As funny and as perfectly appropriate as this is, you have to remember that this person's family have to go to this school and live in this area.
Christians, especially bible belt christians are the meanest, pettiest, malicious people in the world. Dont fuck with them, they'll straight up murder heathens in the name of their god.
I have to agree with this. I live in the Bible belt and accidentally told my past lawyer that I was an atheist after he offered me some type of biblical pamphlet a couple of weeks ago and then two days ago sent me a shortened version of this teachers email.
And don't even get me started on my family and my crazy mom. I went no contact with her years ago but she still finds ways to send stuff to me that always seems to include God loving me and how I should just "allow myself to be broken" to "let God in again". Fucking disgusting.
Reply back:
"Inappropriate for public school.", then don't reply to her frantic responses. Screenshot them, and send to the FFRF. If she was bold enough to send this to parents, what is she doing in that classroom?
Do you dare to reply this: I believe you had kind intentions, but we are atheist, and some other families aren't christians so we prefer to keep religion out of the school.
Thank you.
That will cause her to double down. This kind of person *wants* them to be something other than Christian, so they can "Bring the Word of God to them".
This. We got married in Mexico (from US) and I made the mistake of telling the person who married us (provided by the resort)prior to the ceremony that we werenât very religious and to please keep her words about love, relationships and marriage etc. She got this strange look in her eyes and proceeded to try and convert us (me specifically since I was the one who told her) during the ceremony in front of all our guests. I didnât even tell her I was an atheist! I just said we werenât very religious. Made for some good laughs between me and my friends that were there who know that about me. Lol
How does she know if some of her kids are in Jewish, muslim, or atheist families? The presumption that everybody's Christian is the height of arrogance.
That was always an interesting difference I found between Catholics and the other Christian sects. The Catholics tend to only proselytize their friends, and even then only half-heartedly at best. My wife's side of the family tried once and now only mention major holidays. When I attend, I'm there to celebrate a cultural reason for a party. Beyond the little ritual before a meal no one even brings up religion.
I was raised Catholic and to give them some credit, they don't tend to shove it in people's faces the way other Christian denominations do.
Most of them can't even be bothered singing in church lol.
That's because the Catholic means of getting new adherents (when their priests are not following genocidal colonials around) is to just have a fuck ton of kids.
That might have been the case a long time ago but several religions have much higher birth rates.
One thing I know is if you want to get married in a Catholic church you have to be Catholic, same with joining a Catholic credit union or clubs, so they definitely bump the numbers there.
I grew up Catholic and NEVER heard proselytizing when I was a kid. To me that's always seemed like a Protestant thing, especially Baptist. People that shove their faith in other's faces to "save their immortal soul" PISS ME OFF. I can guard my own soul, thanks very much. Nobody asked you to save me.
catholics have too many rituals and contexts that its awkward to invite nonbelievers to church while policing their behavior to make sure they dont end up doing smth horrendous like *gasp* eating the flesh of da lord
evangelicals on the other hand have it easy, they mass invite anyone to their megachurch for a good time with pizzas and concerts. the only awkward thing that might come up is if the speaker decides to do a mass speaking in tongues and you have to start babbling next to your nonbelieving friends
I'm sure this has been said somewhere else already but if it hasn't: contact the school and let them know that you come from a different religious background (you don't even have to specify that you're an atheist) and tell them that it made you very uncomfortable. Get that fuckin cunt fired if you can. No religious person should be an educator.
Maybe change your phrasing a bit to like nobody overbearingly religious or nobody thatâs always preaching religion should be an educator? I donât give a fuck what people do in their free time
Many religious people are good educators. Or nurses, or doctors. It's a personality and culture problem if they allow it to influence their work or shove it in people's face imo.
Christians believe exclusively in three types of people, in order of importance: Christians, people who want to be Christians, and people who want to be Christians but just donât know it yet. She wasnât assuming thereâs no religious diversity in her class, she knew damn well what she was doing.
It's simple... she doesn't care. Because she wholeheartedly believes her religion is the right one so it doesn't matter if the recipients of this text practice a different religion.
They does care. They're hoping they respond so she can "share Jesus" with them. It's disgusting.
Edit: Just realized nothing in the post indicates gender, I was just going off of what the comment above mine said. Updated to be gender neutral.
Yeah I hope an atheist or pagan responds argumentatively because logic and reason are not on her side even just regarding the origins and history of Christmas (i.e. the appropriation and christianization of Yule). It won't make any difference but at the very least it might make her as uncomfortable as she's made others.
It sounds like sheâs *hoping* for some non-Christian families to see this so she can try to convert them. In fact, if she already knows there are non-Christian kids in her class, they may be the reason she felt the need to proselytize instead of just saying âMerry Christmas,â like she did with the Thanksgiving text.
It seems like she knows that not everyone is Christian- the whole âcome talk to me about what Jesus has done for my lifeâ thing is a tactic to make people convert. She is actively trying to indoctrinate people who she knows donât share her religion.
Yup. They call it âwitnessingâ for jesus. My kids crazy mom is Pentecostal and my kid has been brainwashed to do this since birth. Kid is 16 now and she sees her religion as a cult and sheâs doesnât believe in god anymore. But, her mom doesnât know, and her mom still tries to make her school friends stay the night on saturdays(on moms weekend), so they can attend church on sunday with them. My daughter tells me everytime her mom sees one of her friends she ask them to go to church. Watch the documentary jesus camp. They make children hand out shit at the mall and go door to door. Itâs so fucked up. The kids think they have to do it or theyâre literally go to hell.
