Sometimes I read the occasional story of teachers introducing religious belief into their public school classrooms, and I wonder…. How could they not know this to be completely inappropriate? Where have they been all this time, while the rest of the academic community across the country has debated the issue, developed guidelines to safeguard religious freedom, and seen clearly the legal ramifications of imposing religious views onto children? The good news in the story of Arkansas middle school teacher Jan Redden is that school officials have put an end to her practices. Still, words fail…
A Van Buren teacher prayed over her class, handed out individualized pocket Bible verses and posted Bible verses on her classroom wall, according to some parents.
On April 21, a parent said, her son told her that before the students' annual Benchmark exams the preceding week, Central Middle School teacher Jan Redden prayed "for the Devil to be bound up and not to enter their brains."
Although she is Christian herself, the parent said, she practices with a more ecumenical denomination than does the teacher.
"I no more want her leading my child in prayer than I would want someone from a different faith leading a meditation," the parent said.
