It didn’t feel good ripping his religion apart, but it had to be done; you just cant get a Christian to teach religious studies. If a teacher attempts to force his rhetoric into a pupil, someone should be there to teach the pupil to question it. However the head teacher didn’t see it that way.1
“Mr Jones should not have to put up with that sort of abuse.” The red faced head master scolds me from other side of his big desk.2
“But sir, all I said was that the Bible was a book of fairy tales. You can’t have a Christian teaching religion studies, it's like having an animal teach biology!” I said.3
“You called it a second rate storybook?” he asked.4
“Well yes,” I said.5
“And you asked when we will get around to teaching aesop's fables?”6
“Yes, Sir I think they are much better,” I said.7
“And you called Christianity an, out dated system that has lost all credibility and respect with anyone with a speck of intelligence? ” the head teacher was becoming more and more angry.8
“Yup” I guess I didn’t sound sincere.9
“And you think that’s fine?"10
“Sir, you should hear the way he went on about the Bible, he really believed the stories sir! He believed that Noah rounded up at least two of every animal! I think you should have him committed, what a nutter!”11
“Young man, I won’t have you talk that way about my staff.12
“Sorry Sir, but he just wasn’t fit to teach anyone, anyone who is sure of anything that’s not backed by evidence is a moron.” I said13
The headmaster looked even angrier than I thought possible. I could see this was an argument I was never going to win.14
Author notes
(Part of the Raw series)
this is the second story in the series that involves a 1 on 1 with a teacher... needless to say i had a few at school. This one actually took place. (dont worry the other one is completely fabricated)
needs editing so appologies
A contest entry
- Political Messages and Stories That Mean by Nedned.
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Comments
1 - 18 of 18
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This is great. Don't judge the author, rather than try to understand where he is coming from, for all peices.
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I liked this story and disliked it. I like how you question religion , but I don't like the bashing/making-fun-of part.
I agree that religion definitely is something that should be questioned and researched, and absolutely not 'just' believed and obeyed.
On the other hand, I don't like how you bash christianity. Though most people are *very* defensive about religion, bashing/attacking/ridiculing something automatically puts the 'victim' in a defensive position. You can't expect a serious, respectful and open dialogue when you ridicule the other person.
I've had many conversations with christians about taking the Bible literally. A long time ago, I used to do the same thing as you do, ridicule their beliefs and just blatantly laugh at them. The response was pretty much the same as yours.
However, nowadays I just try to talk to them. Not convince them, not put on a lower spot, just genuinely talk to them and ask them why they believe what they believe. I still get angry responses (when A: they try to convert me and it doesn't work or B: when they realize that they have no clue why they believe what they believe and get scared by that fact), but a lot of the conversations have been very friendly.
There's two sides to every story, that includes this one.
And last but not least, I think that religious studies can be taught by anyone, but they should be objective (so not try to convert people to 'their' religion). When they aren't being objective, they loose their scholar-status.
Keep up the questioning, only way to find the truth is by searching!
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I thought this was interesting. Your title definitely brought me in. You've caught the angsty attitude of many teens and also added the confidence to speak these issues. Your character seems realistic, only slightly brushing open-mindness but not being afraid to bash what he doesn't believe in. I'd like to see this one develop and learn.
As far as spelling and grammar go, you need closing quotes around the last word in paragraph 1, a comma after moron and a period after said in paragraph 13, "cant" needs an apostrophe in paragraph one. A couple of other minor things but that's the majorit of it.
Pretty interesting. Nice start.
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hmmm...
I agree with the main character's Viewpoint as an atheist myself. although i wouldnt be so vocal about it. and there's nothing wrong with a cristian teaching RS, unless he tries to force his religion on you...
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Hmmmm.....
