# Don't be an atheist in Fort Wayne. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 5, 2015, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-be-an-atheist-in-fort-wayne/727069 "2015-08-05T15:09:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2015, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-be-an-atheist-in-fort-wayne/727069/21 "2015-08-05T21:12:02Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > This is just another way in which Christians are persecuted. Why shouldn’t a 7 year old child be punished for questioning the existence of God? What’s next, evolution? Sex Ed? This is a Christian, God fearing country, just like it says in the Constitution. That’s what Freedom of Religion is all about, the freedom to believe to believe in God instead of being forced to be atheist like those godless communists at the ACLU. They should have nailed that kid to a cross, that would make a Christian out of him. Poe’s law. I’m pretty sure you’re being sarcastic, but if this was any other board… all bets are off. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2015, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-be-an-atheist-in-fort-wayne/727069/22 "2015-08-05T21:26:03Z")
Speaking as a Catholic… My son, now 11, has gone to school with kids from many religions and no religion. That’s life in the modern, diverse world. He figured out by the time he was in first grade that not everybody is Catholic. He’s had Iranian Muslim friends, Indian Hindu friends, fundamentalist Protestant friends, Vietnamese Buddhist friends (as well as Vietnamese Catholics who mix in some Buddhism), even (yes, horrors!) kids whose parents are resolutely non-religious. Now, that’s never made him cry. He’s rather matter of fact about it. AT the Sunday catechism class I teach, he brought up the point “Some people don’t believe in God.” I just nodded, and said “That’s true. There are a lot of people in this world who don’t think God is real, and there are people who think there are many gods. There are people like us who believe Jesus was God, but there are other people who think he was just a good man but not God.” And then I got on with my lesson. Knowing kids from a lot of other backgrounds has affected his thinking at different times. A few years ago, hanging with his Indian friend Nikhil got him believing in reincarnation. I told him that’s not what our Church believes, but I didn’t drum him out of the family! He’s way too young to understand fully what I try to teach him anyway! And at SOME point, he’ll decide for himself what he believes, and it will be out of my hands anyway. A teacher of 7 year olds isn’t supposed to be a theologian. She’s supposed to teach kids reading and finger painting, and keep order. If she saw a kid crying because he just found out a classmate doesn’t go to church, it’s FINE to be sympathetic, but she should have just told him, “Well, our school and our world have a lot of different kinds of people who believe a lot of different things. We don’t all think the same way and we don’t all believe the same things. But I think we all try to be good, and we all try to get along with each other. Billy was your friend yesterday- you think you can still be friends today?” It shouldn’t be that hard. Certainly not hard enough to require lawsuits or the AC freaking LU. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2015, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-be-an-atheist-in-fort-wayne/727069/23 "2015-08-05T22:03:21Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > Say what you want about the tenets of Christianity, at least it’s an ethos. A nine year old nihilist sounds kind of adorable. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2015, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-be-an-atheist-in-fort-wayne/727069/24 "2015-08-05T22:09:07Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > A teacher of 7 year olds isn’t supposed to be a theologian. She’s supposed to teach kids reading and finger painting, and keep order. If she saw a kid crying because he just found out a classmate doesn’t go to church, it’s FINE to be sympathetic, but she should have just told him, “Well, our school and our world have a lot of different kinds of people who believe a lot of different things. We don’t all think the same way and we don’t all believe the same things. But I think we all try to be good, and we all try to get along with each other. Billy was your friend yesterday- you think you can still be friends today?” > > It shouldn’t be that hard. Certainly not hard enough to require lawsuits or the AC freaking LU. I thought the point was the the kid who WAS an atheist was targeted by the teacher for ostracizing and punished for his lack of religious belief, not that the kid he talked to was traumatized over it. Yes this is enough for a lawsuit and the A-C- fucking L-U. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2015, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-be-an-atheist-in-fort-wayne/727069/25 "2015-08-05T22:11:16Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > A nine year old nihilist sounds kind of adorable. 1. Atheism isn’t nihilism. 2. He was seven, not nine. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2015, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-be-an-atheist-in-fort-wayne/727069/26 "2015-08-05T22:14:53Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > 1. Atheism isn’t nihilism. > 2. He was seven, not nine. Fuck it, lets go bowling. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2015, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-be-an-atheist-in-fort-wayne/727069/27 "2015-08-05T22:51:39Z")
Growing up a believer in Ft. Wayne I never saw anything like this while I was there, but then again I went to private schools the whole way through, so we didn’t have many. But we were Lutheran and we had non-lutherans in the school and they never got any flak ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2015, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-be-an-atheist-in-fort-wayne/727069/28 "2015-08-05T22:55:05Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > Fuck it, lets go bowling. You can join my group, Bowling with the Heathens. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2015, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-be-an-atheist-in-fort-wayne/727069/29 "2015-08-05T22:59:55Z")
