The World’s Largest Coalition of Nontheists and Nontheist Communities!

To be or not to be

I am an atheist teacher in America. Our school held a teacher training work day at a local church that was mandatory. I don't know if the school paid the church money to have the meeting there or not. The training speaker told at least one joke that pertained to Jesus humor that only theist would laugh at. There were two very large church posters on stage for all to see about how to be a good christian. There was much chatter about church topics by those who attend this church. How would you feel and what would you do? I was miserable and thought that I was going to lose my mind.

Tags: Legal

0 members like this

Comment

You need to be a member of Atheist Nexus to add comments!

Join Atheist Nexus

Comment by Earther on October 17, 2010 at 8:50pm: I prefer that they see for themselves that what they are doing to themselves is not worth what they are doing.

Comment by Glen Rosenberg on October 15, 2010 at 10:48pm: Earther, I simply mean to say that you will be singled out by the crowd as the upstart nonconformist atheist after any indication by you that y'er mad as hell n aint gonna take it no more. If you do go against the group you will probably feel better about things provided you can deal with the cold shoulder.

Comment by Earther on October 15, 2010 at 7:29pm: Glen, could you expand you thought, I am unsure of your meaning of "whether" and "opposition".

Comment by Glen Rosenberg on October 15, 2010 at 7:15pm: Earther, For me it is more a question of whether than how. Doubt that any real form of opposition will be anonymous.

Comment by Earther on October 15, 2010 at 5:54pm: Thanks for your input, as of now I am still quiescent. My mind is still spinning on the topic because of how awful I felt sitting in that church and knowing "they" got us here, the religious fundamentalist. Here is a thought that could help my situation but cause a lot of work. Maybe I could lead an effort to build a large meeting hall for these kinds of events so it is an option they cannot refuse. What do you think of that?

Comment by Jim DePaulo on October 15, 2010 at 10:56am: I was fortunate - I spent my 30 year teaching career in a large district (4th largest in the US) and large high school. My department (science) had 13 teachers and only 3 of them were firm believers (but not fundies) and six of us were openly Atheist and one Wicca. The district was very sensitive to the public funds and the demands of the fundy mob - public funds always won.

Comment by Glen Rosenberg on October 14, 2010 at 5:39pm: Earther, There is not anything of value I can offer on this topic. Racists will be racists. Religiocharged will do their thing. You can go to the school board. You can confront your peers. This will undoubtedly make it harder on you. Or you can remain quiescent and feel awful.

Comment by Earther on October 14, 2010 at 4:12pm: Thanks for the clarification Glen. How can I be proactive without getting hurt? They don't care if I am disenfranchised unless it is a lot of people complaining.

Comment by Glen Rosenberg on October 14, 2010 at 10:46am: Earther, overidentification is a coined word used in education to describe a stinking phenomenon in which minority students are overwhelmingly placed in special education. In general the disproportionate placement reflects the teacher's racist underpinnings.
I use the overidentification term more broadly. One can overidentify with one's race, political party, religious community etc.
Overidentification causes polarization and enables individuals to do in a group what they would not do in a one on one interaction.

Comment by Earther on October 14, 2010 at 5:26am: Thanks Sicile - I kinda think it is like having a jewish homecoming at a nazi death camp. Glen I am not sure if I understand what you mean over identification.