Interesting first sentence which is so lacking in truth and thought that I felt I ought to draw your attention to it. It's OK for you to believe that Christians shouldn't teach religious studies, but you say you can't get them to do so; obviously they do, so there is a flaw in your logic. But to extend your logic, would it then be logical not to have English graduates teaching English, or maths specialists teaching maths, in case they indoctrinated you into their way of thinking?
I accept that if it is purely Religion as an intellectual topic, a theologian who understands all belief systems and validates none of them would be the ideal choice. The problem is that such people are rarer than hens' teeth. And this is because almost all the religions are designed to appeal, not just to the intellect, but to the very hamanity of the student.
I accept as a matter of course that all religions should be questioned, and rigorously at that. The problem is that any belief system, with the exception of humanistic atheism, requires a measure of acceptance without proof; faith if you prefer.
Now, there are so many different religions that you could be forgiven for thinking the object is to indoctrinate for exploitation. In some cases you'd be right, too. There are enough sects and splinter groups around to make it seem as if you can have a "Pick and Mix" approach, and many people starting new cults do exactly that.
The huge problem is that most of the "Book" religions (Judaeism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and the rest) were written so long ago that it is difficult for modern day students to catch the allusions, to contextualise, to fully understand the fundamental truths. There's also the fact that so many of these books have been translated and interpreted (not the same thing, incidentally) that the essential truths have been either curtailed or diluted to such an extent that it requires a real grasp of world history and social history to come to terms with the scriptures. Not something you can do in the average class period with thirty people not wanting to be there, but forced to be because it's part of the school curriculum.
The end result is obvious. People who do teach RE do so from a personal standpoint. it scarcely matters which religion you choose, there is always going to be an element of personal involvement with the religion; it is virtually impossible to understand any religion without involvement, whether you are pro- or anti-.
Logically, therefore, to obtain an all-round comprehensive understanding of the subject from a purely intellectual standpoint, all the relevant facts and data, including the original language it was written in, and all the subsequent translations and variations, would need to be made available in a chronological and neutral structure. This would certainly promote discussion, argument, debate and schism.
How wonderful would that be?
Oh, and I nearly forgot. The theologians who carry out exactly these kind of studies tend to need a whole lifetime to do it, and those who've made the attempt often confess that they're no wiser nor better off. They tend to have no friends, no faith and no life worthy of the name. They're usually atheists too, or pantheists in extreme cases. And completely insane.
Maybe you could do better. -
I really enjoyed reading this story. I rarely read many stories on this site because i am in a public library and with a time limit, but this story grabbed my attention. Very Witty and thought-provoking and I think i may enjoy this all the more for it being something that may ruffle a few feathers amongst the christian community on this website.
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Yeah I figured that you would be attacked because of thise story lol. People aren't as open minded as you hoped. Besides that, I loved it. Absolutely entertaining. Sounds exactly like me in my RE class. I think I'm going to like your Raw series.
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so
religion should be taught by someone who knows nothing about religion?
tbh, i went to a genric comprehensive, so RE was one of those fringe subjects that never even had an exam. We did cover most of the main religions, albeit in a fairly cack handed fashion.
as for the sory, too one sided. Where is the pro religious response? -
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RE should be taught by a religious scholar, someone who knows alot about religion, but isnt opinionated.
This isn't an anti-religious story, its a story attacking people who wont have their religions questioned.
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First things first - your fourth paragraph needs a little work. You don't need a comma after the "an" unless you wanted the principal to quote what you said, which means it would be quote within a quote, and if that's the case, you should put a single quote after the comma (that came after an) and an end quote, plus the closing quote, to close out his dialogue. Also "more and more angry" is incorrect and you should change it to angrier.
