Sorry. User was mildly funny when he seemed to be pretending to be a troll. I didn’t realize he was a real troll until just now. He’s chained in the basement or now, but they tend to escape eventually.

wow, you really must be from texas to be so fucking stupid.
go back to never getting laid you ugly bastard

That was great, user! Thanks for agreeing with me and making my point in much more colorful language than I did.

I don’t know all the details about the incident, and your point about good classroom management is probably a valid one.

But the number of practicing Communists vs. the number of practicing Christians is irrelevant. Since no violence against an individual or group was implied, his demonstration was merely expressing an opinion, no different than if he had destroyed an American flag or picture of the Pope or whatever.

Whether or not such expression is appropriate in the classroom is a matter of school policy to decide. But “safety” is simply a ludicrous attempt to silence the kid’s opinion since christians were offended.

If there is a policy in place to limit student political or religious expression in the classroom, fine – but make sure it’s applied equally to all.

Somehow, I doubt anyone would have raised a fuss if a copy of “The God Delusion” had been shredded.

So, how exactly is it a “safety issue?”

I suspect the fundies fear that a Pat Robertson tornado from god will wipe their town off the map.

I doubt anyone would have been concerned about safety if the kid had destroyed a copy of the Communist Manifesto or Mao’s Red Book.

Well, that’s probably because there aren’t many practicing communists in that classroom.

Look, this incident is not the same as if the boy had ripped up the Bible while speaking through a megaphone and standing on a milk crate on his front lawn. He was in a classroom. In a school, there are rules which subject some of our rights & freedoms to reasonable limits. For example, here in Canada we have, as citizens of the USA do, the right to freedom of speech. But that doesn’t mean that students can talk through my lessons, and that doesn’t mean that I, as a teacher, can stand in front of a history class and deny the holocaust, or stand in front of a science class and teach creationism. The same kinds of reasonable limits should apply to students.

I don’t think the boy should be punished. That would send the wrong message. But I think a teacher should sit down with him and explain that what he did made many of his classmates uncomfortable, and while he has every right to express his opinion, it isn’t appropriate to do something like that in a classroom. A classroom is for learning, and what he did made it difficult for his fellow students to feel comfortable enough to learn. It’s as simple as that.

I would caution some of the posters in this thread not to turn this into an ideological debate. It shouldn’t be. It is purely a matter of good classroom management.

No one was threatened with violence. Violence against any one or any group was not advocated. If someone is offended by destruction of a bible, tough shit.

User, you’re a jackass.

but it is equally offensive to those that hear it

Neither you nor anyone else has a right not to be offended. On the other hand, we all have a right to say things that others might find offensive.

but it is equally offensive to those that hear it