Teacher Claims He Was Fired for Objecting to Christian Proselytizing in PSi

[Chanku]

Quote:An Indiana school teacher says that he was fired by his school’s Christian principal and school board because he identifies as an atheist.

Kevin Pack, who taught German at the Northridge High School in Middlebury, says that his principal, Gerald Rasler, gave him poor reviews because he questioned prayers and other religious practices performed by Rasler on school time.

Pack, who was fired by the district last year, was hired just a year earlier. The school district’s Superintendent, Jane Allen, contends that Pack was not fired because he’s an atheist, but that he was an immoral, incompetent and insubordinate teacher.

However, Pack maintains that it was his opposition to Rasler’s proselytizing that got him fired. In his lawsuit, Pack maintains:

During a phone interview before he was hired, Rasler asked Pack about his religious beliefs and political leanings.

Before breakfast or lunch was served during faculty meetings, Rasler asked teachers to take part in a Christian prayer. The prayers offended Pack, an atheist committed to the separation of church and state. Because he was a new hire, he didn’t feel he could openly challenge Rasler, but he declined to act as if he was praying, which Rasler noticed.

In an email sent to all faculty, Rasler once asked teachers to pray it wouldn’t snow so that student testing wouldn’t be disrupted. In a reply to all recipients of the email, Pack, alluding to his atheism, said he would choose instead to rely upon the predictions of meteorologists.

Complaints by Pack to the district’s Human Resources department did get Rasler in some hot water, as such religious conduct is prohibited in public schools by law. But it was when Pack began to stand up against Rasler that he says he started to get the disciplinary warnings and poor reviews that lead to his dismissal last April.

http://www.alternet.org/atheist-teacher-...is-beliefs

[Dikont5]

(01-30-2015 08:25 AM)Chanku Wrote:  

Quote:An Indiana school teacher says that he was fired by his school’s Christian principal and school board because he identifies as an atheist.

Kevin Pack, who taught German at the Northridge High School in Middlebury, says that his principal, Gerald Rasler, gave him poor reviews because he questioned prayers and other religious practices performed by Rasler on school time.

Pack, who was fired by the district last year, was hired just a year earlier. The school district’s Superintendent, Jane Allen, contends that Pack was not fired because he’s an atheist, but that he was an immoral, incompetent and insubordinate teacher.

However, Pack maintains that it was his opposition to Rasler’s proselytizing that got him fired. In his lawsuit, Pack maintains:

During a phone interview before he was hired, Rasler asked Pack about his religious beliefs and political leanings.

Before breakfast or lunch was served during faculty meetings, Rasler asked teachers to take part in a Christian prayer. The prayers offended Pack, an atheist committed to the separation of church and state. Because he was a new hire, he didn’t feel he could openly challenge Rasler, but he declined to act as if he was praying, which Rasler noticed.

In an email sent to all faculty, Rasler once asked teachers to pray it wouldn’t snow so that student testing wouldn’t be disrupted. In a reply to all recipients of the email, Pack, alluding to his atheism, said he would choose instead to rely upon the predictions of meteorologists.

Complaints by Pack to the district’s Human Resources department did get Rasler in some hot water, as such religious conduct is prohibited in public schools by law. But it was when Pack began to stand up against Rasler that he says he started to get the disciplinary warnings and poor reviews that lead to his dismissal last April.

http://www.alternet.org/atheist-teacher-...is-beliefs

Pack, who was fired by the district last year, was hired just a year earlier. The school district’s Superintendent, Jane Allen, contends that Pack was not fired because he’s an atheist, but that he was an immoral, incompetent and insubordinate teacher.

Guess where the bias is!

[TheCancer]

I was at a staff meeting where they said a prayer for some reason and at the end of it I said "Praise Satan!" I didn't get anything more than dirty looks.

[MrAnonymous]

If the teacher is right, the principal shouldn't have a job again.

[brainiac3397]

I'm a religious person, but man has been praying to god for many things...how many have been granted eh?

I mean I pray to god then and now, but praying for stupid stuff like "no snow" is just stupid. IMO God grants "prayers" based on his level of awarness and knowledge. In the mosque once, there was a mention of a story where some man asked the prophet if god would grant his prayer for wealth.

He asked three times(on fridays). This man was a religious man and always attending all prayers. The prophet continually told him that it wasn't in his favor, that it wouldn't be a wise thing for the man to get wealthy. However the man asked enough times that the prophet prayed for the man's fortune(well more like "recommended"). The man became rich, and at first all was fine. Then sometime later he began to miss some prayers. Later he only attended Fridays. Then it was Fridays once in a while. Finally he stopped showing up or even praying.

The man had become so obsessed with his materialistic gain that he stopped focusing on the spiritual(despite his success being granted by god).

Moral of the story? God knows how shit gonna turn out. Stop making dumbass prayers and defending them, calling anyone who calls you out atheist or something.

[Sociopath]

(01-30-2015 12:20 PM)brainiac3397 Wrote:  I'm a religious person, but man has been praying to god for many things...how many have been granted eh?

I mean I pray to god then and now, but praying for stupid stuff like "no snow" is just stupid. IMO God grants "prayers" based on his level of awarness and knowledge. In the mosque once, there was a mention of a story where some man asked the prophet if god would grant his prayer for wealth.