I’m guessing the spirit **Simplico** ’s channeling is shomer Shabbos. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2015, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-be-an-atheist-in-fort-wayne/727069/30 "2015-08-05T23:15:26Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > A nine year old nihilist sounds kind of adorable. Well, until he drops a ferret in your bath and threatens to cut off your “johnson”. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2015, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-be-an-atheist-in-fort-wayne/727069/31 "2015-08-05T23:17:28Z")
What do you need that for, dude? ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2015, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-be-an-atheist-in-fort-wayne/727069/32 "2015-08-05T23:24:36Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > But we were Lutheran and we had non-lutherans in the school and they never got any flak Lutherans know how to stay the hell out of other people’s business. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2015, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-be-an-atheist-in-fort-wayne/727069/33 "2015-08-05T23:38:37Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I thought the point was the the kid who WAS an atheist was targeted by the teacher for ostracizing and punished for his lack of religious belief, not that the kid he talked to was traumatized over it. Yes this is enough for a lawsuit and the A-C- fucking L-U. I believe **astorian** ’s point is that the reported behavior of the teacher is really stupid and inappropriate, and that the teacher _should have_ acted as follows: > [@astorian](#): > > A teacher of 7 year olds isn’t supposed to be a theologian. She’s supposed to teach kids reading and finger painting, and keep order. If she saw a kid crying because he just found out a classmate doesn’t go to church, it’s FINE to be sympathetic, but she should have just told him, “Well, our school and our world have a lot of different kinds of people who believe a lot of different things. We don’t all think the same way and we don’t all believe the same things. But I think we all try to be good, and we all try to get along with each other. Billy was your friend yesterday- you think you can still be friends today?” > > It shouldn’t be that hard. Certainly not hard enough to require lawsuits or the AC freaking LU. (With all of us assuming for the purposes of discussion that these reports are substantially accurate and that the atheist kid isn’t some little budding Joe Stalin or Damien the Antichrist who’s been going around threatening to light his little Bible-believing classmates on fire or some crazy thing. Personally, my money would definitely be on the “teacher and school administration are in fact acting like self-righteous jerks” but I could certainly be wrong.) ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2015, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-be-an-atheist-in-fort-wayne/727069/34 "2015-08-05T23:51:19Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Now, with the help of the ACLU, they are suing. This is what happens when you fuck a stranger in the ass! ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-be-an-atheist-in-fort-wayne/727069/35 "2015-08-06T00:05:01Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > :dubious: Amen = so be it. :dubious: K? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-be-an-atheist-in-fort-wayne/727069/36 "2015-08-06T00:08:48Z")
I send money every year to help support the ACLU and NORML. It pains me to do it; it could go elsewhere, but fuck if we can’t grow up. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-be-an-atheist-in-fort-wayne/727069/37 "2015-08-06T01:09:15Z")
I know it will be sealed but I would LOVE to read the transcript or see the video from this trial. There has got to be some really interesting things that are going to come out from both sides before its all said and done with. ---
**Author:** ![svd678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@svd678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/svd678)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-be-an-atheist-in-fort-wayne/727069/38 "2015-08-06T04:11:06Z")
As a believer I can’t understand someone who thinks this is the way to win people for the church. (consider the posts above as evidence) Satan’s best helpers are stupid Christians! ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-be-an-atheist-in-fort-wayne/727069/39 "2015-08-06T05:09:37Z")
It’s funny how UnChristian many “Christians” act when their beliefs are questioned or challenged in any way. I was once having a somewhat light-hearted debate with a Christian that he started and when I brought up that I was an atheist it quickly devolved into a physical confrontation and the guy pushed/hit me in the chest and tried to start a fist fight, I however just stood my ground and turned the other cheek so to speak and did not strike back and he regained his composure and apologized. I’m not even militant or antisocial about my lack of beliefs like some atheists are I have a live and let-live attitude about the whole thing. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-be-an-atheist-in-fort-wayne/727069/40 "2015-08-06T08:05:39Z")
> [@svd678](#): > > As a believer I can’t understand someone who thinks this is the way to win people for the church. You think the problem here is that the teacher did a poor job of proselytizing? A teacher in a public school should not try to “win” students for the church. That is forbidden by the first amendment, and is especially obnoxious when directed at young children. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-be-an-atheist-in-fort-wayne/727069.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-be-an-atheist-in-fort-wayne/727069.md?page=3)