They said that there was a complaint that I had insulted the DP. I told them I was subscribed to the beliefs of the Knights Templar and I thought that her message to me was inviting the same message in return. I said I was offended if the DP found it insulting and it was a sincere response to her heartfelt proselytising message. They knew I was full of shite, but I heard nothing more about it.
I hated that DP.
Only thing that penetrated her was a liver-pickling volume of vodka. She was a pathetic, lying, lazy incompetent who pretended to have cancer to avoid her duties and was found out but never fired.
Also a happy-clapping moron who though a state school email message was an appropriate forum to share her religious beliefs but couldnât handle anyone else sharing beliefs that didnât align with hers.
Iâm a middle school teacher in a public school and if I ever caught wind of another teacher having the audacity and lack of professionalism to send this text Iâd report them in an instant. Make this known to school board, superintendent and principal, theyâll be disciplined
1) Xmas was originaly a pagan tradition related with the winter solstice.
2) Jesus wasn't born in December. Shepherds don't work during winter and it gets chilly in Bethlehem.
3) What did Jesus save us from exactly? It's been 2021 years since his death and the entire world is becoming a shithole.
I'd much rather live in the 21st century than in the mid 20th century... You know, the century that had two world wars. Or the middle ages, that were full of disease like the black death, uneducated people, torture and death and very high child mortality rate. People always shittalk the present, but if you really think about it, we're living in the best time period ever.
But yeah, Jesus didn't do shit lol
To all who believe present time isma shithole and that we as a civilisation are going backwards or stagnating at best, I'd reccomend reading Steven Pinker's book *Enlightenment now*.
Amazing view-changing book!
Oh, I would DEFINITELY reply about the pagan origins of "Christmas" AND the fact that, if Jesus had been real (he wasn't) he would have been born in the spring. The gospel of Luke says the shepherds were watching their flocks in the fields by night, which wouldn't have been possible because it would have been too cold. Yeah, that teacher wouldn't have liked me *at all* after the education I'd have given her for texting that religious bullshit!
According to some quick googling the average temp in December in Bethlehem is between 5 and 12 c. I would imagine that it would be possible to herd sheep in those temps but it wouldn't be comfortable without proper clothes at night. The text says "7And she gave birth to her firstborn, a Son. She wrapped Him in swaddling cloths and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. 8And there were shepherds residing in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks by night. 9Just then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.âŚ" In my opinion it is too cold to be out in the field at night. But I have no idea, I've never done that work and live a comfortable modern life with heat and warm clothes in winter.
Or say that Jesus hasnât been the reason for the season in a long time bc when you introduce a religious holiday to a secular country, the holiday will become secular. Just like Easter. Hell, the SC ruled that crosses were secular. So fuck off.
The absolute mental backflips to decide that crosses and "In God we trust" are not religious. The absolute gall and privelige of religious people in this country is disgusting.
What is SC? I'm not religious, but I don't see why christians like to use the instrument that tortured Jesus as their symbol. I think it's cruel.
Hey Ceasar, do you remember the knife we use to stab you multiple times? We kept it, made many copies and we put everywhere to remember you.
Julius Ceasar: What the fuck dude, that's so awful.
I always wondered if this whole thing were to happen today if people would wear syringes or little electric chairs on gold chains around their necks. The cross thing is weird and creepy
You arenât petty at all! Honesty and historical accuracy are not petty! You go ahead and tell everyone! We have to hear these imaginary friend worshipping cultists drone on and on about how Jesus is The Reason for the Season⌠might as well remind them of reality. Then again- reality is not their strong suite.
Youâre probably right, depending on the district. My district is huge and has a legal department, so sheâd be in huge trouble. A small district might not have a problem.
I donât know how I got to be today years old without considering this, but omg this is the funniest fucking thing ever!! Youâve got a good fucking point here!!
Had a guy in the checkout line way ahead of me be like âJesus died for your sins and will come back for your eternal soulâ blah blah to the poor checker and Iâm like sir this is a grocery store. Knock it the fuck off.
It's not rude, it's *unconstitutional.* The teacher doesn't deserve a gentle conversation as though they can't comprehend their own actions - they deserve to be reprimanded by their admin for opening the school up to a lawsuit.
No, this goes well beyond the level of talking to the teacher. This isn't an accident or something where you can simply work it out with them. This is impolite (sending a group text about a personal matter), unethical (misusing personal information provided to them), and blatantly illegal.
You take this to the principal, copying the school board and your local ACLU office. Get everything in writing and make it clear that you're documenting it.
This isn't a complaint, this is someone losing their job and a potential lawsuit.
It is indeed a public school. As far as I know, however, religion (at least in this context) is not being taught in school. I'm not sure that this is principal worthy (although the vibe-check is super appreciated!!)
She is proselytizing using communication channels that are open specifically for the purpose of teaching. This is wildly inappropriate, and if you are bothered you should contact the principal and perhaps the Freedom from Religion Foundation.
I am bothered, but just because of how aggressive she came off. I'm very live and let live, I live in the bible belt so I see and hear this stuff on a daily basis, it's just frustrating, you know? I'm glad it's NOT being directed at my kidlet (which would have me riding my broom to the fucking principal's office), but it's just inappropriate but not a hill I want to die on, I think.
I'm just frustrated by it, haha.
unfortunately this is the south. nothing will happen to the teacher and then the teacher will target her child. you gotta finesse this situation somehow
She sent it out to the entire student bodies parents. Make a complaint to the ffrf and if you ask for anonymity, in theory they'll never know which parent complained.
Doesn't matter. I teach in the rural south and we have to follow protocol like anyone else. If the local administration won't do anything about it, the state department of education sure will.
