think it is necessarily a good idea to go after the teacher using the administration. If the OP does, it should be the ultimate, final, last recourse. Going over someone's head to their boss is a pretty serious thing.</p>
<p>Your best bet is NOT to get defensive or go behind anybody's back. Do any other students agree with you? I would suggest going after class with a group of students and politely stating your discomfort in a general manner. Not "you insult our religion!" but more "sometimes, things are stated that make us feel very uncomfortable. We have certain beliefs, and it feels as though they are sometimes put down." Or something to that effect. DON'T say that the teacher is the one doing it, she/he will realize hopefully.</p>
<p>I dunno about this one. If I were that teacher and was saying those things (which I of course wouldn't be, becuase it's inappropriate, but let's pretend), I would gain a lot of respect if you were able to debate in a rational way why that impression is wrong. I would lose a lot of respect if you said "it's offensive that you belittle the religion I believe in" because you're playing right into his impression of Christians just blindly believing in something with no proof.</p>
<p>On a more personal note, I fail to see why religious beliefs should be off-limits to debate and criticism, when so many other beliefs (political, cultural, scientific, historical) are not.</p>
<p>^Religious beliefs are not off-limits to debate and criticism, and no one is saying they are. However, childish name-calling is far removed from sensible discussion, and the teacher's behavior seems to fall under the category of childish name-calling.</p>
<p>Just deal, saying something wont do anything but make it worse. I'm not christian and all my teachers do is talk about "God" and their beliefs but I know saying something will just make it harder on me.</p>
<p>I wouldn't bother....Atheist go through the same thing in every class, we just ignore it.</p>
<p>^^^^True story....</p>
<p>I am not a Christian but that is still very offensive in my opinion. You should tell your teacher that she is free to express her opinions but you would prefer if she did it in a less offensive way. If she continues, report her.</p>
<p>Explain how atheists go through the same thing. Do teachers frequently insinuate that you are unintelligent or illogical because of your personal beliefs?</p>
<p>lol let the flame wars begin!</p>
<p>I guess I'll explain how Atheists go through the same thing, actually we have it worse than that..Not only do we get it from teachers but we get it from everyone else as well. If the topic of religion/christianity comes up in class and the teacher will state her belief and so will everyone else and usually there maybe 1 other Atheist than you and then you just basically get stoned with insults. Most Atheists don't really have facts or information about what they exactly believe but for those of us who do don't even get to explain why or what Atheism is because people are just ignorant to different people. So, before we can even defend ourselves people have just started to not listen to us. And don't try and tell me I don't know anything about christianity because I went to a baptist christian school for 7 years and those were definately the worst 7 years of my life.....</p>
<p>Agreed with the above few comments. We atheists have to put up with teachers inserting god into their lectures all the time. If one teacher does the opposite, deal with it like we do. Religion is an idea, and ideas should be critisized, religion does not get this free pass which allows it to go completely unscrutinized by logic and reason. Christians do have odd beliefs, face it. You have the right to believe those things, and the teacher has the right to say that they dont make sense. Sorry for the rantish post. To soften what I just said, the teacher should discuss things in an intellectually honest way and not attack religion ad hominem, but I cant really tell if that is the case or not from what you said.</p>
<p>Speaking of athiests, did you know that they are America's most distrusted minority? Forget teachers, the whole American public doesn't like them. </p>
<p>Speaking from a more personal note, at least Christians have their churches. It's an insta-community for anyone who believes what you do. For athiests, it's not quite so easy. Even within the broad label of athiesm, there are many different beliefs, just like the many denominations of Christianity. When I started thinking about what I believed, I didn't have a support network. I didn't know anyone else who was an athiest, and I certainly couldn't talk to my family or my peers about it. Being an athiest, at least in this "One nation, under God," is not as easy as some might think.</p>
<p>I've seen that most distrusted minority thing before and it's infuriating. Atheists get this shocking label from people and the truth is it usually applies to little or none of us. I agree with the recent posts. I can distinctly recall at least a half a dozen classes where we talked about world religion (which in itself doesn't bother me) and the teacher said "How many of you are Catholics?", "How many Protestants?", and so on. There has never been anybody else in any of my classes who hasn't raised a hand. While you may be dealing with one teacher for one year who insults your beliefs, Atheists generally deal at least with 13 years of schooling where every teacher (at least where I live) and the majority of students look down on them because of their lack of religion. Try writing a paper for a Roman Catholic World History teacher about "Your view on world religion" from the point of view of an Atheist. I got a 70 on that essay because I couldn't "personally connect religion to my life".</p>