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I think that he complied with everything the administrators asked and a Bible on his desk isn't really that big of deal. If he had refused with the other things, then I would say that the Bible would also have to go. But to actually give him issues about the single Bible on his desk? Very....iffy at best.

I think he had the right to it in my opinion. What bolsters his side of things more is the fact that he did remove everything else.

What about the bit about using an electrical demonstration to leave cross-shaped marks on students, and injecting creationism into science lessons? Those go well beyond "iffy" I should think.

we've practically removed God from every facet of public life - He has been uninvited in the workplace , in schools, in sports and more importantly He's uninvited into our hearts - the day will come when God might take up the USA on its offer -if so, it will be the beginning of the end of this once great country. if this teacher were muslim i'm fairly certain the school system would fall all over themselves trying to accommodate him.

here is a really neat video - have sound on.
http://www.mychurch.org/blog/30635/coolest-video-ever

Would we ask a Muslim to remove her hijab or a Jew to remove his Yamaki? I don't think so.... So why should we Christians remove our Bibles!!! As said so many times, this country was founded on "One Country Under God".... we need to put Him back into our schools, our government AND our lives!!! These other religions are visitors and new citizens to this country. They have the right to practice their religion in this country. They do NOT have the right to remove our religious rights!!!

L, I would agree that the teacher should have been allowed to keep his personal Bible on his desk. But a lot of the other stuff that he did was not acceptable from a job performance perspective.

And by the way -- Christianity is also a "visitor" to this continent, if you take a long enough view of history, like 500 years.

And please. The "one nation under God" thing is extremely lame, being only 50 years old. Take some time to learn real history, seriously.

Let the teacher keep the Bible on the desk. What harm is there in having a book there? As long as it it not something inappropriate for minors, then there is no problem.

There are also some good points noted by others in this blog. Thanks for noting points before me, that helps keep me on my toes!

Shalom

Is a Bible the same as, for instance, a cross pendant? I think not. It is quite closely allied to the various verses and the Decalogue this teacher finally agreed to remove.

If a Muslim teacher had a Qu'ran on his/her desk, you'd bet there'd be a hue and cry! Again, that is qualitatively different from a head scarf. What one wears or glances at for visual comfort is several degrees different than a book. A book, to be particularly effective, must be opened, read and, I suspect in this case, "witnessed" about.

Thus, the presence of this one copy of Bible seems as much there for the teacher's not-to-disguised hopes to draw students into conversation and potential conversion, a direct violation of the separation principle, as for his personal identity...and why should a teacher be at liberty to make his students constantly aware of his/her religious affiliation? Maybe the aforementioned cross pendant is also too much advertising, after all. Head scarves, at least, do not stand for a central part of the Muslim belief in one God or the significance of Mohammed, as the cross stands for Christ's suffering crucifixion and intimates subsequent resurrection. A yarmulke, on the other hand, does signify a constant reminder of YHWH.

Finally, as for the "disinvitation": an omnipotent, omnipresent deity, I should think, is never absent. As long as there are math tests, there will be prayers. (credit to Susan Jacoby)

P.S. It is "yarmulke", by the way. But then again, many I know spell that penultimate religious moment "crucifiction".

Recall the polls showing the Bible as #1 seller on booklists, and the discussion of whether simply owning one is any indication of effective faith: If that teacher is wanting to keep his Bible on his desk merely as a paperweight he identifies with, then isn't he being as dull and empty as those you were dissecting there? Isn't the whole point to have the book open and read from it? Why else is that teacher saying he needs to have it out on his desk (not just handily in a drawer where he could get it when he wished to read on his breaks)? By being in his desk, out of sight temporarily, is he afraid he'd lose his bearings or his very soul, his identity? O, he of little faith (or much hypocrisy)!!

Enough of this lame debate! Any Christain school worth the name and time must be a fully Christian and biblical one. The government schools have become a huge humanist cesspool of immorality, neo-marxism and anti-Christian bias. It seems that every evening on the news some principal or teacher has had an illicit relationship with a student, or been impregnated by one. Or a race riot has erupted. Or a new queer student organization has been allowed. Or some product of the schools has planned to blow one up.

HOW LAREGE DOES THE HANDWRITING ON THE WALL HAVE TO BE!

Let the sinking ship sink, if it is determined to do so. According to Romans 1, whose who are determined to oppose God are left to their devices and ultimate reprobation.

Christians have better things to do than attempt to eek out a trifling concession from the Babylonish system - like home schooling, Christian schools, building a righteous and free civilization, evangelizing without a muzzle, electing Chrstian representatives (as close as possible, that is). Rather than a nuisance the schools are fast becoming our sworn enemy, and the enemy of our children.

