11.30: Contemplate -- That lady at my school

Even before I write this, I ask for forgiveness from you, my dear reader.

This is going to be a bitchy post.

We have a policy in our school that if a teacher is absent and no sub can fill the position, other teachers will take their off period and cover that teacher's class.

I'm asked to do this two or three times a year, and I've never said no. I'm a team player. That's what we do in order to make the school work.

Earlier this week, then, I was asked to cover study hall for a certain study hall teacher. I grabbed a pile of grading, stuck a note on my door in case people had to find me, and walked down to the downstairs study hall. I called the role and sent students where they needed to be. All was well.

And then I turned and looked at the computer.

I used to write a lot about atheism in schools. You can find some of my stuff here, where I was the editor for a while. I got bored with the topic -- big stuff happens a couple of times a year, but most of all, it's just saying the same thing over and over -- and started writing for and administrating for the skeptical parenting site Grounded Parents instead. That was good for a while, but I took some time off after a year and just never went back. Anyway, the point is, I would look for things to write about concerning religion in schools, and I never really saw much. But this computer would have given me fodder for at least three or four articles. It was awful, but beautiful because of its potential.

Pasted all over the computer on post-it notes were Bible verses. Everywhere. I grabbed my cell phone and took a picture of the side without identifying details. I couldn't believe it. This brought up all kinds of questions for me.

Why can't she get through the day without staring at Bible verses? I get that maybe she finds comfort in the verses. Maybe they pump her up when she's sad or something. I feel like you could keep those in a little book inside your purse or in your cell phone. If you know that not everyone believes those words, why would you put them somewhere where anyone could see? Are you hoping to offend someone?

Doesn't she realize that she works in a public school? There have been numerous court cases recently in which the Freedom from Religion Foundation has asked for religious items to be removed from public schools. Although it seems that the law says that a Bible can be on a teacher's desk as a personal item, there can not be religious items and quotes displayed around a public classroom. In fact, a lawyer with the FFRF said that a teacher's Bible should not be even displayed prominently.

What is she trying to do/prove by having those verses up? Is she trying to show that there can be religion in schools? In the past, I've actually written about this person, who shouted out "THANK YOU JESUS!!!" when a student was found, and then started to pray in the middle of the library. I was a bit offended by that, wanting to instead thank the investigators and police.

Why hasn't anyone else said anything? People, I'm sure, have seen these verses. I don't understand how Christianity is so ingrained into our lives that even people in central Ohio just walk by blatant violations such as these post-its and never say anything. But, of course, I won't either. This makes me a hypocrite, but it's not a battle that I'm willing to get into. If I hear that it offended a student, I will, but if it's just me, I'm an adult and I can handle it.

Unless I have to go back down there and it automatically turns me into a Christian. Then I'll be super pissed, and I'll have Jesus take the wheel. Or something.

This post will annoy NGS a bunch and she will tell me to leave it alone and let people believe what they believe, and she will be right, but at the same time it annoyed me. So there.