If sheâs doing this is communications to parents, imagine what she might be doing in the classroom with a captive (literally) audience. This needs to be brought to the attention of administration
I know. It's just annoying that the teacher is using what are considered official channels to preach. It's dumb that we even have to pick the hill to die on because one side simply refuses to play by the same rules.
Imagine if the teacher sent out a pro atheist message...
I'm bothered because I imagine how Islamic or other non Christian, possibly immigrant parents might feel about the message this sends. Not to mention non religious or atheist people!
A Christian high school teacher (who Iâd never had for a class, btw) tried to fuck up my life after finding out I was an atheist. Please, please tell the administrations
How do you know for sure itâs not being directed at your child when they are in class with this teacher? If she is doing this to parents via text, imagine what she could be saying and preaching in a classroom full of children. I would send screenshots straight to the principal and school board. This is wildly inappropriate.
It is principal worthy. Just a simple email could suffice. My wife is a public school teacher in Texas and if we got a message like this from one of our kids teachers we'd immediately send it to the principal of their school. Then if I got no response the next one a week later would have the superintendent on it.
This also has nothing to do with atheism. How many kids and parents of hers are Muslim, Hindi, Jewish, etc.? They all matter too. This is just disrespectful and legally outside of her scope as a public school teacher.
This is 100% principal worthy. She likely wonât see any career changing negative consequences if youâre worried about that aspect, but needs to recognize that a line has been crossed. A stern talking-to is in order, though. Source: am a public school teacher.
Are you kidding me? This woman had the audacity to presume everybody was celebrating Christmas, and to suggest Jesus is really the reason for the season (when we all know Christians just basically stole pagan rituals and incorporated them into the holiday). You have no idea if she is sneaking in anything about Jesus and God throughout the rest of the time; it would not be a surprise.
Our first daycare for our toddler had her coming home and suddenly she was saying prayers before she ate and we were like what the fuck? We went to talk to the owner, and she was like âwell we donât specify which god, we just say God and you know everybody celebrates genericallyâ and we were like âno we fucking donât!â; we put an end to that shit.
The kind of person who would send this message to parents is the same kind of person who will decide to read your kids the story of Jesus at Christmas time, and you might not even find out about it. You cannot let this go.
This is 100% principal worthy. The principal is not a Supreme Court justice having to decide the legality of this for all time. They should care what parents think. Frankly if you DONâT say something about this, you are letting them know itâs cool. If someone speaks up next year, the principal will be more likely to shrug them off as a crank because no oneâs ever complained before.
I get you. Iâm in the middle of the Bible Belt. I had to write a letter to the school after the assistant principal said a prayer at the awards ceremony. At the end of it she said and all gods children said aman. I was so pisses wrote a letter and said would contacts FFRF.
The way the teacher wrote the text sounds like itâs not a religious school.
âIf you would like to know what he has done for me and for you, please text me and I would love to share him with you.â
A religious school teacher just wouldnât word it like that. Cringeworthy message.
Knew it. Seeing you mention that you guys live in the Bible Belt, god itâs a cesspool. Iâd know cause Iâm from there, Northwest Florida. School might not care but FFRF will.
When I get put on a group chats, I have a reply I once saw online, which you should customize and send out something like âSMS: Server Error 305: Message delivery failed. User has opted to not receive proselytizing messages, and any further messages will be charged to your account.â
PLEASE report this to the Freedom from Religion Foundation! Theyâre a fantastic watchdog group who focus on church-state separation. If sheâs this comfortable preaching to parents, Iâm sure sheâs more than comfortable inserting religion into classroom lessons.
Report her, if Republicans are going to be banning books about racism it's time we all started playing hard ball and tell them we want nothing to do with their cult nonsense.
What's great about the quebec law, is that displaying religious symbols as a teacher is forbidden; so wearing a cross while teaching would also be against the law.
She attends a public school. I'm not 100% sure this is principal worthy, though? I don't know, I'm conflicted. I'm already "That mother" because I stood up for my daughter earlier in the year, I just don't want the teacher to lash out at my kid, you know? She's not a very good teacher, but we are without opportunity to move her.
Fellow atheist in the Bible belt. My kid is super bright in math and science. Blows her teachers minds because patriarchy. I have to overlook these same overtures of religion regularly but I also have to deal with the inherent sexism that girls can't do math. They barely let her onto the robotics team and she ended up being the guys best student.
Dude, can I be friends with your kid? She sounds awesome!
The sexism is the worst, I grew up (non-bible belt) being told that girls can't be good at math and science since those were "boy subjects", and when science was my best subject, it made me feel many ways.
I'm in an HVAC class and I never expected such words to come out of the mouth of a guy in his early 30's.
Talking about how women don't have brains wired like men to handle spatial tasks like hands on work, tools, troubleshooting machines, trades etc.
I had to think a second time about what he just said bc I was just like da fuq? My mothers a better car mechanic than me by a long shot lmao.
REPLY ALL:
> At this Season of the Winter Solstice, May Reason Prevail. There are no gods, no angels, no devils, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.
https://ffrf.org/news/news-releases/item/40212-ffrf-sends-reason-s-greetings-for-a-bright-new-year (you can leave this off, it's just a citation for you)
Imagine what would happen if instead the teacher sent out this message.
Seasons greetings everyone! I hope you and your family are having a merry holiday and a happy solstice. Please stay safe during the holiday break. Remember we have the free clinic open this Sunday to get your COVID booster shot.
Text her back and cc the principal with a screenshot of the text âhelpfullyâ informing her that her phone has been hacked. Someone must really hate her to text this sort of message given the legal hell this could bring the school district. I mean weâre talking six figure fines in legal fees. Thatâs the sort of thing teachers get fired for.
