Teacher says Jesus better than Santa Claus
Some parents at the Irasburg Village School in Irasburg, Vermont, are a bit irate at language arts teacher Wally Rogers for crossing the “separation of church and state” line. Rogers has the Ten Commandments hanging on his classroom wall, as well as religious texts lining his bookshelves. The final straw was when he gave the kids a handout titled, “Why Jesus is Better than Santa Claus”. Huh, we didn’t know people actually printed and kept all that kind of crap we get in our email inbox. And besides, I thought the debate of Jesus vs. Santa was already decided.
Downs said he doesn’t want other people teaching his kids religious beliefs contrary to his own.
The school’s principal, Paul Simmons, said the Ten Commandments poster and questionable books were removed from the classroom. He also said he’s observed Roger’s class several times and never heard him speak about religious material.
The school board is currently investigating religious links on Roger’s Web page on the school Web site. They also issued a reminder to all teachers that religious beliefs should not be shared in the classroom.
Information from: http://www.my58.com/education/15139465/d...
- The Parental is Political: Why I'm tired of the GOP
- Growing Pains: The Ides and Crooked Teeth of March
- The Parental is Political: Coffee or Tea, Which One is for Me?
- Mominatrix: The Mominatrix reviews the OhMiBod Freestyle
- Rugrat Reprieve: A Supposedly Slim Person I'll Never Be Again
1. Anonymous
January 27, 2008 @ 9:23 pm
The news story says it was not a handout. It was simply a paper on the teacher’s desk that a student found and asked for a copy. And the debate has already been decided. Jesus is real; Santa is not.
2. admin
January 27, 2008 @ 9:36 pm
Which “news story” are you referring to? The one linked uses the word “handout” a number of times and says the teacher “gave [it] out”. Source, please?
And the debate has been decided by whom?
3. Anonymous
January 28, 2008 @ 8:16 am
http://www.bartonchronicle.com/html/irasburg_teacher_under_fire.HTM
http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080124/NEWS01/801240356/1002/NEWS01
Here are 2 links. This occuring in my home county, I have been following the story since it began. The first link is the original story. The term “handout” was coined by Downs.
4. Anonymous
January 28, 2008 @ 8:19 am
And since you asked who the debate had been decided by, I’m assuming you either don’t believe Biblical and historical archeological evidence that Jesus existed or you believe Santa is real.
5. Anonymous
January 28, 2008 @ 7:51 pm
Sure… It’s okay to take sides with Santa (or with letters re-arranged… Satan) and teach our kids that Santa is real, but the minute God is even meantioned in the classroom, people go crazy!! Students should have the right to ask questions about life and be able to make their own decitions about what they believe. It is UNETHICAL to teach evolution and only evolution to our kids. If they are interested in hearing about God then they should be able to hear about Him!
6. Dream walkn
January 28, 2008 @ 8:24 pm
Actually, there is no archaeological evidence that Jesus lived. If you think this is so please cite your sources. If you look at the four main accurate historians who lived in the the time that Jesus supposedly lived, not one of them make any mention of anyone even remotely similar to Jesus. There is mounting evidence that the entire Christian religion is actually a re-writing and consolidation of stories from Egyptian history, introduced in Rome to use the religion to control the masses, something that has been happening to this day…
I happened to catch a special on National Geographic that outlines what I have read in other places on this very topic.
Let’s stop the Bible thumping and show real evidence and not just hearsay…
7. mad
January 29, 2008 @ 3:05 pm
Santa has left me presents under the Christmas tree.I know because they said “From : Santa”.Also,the milk and cookies I left for him were all gone.But I have yet to hear from this Jesus you speak so highly of.
8. Sherri
March 4, 2008 @ 12:02 am
Dream walkn, someday you will meet your maker. What goes around comes around.
9. bob
August 6, 2008 @ 12:22 pm
I think the first comment is fuuny becaue there is no evidence that jesus was real no hard evidence at least…he may have existed but thats like me writing down soemthing totally made up in a book that i say to be real and hundreds of years later someone goes and believes that what i say is true and that im great and should be worshiped…thats what i say about jesus if he existed ” he was just a regular guy who di dsomething that got stretched and made into something big
I was once a student of wally rogers and i didnt like him one bit its just the fact that he was always preaching to everyone and he in fact did have religious books all over the room…apart from all that the guy was just weird…he acted in ways in which many people in our class didnt like that i will not mention in risk of getting him in further trouble…im not a rat….plus the guy just plain hated the group of guys in our class….anyway he was weird and i wouldnt be suprised if there was alot more than just what this story is saying
i posted this way late but i just felt like reading it again after seeing it in the newspaper so long ago….
10. bill
February 17, 2009 @ 2:34 pm
The REAL meaning of Christmas is… presents. South Park told me so.
The separation of church and state is easy enough to evaluate if you simply remove all references to Jesus and Christianity from this story and replace them with Satan and Satanism, or Mohammed and Islam, or Moses and Judaism, or any other religion you might strongly disagree with (I only include Satanism because of it’s nigh unto guaranteed controversy). A teacher could hold any of these religious beliefs and shouldn’t be denied a job to teach because of them.
11. Liz
May 21, 2009 @ 11:49 am
Anyone can find archaeological evidence of Jesus existance, Its on the web for you to read just do a search, Jesus archaeological evidence. That being said teachers are supposed to follow a curriculum; and if she or he wants to teach religion there’s sunday school or private religious schools.
12. Liz
May 21, 2009 @ 11:55 am
Dear Mad, Jesus gave the ulimate gift to you, his life.
13. CTRYDER
September 23, 2009 @ 8:01 pm
To all who need proof that Christ is real:
1) How the earth is made: Gravity Sun the correct position from Earth Water stays in place Sun rises and sets
2) Your DNA
3) Your body and how it works
4) Your brain and how you reason
5) Animals; male and female where did they get the intelligence to survive?
These are proof that someone had to make this happen..there had to be a Superior Being. Can you prove different? The big band therory: who made that happen? Who had all the stars and planets there to begin with?
6) Who is the inner voice that talks to you all the time if you are deciding what to do? The big bang guy?
Think about it. I know it makes one big to say that Christ did not exist, but can you prove he didn’t?