He asked three times(on fridays). This man was a religious man and always attending all prayers. The prophet continually told him that it wasn't in his favor, that it wouldn't be a wise thing for the man to get wealthy. However the man asked enough times that the prophet prayed for the man's fortune(well more like "recommended"). The man became rich, and at first all was fine. Then sometime later he began to miss some prayers. Later he only attended Fridays. Then it was Fridays once in a while. Finally he stopped showing up or even praying.

The man had become so obsessed with his materialistic gain that he stopped focusing on the spiritual(despite his success being granted by god).

Moral of the story? God knows how shit gonna turn out. Stop making dumbass prayers and defending them, calling anyone who calls you out atheist or something.

That wasn't a very good story nor a very good moral. It's not as if wealth comes from prayer. Why does the priest or whatever say being wealthy is a bad thing? And what exactly is the consequence of caring about materialistic goods over spiritual development? It's not as if anything bad happened. I'm not advocating obsessing over material wealth, I'm just saying it's wrong to assume bad things will happen from that fact alone. And another thing, why is it so important to go to church, or a mosque. Didn't you consider maybe he's just doing it at home now? Maybe he went to another mosque.

[brainiac3397]

That's not the point.

The point is that the dude and his wife wanted easy money like lottery and begged god for it(implying they are religious) but when they got rich, instead of thanking god they started passing it off as if they did it all by themselves and god had nothing to do with it.

Friday prayer is mandatory at a mosque, and the story took place back when you had one city a few days away from another. The guy isn't gonna jump on a camel and ride a few days away to pray at another mosque. And it's hard to say you're praying at home if people see you not praying outside.

I should have probably given a disclaimer that the story was terribly butchered by me, plucked from memory and glued together in tiny fractional strips of discontinuity.

So the priest isn't saying wealth is bad. He's pointing out that sometimes wealth obtained in a certain manner leaves you in a position where you do not consider the gratitude of how you obtained the money. This explains why lottery winners often go on crazy spending sprees and end up broke in a few months. They didn't work to earn that money, and thus didn't think to apply long-term value to it(yes yes, generalizing and different variables. Yada bla bla let's not argue technicalities here)

The bad thing that happened is that the guy went from a sincere worshiper and believer to pretty much a non-believer with homocentric arrogance(the "humans are superior because..."). Like I said, it's a religious story and I'm religious and believe god/afterlife/stuff.

You people and you culturally relativistic opinions. Judging us by your own standards eh?

[JenniMiller]

Homocentrism is an inherent trait of religious theology. We apply human-like characteristics to God. In Christianity, the "kingdom of God" is homocentric--there are no cats and dogs in heaven.

[brainiac3397]

A trait or just our attempt at understanding what we can't?

[JenniMiller]

Religion is at its very heart an attempt to explain what was previously unexplainable through science. And homocentrism is a facet of this. We didnt know then what we know about intelligence and emotion in non human beings.

[brainiac3397]

Setting codes of behavior and establishing various moral rules doesnt sound like explaining and unexplainable.

[JenniMiller]

(02-07-2015 01:49 PM)brainiac3397 Wrote:  Setting codes of behavior and establishing various moral rules doesnt sound like explaining and unexplainable.

Creating deities and stories like the Garden of Eden, Noah's Ark, etc. does indeed sound like explainable/unexplainable.

[brainiac3397]

As I was mentioning on IRC, Its not unlikely these stories are often exaggerations or misconceptions by the people of that time. Since there has been significant rising of water level, seeing as ancient coast lines were far more larger than today, its quite possible a massive flood did occur. However, to those suffering it, it may have seemed like the whole world had flooded. How would they know?

Then toss in the act of translating from the original text often distorts words, concepts and facts. If the translator has an agenda or bias, he may insert his own idea or remove certain aspects of the story.

In the end, these stories were either fictional or inaccurate recounts of something that occured or some shared human story passed down and managed its way into religious text. One shouldnt detach reality from religion just because religion might seem unrealistic. We're talking about our universe here, and the ever falliable human being.

[Sociopath]

The bible explicitly says its supposed to be taken literally and when it doesn't match up to science suddenly people want to "reinterpret" it. The bible says it's not meant to be taken in private interpretation and that all words come from the mouth of god himself. And it isn't just that it lacks in giving good accounts of science, the morality it teaches is a bit...well, immoral would be an understatement.

Still, even giving way to the "interpretation" way of thinking renders itself moot; if the bible is literal, then it is wrong. If the bible is an interpretation, then where is the line between fact and interpretation drawn? by that logic, whats to stop the entire bible itself from just being one big interpretation where there is no "god" but rather, "god" is a *symbol* for something else just like everything else in the bible if we claim it is meant to be interpreted rather than taken literally?

[brainiac3397]

I personally don't find referring to the bible as a single thing accurate. Considering the various editions, and the fact the bible is actually a collection of books, it's difficult to understand what one means when they say "the bible" as if it were a single constant.

Then again I'm not Christian and a bit critical of Christianity so whatever...

[JenniMiller]

The bible is the bible. How are you confused?

[TheCancer]

Because it's a collection of several different books with hundreds of authors and thousands of translators. And it's very bizarre, wildly contradictory, and very complicated and often an extraordinarily boring read.

[brainiac3397]

(02-12-2015 10:35 AM)JenniMiller Wrote:  The bible is the bible. How are you confused?

(02-12-2015 10:46 AM)TheCancer Wrote:  Because it's a collection of several different books with hundreds of authors and thousands of translators. And it's very bizarre, wildly contradictory, and very complicated and often an extraordinarily boring read.

Yep.