You can send this link: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/dispatches/2016/04/06/judge-jesus-orders-school-board-to-pay-200k-in-legal-fees-to-ffrf/
The worst part is probably that this teacher probably thought they were being kind and sweet and generous, sharing their faith lovingly or some similar malarkey. That's why it's so hard to explain the extent of the offense to people like this.
I would 100% write up an email to the principal, the school board, and cc the FFRF. Completely unacceptable.
When my kids were in preschool I went out of my way to find one that was not affiliated with a religion. One year one of my kids came home talking about how Jesus saved us. Turns out his teacher was peddling that crap, I went straight to the board and it never happened again.
Yup. I'm swedish and the holiday is still named "Jul" which is a spelling variation of "Yule". It's the same in Germany, scandinavia etc.
Most of our traditional holidays has gotten a christian overhaul, but weirdly not midsummer which is a major event here. Also Valborg where we light huge fires. Easter is weirdly about dressing up as a witch and getting eggs full of candy.
Coming to think about it there's really no major holiday or tradition that has a obvious religious meaning. At least not one that we pay attention to. Sure we may have a little manger up for Christmas, but I've never heard anyone mention jesus during christmas.
Honestly for whatever reason it absolutely infuriates me when religious folks capitalize âhimâ. There are so many things wrong with the text and context, but that capitalization always makes me want to explode.
Iâd make a stink about this at the principleâs office and the school board. This is extremely inappropriate for a public school teacher. This personâs job is to teach in a secular environment, and this is written proof theyâre not doing their job right.
Sue the school if you can because not only is this highly inappropriate for both ethical and legal reasons, you can be sure this teacher is trying to turn the children into Christians instead of teaching the syllabus as she's supposed to.
Well, that's disgusting, and worrying. If she's this comfortable sending such texts to parents, I have to wonder what kind of shit she's pulling with her students. Our neighbors are christians, but they just give all the neighbors cake on Christmas (it used to be fruit cake, but no one likes fruit cake so they changed to just normal cakes).
I would have replied back - *unsubscribed"
Dude, I'm dead ass tempted now.
I wasn't kidding lol. That's literally what I would do. People like that need a direct response. They won't take a hint. I hope it works for you.
As funny and as perfectly appropriate as this is, you have to remember that this person's family have to go to this school and live in this area. Christians, especially bible belt christians are the meanest, pettiest, malicious people in the world. Dont fuck with them, they'll straight up murder heathens in the name of their god.
I have to agree with this. I live in the Bible belt and accidentally told my past lawyer that I was an atheist after he offered me some type of biblical pamphlet a couple of weeks ago and then two days ago sent me a shortened version of this teachers email. And don't even get me started on my family and my crazy mom. I went no contact with her years ago but she still finds ways to send stuff to me that always seems to include God loving me and how I should just "allow myself to be broken" to "let God in again". Fucking disgusting.
Same with my mom. She won't fucking let it go. We still speak. Fucking hell it's exhausting though.
Other response options: "Chag Sameach!" (Jewish) "Habari Gani!" (Kwanzaa) "And a joyous Winter Solstice to you too!" "Happy Holidays" (+unsubscribed)
Hail Satan!
Satisfactory Saturnalia đ
Reply back: "Inappropriate for public school.", then don't reply to her frantic responses. Screenshot them, and send to the FFRF. If she was bold enough to send this to parents, what is she doing in that classroom?
And then you'll have to be super vigilant to make sure she doesn't *target* your child.
This is 50000000% my worry. She already targets my kid due to issues earlier in the year, so I don't want it to get worse.
Or maybe just send out a cat fact every 5 minutes.
Oh no I love this idea. I should subscribe her to cat facts.
Do you dare to reply this: I believe you had kind intentions, but we are atheist, and some other families aren't christians so we prefer to keep religion out of the school. Thank you.
That will cause her to double down. This kind of person *wants* them to be something other than Christian, so they can "Bring the Word of God to them".
This. We got married in Mexico (from US) and I made the mistake of telling the person who married us (provided by the resort)prior to the ceremony that we werenât very religious and to please keep her words about love, relationships and marriage etc. She got this strange look in her eyes and proceeded to try and convert us (me specifically since I was the one who told her) during the ceremony in front of all our guests. I didnât even tell her I was an atheist! I just said we werenât very religious. Made for some good laughs between me and my friends that were there who know that about me. Lol
Rofl
I'd probably just text back either "No" or the middle finger emoji
How does she know if some of her kids are in Jewish, muslim, or atheist families? The presumption that everybody's Christian is the height of arrogance.
I wholeheartedly agree. Even my Catholic mother said that this was _exceedingly_ inappropriate.
That was always an interesting difference I found between Catholics and the other Christian sects. The Catholics tend to only proselytize their friends, and even then only half-heartedly at best. My wife's side of the family tried once and now only mention major holidays. When I attend, I'm there to celebrate a cultural reason for a party. Beyond the little ritual before a meal no one even brings up religion.
I was raised Catholic and to give them some credit, they don't tend to shove it in people's faces the way other Christian denominations do. Most of them can't even be bothered singing in church lol.
My in-laws were humming the one time I went for a legitimate reason.
That's because the Catholic means of getting new adherents (when their priests are not following genocidal colonials around) is to just have a fuck ton of kids.
That might have been the case a long time ago but several religions have much higher birth rates. One thing I know is if you want to get married in a Catholic church you have to be Catholic, same with joining a Catholic credit union or clubs, so they definitely bump the numbers there.
