Tear Down that Poster- It has Christianity on It

Today Mr. Liberal Teacher came into my classroom again. He looked around and then said to me, "Something bothered me from talking to you yesterday, and I didn't want to go another day without talking about it."

My eyes brightened. Perhaps he had come in to apologize for his 'there is no debate and no games to play- it is my way or you shall be destroyed' position he took yesterday. But I was not that lucky.

"I noticed that you have a poster up at the back of your room," he said and waved to a poster that I had recently put up. I've taught World History for several years, but this year I decided to put up more material related to this class, and had hung up a long poster in the back of the room. It was about eye-height, 10 ft long, 2 feet high, and had on it a tree with various branches on it that represented the history of time from the beginning to today and was filled in with various details from the history of the world.

"You need to take that poster down," he said. "It has religious themes on it, and religion is not allowed in schools. Being a government teacher, you should know that the first amendment forbids anything religious from being in schools."

I was shocked, and looked at the poster in question. Along with branches and strands describing the history of technology, the rise and fall of empires, and the lives of important people, there was a small section at the top of the poster that traced the lives of early biblical persons. Many students were fascinated by looking at where in the history of the world the early biblical persons may have fallen. This portion of the poster was short- a foot or so in length- and small- 4 inches at the top- and was separated from the history portion by a thick line. I didn't understand how this could be offensive.

"It has Biblical history on it," Mr. Liberal Teacher he explained, "And the courts have been clear that the Bible has no place in the education of our youth today, and that Christianity and its ideas should not be found in schools."

Stunned, I thought about arguing with him- but in a way, he is correct- our government and courts are increasingly openly hostile to Christianity, preferring to favor the religion of the Green God or the worship of celebrities. Probably I could keep the poster up and win a lawsuit, but I'd have to pay for that lawsuit from my own pocket, deal with it, have to fend off the publicity, and may not be employed any more with the various government agencies I deal with. He might have been wrong, but he was right about Christianity being driven from our schools.

In the end, I took the poster down- in a society increasingly based on connections and vicious attacks, for now it was easier for me to back down and take the poster down rather than fight to keep it up. I'm going to make biblical history a handout instead, and put it in terms of exploring history, and instead of just seeing the poster, I will now teach what was on it directly to the students. I guess Mr. Liberal Teacher won this round, but I hope to still win the war.