When a student in California asked his math teacher earlier this year about the meaning of life, that teacher said he felt free to answer, “In my view, the meaning of life is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ,” the Washington Post reports.
Several teachers have Bibles on their desks, even in public school classrooms.
This teacher was reportedly “inspired” by training he received from a Christian group that advises public school teachers how to serve as missionaries for Christianity while strictly conforming to laws against proselytizing in their classrooms.
“I’m not going to ask a student, ‘Do you want to become a Christian?’ unless we have had a full conversation about it and they have expressed it as a possibility,” he was quoted as saying.
The Christian Educators Association International has produced two booklets teachers can use to help them explain their faith to students in US classrooms: The Daniel Weekend guides a training weekend for teachers, and Shine Like Stars book is touted as “a Bible Study to equip educators in their role as missionaries in America’s schools.”
The association says it helps teachers “rekindle their passion, calling, and purpose to transform their schools with God’s love … [through the] Daniel Project, an organized effort to help teachers effect true change in their schools. In each session, a select group of teachers come aside for a think tank weekend of prayer, discussion, and goal-setting.”
We condemn any attempt to teach religious content in public schools in the US. Our reason for this bold position is that teaching kids in public schools about Chrisitianity serves neither Christianity nor the mission of our public schools and completely wastes the taxpayer dollars sent to that school to educate students about what they can’t learn anywhere else.
(As always, we welcome opposing viewpoints in the comments section.)