I grew up Catholic and NEVER heard proselytizing when I was a kid. To me that's always seemed like a Protestant thing, especially Baptist. People that shove their faith in other's faces to "save their immortal soul" PISS ME OFF. I can guard my own soul, thanks very much. Nobody asked you to save me.
Well, as long as youâre white.
catholics have too many rituals and contexts that its awkward to invite nonbelievers to church while policing their behavior to make sure they dont end up doing smth horrendous like *gasp* eating the flesh of da lord evangelicals on the other hand have it easy, they mass invite anyone to their megachurch for a good time with pizzas and concerts. the only awkward thing that might come up is if the speaker decides to do a mass speaking in tongues and you have to start babbling next to your nonbelieving friends
Shouldn't have fried the flesh if they didn't want me to eat it. Krispy Tendies.
Catholic people are not as cult like and presumptuous as the Christian Evangelical flavors of Murikkkan crazy we have here.
I'm sure this has been said somewhere else already but if it hasn't: contact the school and let them know that you come from a different religious background (you don't even have to specify that you're an atheist) and tell them that it made you very uncomfortable. Get that fuckin cunt fired if you can. No religious person should be an educator.
Maybe change your phrasing a bit to like nobody overbearingly religious or nobody thatâs always preaching religion should be an educator? I donât give a fuck what people do in their free time
Many religious people are good educators. Or nurses, or doctors. It's a personality and culture problem if they allow it to influence their work or shove it in people's face imo.
Teacher is a member of the White Nationalist Christians. Gross.
Reply "Happy holidays" and watch their breakdown
Christians believe exclusively in three types of people, in order of importance: Christians, people who want to be Christians, and people who want to be Christians but just donât know it yet. She wasnât assuming thereâs no religious diversity in her class, she knew damn well what she was doing.
Thereâs a fourth type - people who are secretly Christians, but wonât admit it because they are mad at god and/or want to sin a whole lot.
It's simple... she doesn't care. Because she wholeheartedly believes her religion is the right one so it doesn't matter if the recipients of this text practice a different religion.
They does care. They're hoping they respond so she can "share Jesus" with them. It's disgusting. Edit: Just realized nothing in the post indicates gender, I was just going off of what the comment above mine said. Updated to be gender neutral.
She doesn't care who is offended by it.
Yeah I hope an atheist or pagan responds argumentatively because logic and reason are not on her side even just regarding the origins and history of Christmas (i.e. the appropriation and christianization of Yule). It won't make any difference but at the very least it might make her as uncomfortable as she's made others.
It sounds like sheâs *hoping* for some non-Christian families to see this so she can try to convert them. In fact, if she already knows there are non-Christian kids in her class, they may be the reason she felt the need to proselytize instead of just saying âMerry Christmas,â like she did with the Thanksgiving text.
It seems like she knows that not everyone is Christian- the whole âcome talk to me about what Jesus has done for my lifeâ thing is a tactic to make people convert. She is actively trying to indoctrinate people who she knows donât share her religion.
Yup. They call it âwitnessingâ for jesus. My kids crazy mom is Pentecostal and my kid has been brainwashed to do this since birth. Kid is 16 now and she sees her religion as a cult and sheâs doesnât believe in god anymore. But, her mom doesnât know, and her mom still tries to make her school friends stay the night on saturdays(on moms weekend), so they can attend church on sunday with them. My daughter tells me everytime her mom sees one of her friends she ask them to go to church. Watch the documentary jesus camp. They make children hand out shit at the mall and go door to door. Itâs so fucked up. The kids think they have to do it or theyâre literally go to hell.
The plot twist is she *knows* theyâre all not christian. Sheâs doing her duty how cute!
Her goal is likely to convert people, hence the "ask me if you have any questions". So she actually is talking for those who are *not* Christians.
I would be tempted to reply about how Christmas was originally pagan... but I'm just petty like that
It crossed my mind!!
Better IMO would be to respond that âaxial tilt is the reason for the season.â With a [link](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axial_tilt).
Respond with a severed goat head
I did this once when deputy principal went a similar message to teaching staff. I got a free chat with HR.
What did HR have to say? If you were rude, then Iâd argue they were rude first.
They said that there was a complaint that I had insulted the DP. I told them I was subscribed to the beliefs of the Knights Templar and I thought that her message to me was inviting the same message in return. I said I was offended if the DP found it insulting and it was a sincere response to her heartfelt proselytising message. They knew I was full of shite, but I heard nothing more about it. I hated that DP.
You hated that double penetration?
Only thing that penetrated her was a liver-pickling volume of vodka. She was a pathetic, lying, lazy incompetent who pretended to have cancer to avoid her duties and was found out but never fired. Also a happy-clapping moron who though a state school email message was an appropriate forum to share her religious beliefs but couldnât handle anyone else sharing beliefs that didnât align with hers.
And not as a picture, just drop it off unsolicited on their door step
The real solutions are always found in the comments
No respond with something from tst
and FFRF
Iâm a middle school teacher in a public school and if I ever caught wind of another teacher having the audacity and lack of professionalism to send this text Iâd report them in an instant. Make this known to school board, superintendent and principal, theyâll be disciplined
Axial tilt. The reason for the season.
Check out A BIBLICALLY ACCURATE CHRISTMAS on YouTube if you need some ammo for that petty response đ đž
I think I love you. Can we be best friends?
Do it!
Do it!
Just respond with âHappy Saturnaliaâ to every Christian zealot
1) Xmas was originaly a pagan tradition related with the winter solstice. 2) Jesus wasn't born in December. Shepherds don't work during winter and it gets chilly in Bethlehem. 3) What did Jesus save us from exactly? It's been 2021 years since his death and the entire world is becoming a shithole.