Frankly, I think "public" education was a very bad idea from the gitgo. Now we can see why: public ultimately means godless, secular and anti-biblical. Without God, His holy Law, and the doctrines of Grace all institutions, including schools, sooner or later descend into the depths of corruption and stupidity. It looks like all we have to do is leave them to themselves and their end will come surely enough. I do admire those Christian teachers who have the chutspah to stay in the system and be salt and light - even though they are derided and insulted continually.

But I suppose the government will leech enough property taxes out of a gullible public to keep the failing system going a while longer. Maybe - when they finally see that they're thowing their hard earned dollars into a losing game the public will turn off the dollar fuaucet.

You see, learning is NOT just about billions of dollars and gleaming new plants and on-site police protection. It's about happy, loved young minds interacting with loving teachers in a peaceful, disciplined environment of divine Truth and scientific knowledge - i.e. the Presence of God.

I know - we did it in the relaxed environs of our home for 12 years. It was a supreme joy! and a VERY successful one at that. I also taught in the public schools - it was a nightmare then, and I know exactly why some many teachers are leaving it today.

There was a fine young colored couple from Sourth Africa in my church, who had come to the States to teach in the GCSs for a year. At the end of the year they were utterly exhausted, disilliusioned about taeching and chafing at the bit to go back home. Need I say more.

"The government schools have become a huge humanist cesspool of immorality, neo-marxism and anti-Christian bias."

So you have no quarrel with this teacher going to teach in a Christian school and using an electricity demonstration to mark some students' skin with crosses? This is an example of high morals? Just curious.

O PEEEZE, Namtac. How insipid! My entry was NOT about this paritcular guy or his MOs. It was philosophical in orientation. My point was very clear and simple. Christians should not expect to find a comfortable and teachable place in the atheistic government schools. They are too far gone, and need to be abandoned in favor of private efforts of all sorts - religious and secular. ANTYTHING but government run, socialistic failures.

I guess you humanists don't read the papers or see the evening news - Our schools are a royal mess! But nobody wants to admits that the "king" has no clothes. The longer we decive ourselves, the long our kids suffer.

That's O PLEEZE . . . Guess I've been around my grandkids too much lately. Actually not - I love every minute of it!

"Christians should not expect to find a comfortable and teachable place in the atheistic government schools."

Why shouldn't they? Is it really that hard for a True Christian to agree to teach the material he is hired to teach? In my experience, I have known some very devout believers who taught in high school and college, and they simply taught the scientific method and the math that is needed to analyze the evidence provided from observations. They saw no need to overlay their lessons with any religious views. They didn't appear to have any discomfort with doing this. I can't see why it should have become so difficult over the intervening decades.

"Why shouldn't they? Is it really that hard for a True Christian to agree to teach the material he is hired to teach?"

Yes. It is indeed "that hard." Math and the sciences are not so difficult, as one is dealing with objective facticity. I mean, 2 + 2 = 4 is fairly clear-cut. But the humanities are another story altogether. Sociology, for example, is rife with moral and ethical issues of how people live together: socially, sexually and ideologically. It is virtually impossible for a committed biblical Christian, in good conscience, to mouth the humanistic views that permeate our text books nowadays.

Actually every field of knowledge is directly linked to God and HIs Word; even science and math. Sometimes it is more direct, and sometimes more contextual. But since God is the Creator and Sustainer of all things His fingerprints are all over the universe. Mathmatics expresses His logic and order. Science reveals the intricacy of His creative genius. Man reveals the Imago Dei and the wonders of spirituality. To teach in any other context only leads to ignorance, stupidity and meaninglessness.

However, the entire contemporary educational system is grounded in non-biblical humanism, and the teacher is virtually REQUIRED to tow the line - or at least to NOT teach biblical truth and morality. It was MORE possible when I was in public school, but not today. Christianity is shut down and shut out. Only the religion of Humanism is allowed to be taught and promulgated. All rivals are systematically repressed - no Bibles around, no Ten Commandments on the walls, no talking about the Gospel or other distinctly Christian ideas and truths.

But PC ideology is openly and systematically propagated in the class room. What is CALLED neutrality is very simply a cloak for indoctrination of young minds with humanistic dogmas, such as feminism, free sex (pre- extra - gay - whatever.) anti-Americanism, socialistic views of economics and social action, etc. The myth of neutrality is just that - an urban legend.

No Namtac, the public school is NOT a friendly place for a "True Christian." It is nothing less than enemy territory, and dangerous territory at that.

So now anyone who isn't taught straight from Nikos' brand of Christian home-schooling or parochial school, is absolutely doomed to "ignorance, stupidity and meaninglessness."

That takes the cake.