Now that's over with, I have to say interesting story (especially if this actually happened) and I can see your point. I AM a christian, but that doesn't mean I can't be objective. I will admit that as a teacher, yours should have been objective and should have known better than to preach to the class. Unless the class was named Christian studies, your teacher should have known better than to raise one religion over the other because he would be insulting those who don't share the same faith or lack thereof. However, if he was merely stating opinion and not fact, and he WASN'T pushing his beliefs on you as students, then I see no harm in that and insulting him probably wasn't the nicest thing to do. Speaking of - it's one thing to criticize/challenge authority and another to insult; even though your insults were quite humorous, you probably would have gotten a much better response had you taken the high road. -
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Yes i was young and perhaps handled it incorectly, my frustration in not being able to debate religion with my teacher. And ultimately ended up attacking the religion.
The story is based on a real event but didnt go exactially like this.
I find religion facinating and think it should be studied for the rest of time, i dont beleive in labeling oneself as a member of any religious group.
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Is the point of this supposed to be your views? Because thats almost bashing Christianity. Other than that it was pretty well don. I just think it is lacking detail.
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Yes this is my view, but not bashing christianity but more bashing the fact people dont question religion, especially their own. I was part of a christian union at school because i had interest in the study of christianity, but wanted to know facts, i was asked to leave as they didnt think i had faith but was their to study it like i would history.
But thats what i think religion is all about, and to be a truely religious person i think somone should learn about all religions and base their beleifs on education.
I meet people who are really deep into one religion and when i talk to them i find them blinded by what they think. Beleifs should evolve, logic should be used. Whats the logic in stopping pre-marital sex? Its because many young people were getting pregnant and spreading dieseases. The real message in my opinion is that people should only have sex if they are responcible adults armed with the education to know what they are doing. But churches seem to step in and give a list of rules to stop people causing problems to themselves.
Worst of all i hate this idea of 'saving' it seems to be biggest in america, christians trying to save people. Why does a perfectly ethical non religious person need to be saved? it makes me cringe. I suppose its a problem with fundementalism.
thanks for reading. -
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but to a Christian who believes it, it makes PERFECT sense. Like you said some people are blinded by their beliefs, but maybe some people are blinded in their choice not to believe. Lol idk if that makes sense.
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Everyone beleives in something, atheism is a beleif system, an atheist is a beleiver, just that of something different, and perhaps their allience to their beleifs blinds them as much as a christian or muslim.
The point is people should question their beleifs constantly and learn about other theories so that they arent ignorent in their faith.
If a christian is sure of everything the church tells them, then they are following blind, which is how cults form.
Religion has done alot of good, but its becoming less necessary in a developed world. People know right from wrong and religion in many cases restricts peoples lives, ive known people to not take part in many things as its 'Against their religion.' even when they know that what we are doing isnt really wrong.
I beleive in some sort of god, that something has caused a spark to create everything, but i dont think its needed to join a religion to respect that.
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A few things.
Mr, when used as an abreviation, needs a period after it.
You have "...abuve." The headmaster scolds. It should be "...abuse," the headmaster scolds.
Fairy tails is actually fairy tales.
'its' up there is actually 'it's.'
When you have someone asking a question, you should use 'asked,' not 'said.'
"Well, yes.." I said shouldn't be like that. It should be: "Well, yes," I said.
Again, you've got 'he said' after a question. You don't even need 'I asked' there.
Christianity should be capitalized.
When sentence dialogue ends (like you did with a question, but don't have 'he asked,') the word after the quotation mark should be capitalized.
Forgot a period after 'yup.'
You've got 'and you think that's fine?' with another 'he said.'
Bible needs to be capitalized.
Forgot a period after staff.
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You should try to self-edit before you post work up. It's a sign of a good writer when he/she tries to make the work perfect before posting.
Other than that, it describes a bigoted conversation PERFECTLY. I was recently told I had to be 'saved' by some Baptists, haha.
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Hey thanks for the edit. i appreciate it. I tend to post work up as soon as its done. Your right though, Hemmingway said "all first drafts are shit," or something to that effect.
Thanks Again
Ben
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I like this
I have to agree with that Christians shouldn't teach religion, it's comes out as propaganda and some weird creepy...mess. I don't believe in religion myself, but I think you did a nice effort.....
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