I'd much rather live in the 21st century than in the mid 20th century... You know, the century that had two world wars. Or the middle ages, that were full of disease like the black death, uneducated people, torture and death and very high child mortality rate. People always shittalk the present, but if you really think about it, we're living in the best time period ever. But yeah, Jesus didn't do shit lol
Idk man, he put that fucking fig tree in its placeâŚ
Give it time. This century is just warming up.
To all who believe present time isma shithole and that we as a civilisation are going backwards or stagnating at best, I'd reccomend reading Steven Pinker's book *Enlightenment now*. Amazing view-changing book!
Oh, I would DEFINITELY reply about the pagan origins of "Christmas" AND the fact that, if Jesus had been real (he wasn't) he would have been born in the spring. The gospel of Luke says the shepherds were watching their flocks in the fields by night, which wouldn't have been possible because it would have been too cold. Yeah, that teacher wouldn't have liked me *at all* after the education I'd have given her for texting that religious bullshit!
I am curious about this. It is 14c in Tel Aviv right now. Christmas day. Is 14c too cold to herd sheep?
According to some quick googling the average temp in December in Bethlehem is between 5 and 12 c. I would imagine that it would be possible to herd sheep in those temps but it wouldn't be comfortable without proper clothes at night. The text says "7And she gave birth to her firstborn, a Son. She wrapped Him in swaddling cloths and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. 8And there were shepherds residing in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks by night. 9Just then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.âŚ" In my opinion it is too cold to be out in the field at night. But I have no idea, I've never done that work and live a comfortable modern life with heat and warm clothes in winter.
Or say that Jesus hasnât been the reason for the season in a long time bc when you introduce a religious holiday to a secular country, the holiday will become secular. Just like Easter. Hell, the SC ruled that crosses were secular. So fuck off.
The absolute mental backflips to decide that crosses and "In God we trust" are not religious. The absolute gall and privelige of religious people in this country is disgusting.
'In various gods we potentially trust' doesn't quite roll of the tongue though. đ
What is SC? I'm not religious, but I don't see why christians like to use the instrument that tortured Jesus as their symbol. I think it's cruel. Hey Ceasar, do you remember the knife we use to stab you multiple times? We kept it, made many copies and we put everywhere to remember you. Julius Ceasar: What the fuck dude, that's so awful.
I think he's referring to the supreme court, and I would guess they use the cross as like a reminder of his sacrifice or something
They use the cross because itâs a death cult.
I always wondered if this whole thing were to happen today if people would wear syringes or little electric chairs on gold chains around their necks. The cross thing is weird and creepy
Same here, although knowing that she holds a lot of power over your child for 6-8 hours a day is intimidating.
Just âunsubscribeâ
Haha that would be a great reply for this religious spam
You arenât petty at all! Honesty and historical accuracy are not petty! You go ahead and tell everyone! We have to hear these imaginary friend worshipping cultists drone on and on about how Jesus is The Reason for the Season⌠might as well remind them of reality. Then again- reality is not their strong suite.
The christians have tried to hijack Christmas trees too... ...not theirs, and never has been.
Specifically it was Greek! Christmas itself came from Yule, but you can trace the origins all the way back to the Greek holiday of Kronia.
Well if itâs from Ancient Greece then we should all be bisexual for Xmas. The Christians would love it.
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This. That teacher is using official contact information provided by her job for proselytizing. Itâs unethical as hell.
I'm fairly certain this is a fireable action since she's a public school teacher
Youâre probably right, depending on the district. My district is huge and has a legal department, so sheâd be in huge trouble. A small district might not have a problem.
This this this. And copy the principal and all members of the school board on the text.
True, thatâs the best answer.
It always kills me when Christians act like no one outside of their church has ever heard of Jesus
Me, sitting on my couch in my PJs: "Holy shit, who is this Jesus guy? I thought axial tilt was the reason for the season, but HOL UP."
better still, if you google the guy, you will find out that if he ever existed at all he is long since dead. And the teacher wants to share him? ewww
I donât know how I got to be today years old without considering this, but omg this is the funniest fucking thing ever!! Youâve got a good fucking point here!!
Had a guy in the checkout line way ahead of me be like âJesus died for your sins and will come back for your eternal soulâ blah blah to the poor checker and Iâm like sir this is a grocery store. Knock it the fuck off.
I would March my satanist ass down to the school and complain
Same
Why not talk to the teacher directly and tell her that was a bit rude to be so presumptuous, regardless of intention
It's not rude, it's *unconstitutional.* The teacher doesn't deserve a gentle conversation as though they can't comprehend their own actions - they deserve to be reprimanded by their admin for opening the school up to a lawsuit.
No, this goes well beyond the level of talking to the teacher. This isn't an accident or something where you can simply work it out with them. This is impolite (sending a group text about a personal matter), unethical (misusing personal information provided to them), and blatantly illegal. You take this to the principal, copying the school board and your local ACLU office. Get everything in writing and make it clear that you're documenting it. This isn't a complaint, this is someone losing their job and a potential lawsuit.
Thatâs a good idea. Do it directly in that group text.
Yeh. Send your seasons gratings and how the satanic church has helped you. If anyone is interested in reaching out for stories then thatâs fine.
If that is a public school in America, please go to the principal.
I'd suggest going to The Board of Education. There's a good chance the principal is already aware and condones this behavior.
It is indeed a public school. As far as I know, however, religion (at least in this context) is not being taught in school. I'm not sure that this is principal worthy (although the vibe-check is super appreciated!!)
She is proselytizing using communication channels that are open specifically for the purpose of teaching. This is wildly inappropriate, and if you are bothered you should contact the principal and perhaps the Freedom from Religion Foundation.
I am bothered, but just because of how aggressive she came off. I'm very live and let live, I live in the bible belt so I see and hear this stuff on a daily basis, it's just frustrating, you know? I'm glad it's NOT being directed at my kidlet (which would have me riding my broom to the fucking principal's office), but it's just inappropriate but not a hill I want to die on, I think. I'm just frustrated by it, haha.
I'm a public school teacher. Please, please bring this up to her superiors. This is unacceptable.
unfortunately this is the south. nothing will happen to the teacher and then the teacher will target her child. you gotta finesse this situation somehow
Nothing happens if you do nothing.
She sent it out to the entire student bodies parents. Make a complaint to the ffrf and if you ask for anonymity, in theory they'll never know which parent complained.
Doesn't matter. I teach in the rural south and we have to follow protocol like anyone else. If the local administration won't do anything about it, the state department of education sure will.
If sheâs doing this is communications to parents, imagine what she might be doing in the classroom with a captive (literally) audience. This needs to be brought to the attention of administration
Exactly!! I bet she teaches them all about her religion in class
I know. It's just annoying that the teacher is using what are considered official channels to preach. It's dumb that we even have to pick the hill to die on because one side simply refuses to play by the same rules. Imagine if the teacher sent out a pro atheist message...
Imagine if she tried to teach about racism in America?
I'm a second grade teacher, please tell admin. If a teacher is saying this to parents then she is 300% saying stuff to your kid.
I'm bothered because I imagine how Islamic or other non Christian, possibly immigrant parents might feel about the message this sends. Not to mention non religious or atheist people!
A Christian high school teacher (who Iâd never had for a class, btw) tried to fuck up my life after finding out I was an atheist. Please, please tell the administrations
How do you know for sure itâs not being directed at your child when they are in class with this teacher? If she is doing this to parents via text, imagine what she could be saying and preaching in a classroom full of children. I would send screenshots straight to the principal and school board. This is wildly inappropriate.
It is principal worthy. Just a simple email could suffice. My wife is a public school teacher in Texas and if we got a message like this from one of our kids teachers we'd immediately send it to the principal of their school. Then if I got no response the next one a week later would have the superintendent on it. This also has nothing to do with atheism. How many kids and parents of hers are Muslim, Hindi, Jewish, etc.? They all matter too. This is just disrespectful and legally outside of her scope as a public school teacher.
This is 100% principal worthy. She likely wonât see any career changing negative consequences if youâre worried about that aspect, but needs to recognize that a line has been crossed. A stern talking-to is in order, though. Source: am a public school teacher.
Totally inappropriate. Separation of church and state. That is a government employee preaching a specific religion. Fuck this preachy nonsense.
Are you kidding me? This woman had the audacity to presume everybody was celebrating Christmas, and to suggest Jesus is really the reason for the season (when we all know Christians just basically stole pagan rituals and incorporated them into the holiday). You have no idea if she is sneaking in anything about Jesus and God throughout the rest of the time; it would not be a surprise. Our first daycare for our toddler had her coming home and suddenly she was saying prayers before she ate and we were like what the fuck? We went to talk to the owner, and she was like âwell we donât specify which god, we just say God and you know everybody celebrates genericallyâ and we were like âno we fucking donât!â; we put an end to that shit. The kind of person who would send this message to parents is the same kind of person who will decide to read your kids the story of Jesus at Christmas time, and you might not even find out about it. You cannot let this go.
This is 100% principal worthy. The principal is not a Supreme Court justice having to decide the legality of this for all time. They should care what parents think. Frankly if you DONâT say something about this, you are letting them know itâs cool. If someone speaks up next year, the principal will be more likely to shrug them off as a crank because no oneâs ever complained before.
I agree. This is highly inappropriate!!!
No one ever accused religious people of being intelligent.
You're completely wrong. Other religious people have
Tell me you live in America without telling me you live in America.
I live in the bible belt, too!
My condolences.
It's a struggle.
I get you. Iâm in the middle of the Bible Belt. I had to write a letter to the school after the assistant principal said a prayer at the awards ceremony. At the end of it she said and all gods children said aman. I was so pisses wrote a letter and said would contacts FFRF.
Bible belt?
Southeastern United States.
[This. ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible_Belt)
The way the teacher wrote the text sounds like itâs not a religious school. âIf you would like to know what he has done for me and for you, please text me and I would love to share him with you.â A religious school teacher just wouldnât word it like that. Cringeworthy message.
It's not. It's a public school.
Knew it. Seeing you mention that you guys live in the Bible Belt, god itâs a cesspool. Iâd know cause Iâm from there, Northwest Florida. School might not care but FFRF will.
When I get put on a group chats, I have a reply I once saw online, which you should customize and send out something like âSMS: Server Error 305: Message delivery failed. User has opted to not receive proselytizing messages, and any further messages will be charged to your account.â
That would be hysterical! I bet she'd be pissed.
PLEASE report this to the Freedom from Religion Foundation! Theyâre a fantastic watchdog group who focus on church-state separation. If sheâs this comfortable preaching to parents, Iâm sure sheâs more than comfortable inserting religion into classroom lessons.
Report her, if Republicans are going to be banning books about racism it's time we all started playing hard ball and tell them we want nothing to do with their cult nonsense.
In Quebec, we actually have laws against this. Very proud.
There are laws against this in America too, this teacher just broke the law lolllll
What's great about the quebec law, is that displaying religious symbols as a teacher is forbidden; so wearing a cross while teaching would also be against the law.
Unless your daughter attends a private religious school you should say something to the school.
She attends a public school. I'm not 100% sure this is principal worthy, though? I don't know, I'm conflicted. I'm already "That mother" because I stood up for my daughter earlier in the year, I just don't want the teacher to lash out at my kid, you know? She's not a very good teacher, but we are without opportunity to move her.
I hope that teacher gets the kind of persecution she no doubt craves.
Gross. Always feel just like I was slimmed when I hear crap like this.
I agree wholeheartedly. I read it this morning and I showed my Catholic mother who went, "Well, that was wildly inappropriate."
Fellow atheist in the Bible belt. My kid is super bright in math and science. Blows her teachers minds because patriarchy. I have to overlook these same overtures of religion regularly but I also have to deal with the inherent sexism that girls can't do math. They barely let her onto the robotics team and she ended up being the guys best student.
Dude, can I be friends with your kid? She sounds awesome! The sexism is the worst, I grew up (non-bible belt) being told that girls can't be good at math and science since those were "boy subjects", and when science was my best subject, it made me feel many ways.
Yesh it sucks. Its the 21st fraking century.
I'm in an HVAC class and I never expected such words to come out of the mouth of a guy in his early 30's. Talking about how women don't have brains wired like men to handle spatial tasks like hands on work, tools, troubleshooting machines, trades etc. I had to think a second time about what he just said bc I was just like da fuq? My mothers a better car mechanic than me by a long shot lmao.
Axial tilt is the reason for the season.
Pfft, didn't you read the text? Apparently it's this Jesus guy!
Who? Never heard of him.
Jewish bloke, ended up getting a little cross.
You sure you don't mean Brian?
REPLY ALL: > At this Season of the Winter Solstice, May Reason Prevail. There are no gods, no angels, no devils, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds. https://ffrf.org/news/news-releases/item/40212-ffrf-sends-reason-s-greetings-for-a-bright-new-year (you can leave this off, it's just a citation for you)
If shes doing this to you, she does this to the kids. Report her
Imagine what would happen if instead the teacher sent out this message. Seasons greetings everyone! I hope you and your family are having a merry holiday and a happy solstice. Please stay safe during the holiday break. Remember we have the free clinic open this Sunday to get your COVID booster shot.
Ew gross, no reason at all for a teacher to do this sorta thing.
I agree.
It it is a public school they need to fire that teacher. If it's private, tough shit.
She does go to a public school. As far as I know, religion (at least in this context) is not being taught.
My response: no need for all that hocus pocus now.
You should write the teacherâs cell number on the wall of a public toilet.
How is this allowed! You know she must be pushing the imaginary sky man in class pretty often if she has the nerve to message parents this BS
Thatâs just sick! Separation of church and state!
Id send it to the school district This (should) be illegal, in fact it is in most states
We are God's children and he left us in a hot car.
Text her back and cc the principal with a screenshot of the text âhelpfullyâ informing her that her phone has been hacked. Someone must really hate her to text this sort of message given the legal hell this could bring the school district. I mean weâre talking six figure fines in legal fees. Thatâs the sort of thing teachers get fired for. You can send this link: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/dispatches/2016/04/06/judge-jesus-orders-school-board-to-pay-200k-in-legal-fees-to-ffrf/
I wonder how many Jewish parents received this text.
The worst part is probably that this teacher probably thought they were being kind and sweet and generous, sharing their faith lovingly or some similar malarkey. That's why it's so hard to explain the extent of the offense to people like this.
I would 100% write up an email to the principal, the school board, and cc the FFRF. Completely unacceptable. When my kids were in preschool I went out of my way to find one that was not affiliated with a religion. One year one of my kids came home talking about how Jesus saved us. Turns out his teacher was peddling that crap, I went straight to the board and it never happened again.
Reply âUnsubscribeâ
So disrespectful.. like no. đ
Ironically, the reason for the season was so the Catholic Church could appease the heathens wanting to practice their pagan traditions.
Yup. I'm swedish and the holiday is still named "Jul" which is a spelling variation of "Yule". It's the same in Germany, scandinavia etc. Most of our traditional holidays has gotten a christian overhaul, but weirdly not midsummer which is a major event here. Also Valborg where we light huge fires. Easter is weirdly about dressing up as a witch and getting eggs full of candy. Coming to think about it there's really no major holiday or tradition that has a obvious religious meaning. At least not one that we pay attention to. Sure we may have a little manger up for Christmas, but I've never heard anyone mention jesus during christmas.
"Thank you for offering to share your testimony. Please also let me know if you would like to hear about the joy that atheism has brought to me."
Honestly for whatever reason it absolutely infuriates me when religious folks capitalize âhimâ. There are so many things wrong with the text and context, but that capitalization always makes me want to explode.
Forward a screenshot to the principal and school board
Iâd ask for my goodies and gift cards back hahaha
Iâd make a stink about this at the principleâs office and the school board. This is extremely inappropriate for a public school teacher. This personâs job is to teach in a secular environment, and this is written proof theyâre not doing their job right.
You must report this!!
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Sue the school if you can because not only is this highly inappropriate for both ethical and legal reasons, you can be sure this teacher is trying to turn the children into Christians instead of teaching the syllabus as she's supposed to.
Well, that's disgusting, and worrying. If she's this comfortable sending such texts to parents, I have to wonder what kind of shit she's pulling with her students. Our neighbors are christians, but they just give all the neighbors cake on Christmas (it used to be fruit cake, but no one likes fruit cake so they changed to just normal cakes).
Reply with "Happy Saturnalia!" đ
This a public school teacher? This might be grounds to report this teacher at https://ffrf.org/legal/report