I've long been aware that there are male prostitutes (serving males). It's really sad that some feel that's the only way to make it through college - both male and female.

And yes, you'd better duck and run!  :^)

I was going to respond earlier today but decided it's best not to from work.

Look, I started out supporting Mr. Buells right to speak his bigoted mind. But I actually read the articles, read his statements and watched recordings of his interviews. Google Jerry Buell. Read the interviews, watch the interviews with Mr. Buell. His (now removed) school web page stated he tried to teach as if the district had hired Jesus Christ himself. That statement alone disqualifies him from teaching in public schools.

If you can read and listen to all of those reports and still not understand why Jerry Buell can't teach in U.S. public schools then we're done here, because I can't make it any clearer.

I would hope that no one wants teenagers (or anyone else) killing themselves, whether or not they are gay. If you want to change anyone's life for the better you can't treat them with hate, you have to show them love. Somewhere Jerry Buell's version of Christianity lost or missed that.

To betteroffhere;

You obviously don't understand the way separation of Church and State works. The second Jerry Buell put in his syllabus that he teaches God's truth he was in trouble. When he said he wouldn't change that pretty much guaranteed he couldn't teach in public schools. Separation of Church and State does not mean that you can't be a Christian and teach, it means that you can't be a Christian teacher and preach in the classroom. Jerry Buell pretty much broadcast that he would be using his classroom as his pulpit. You can't do that.

I have issues with the idea you can't have a Bible in your classroom - mainly because complaints only seem to occur when it is the Bible, not when it's the Qu'Ran or other religious teachings. But you very definitely can't preach in the classroom of a public school. If you are going to consider the classroom your mission field, you need to go teach in the mission field, or let your life do your preaching for you.

Ok, my previous response should have been above this message:


True equality between majority and minority will never happen as long as human nature doesn't change. All we can do is strive to overcome our prejudices, our fear of those different than we are, our desire to be among a group of people like ourselves. We can make things as equal as possible, learn to see our similarities more than our differences. Maybe, someday, probably if we encounter extraterrestrial intelligence, we will learn that the different races of humankind on earth have far more in common with each other than we have differences.

And I don't know how long you've been watching how our government works, but with New York legalizing gay marriage it is only a matter of time until it becomes legalized nationally.

Not explicitly stated, perhaps, but strongly implied. If you are going to teach in public schools you have to go by their rules. But Christianity is a way of life, so hopefully people, including students, will see that you are different, that you have something they want and need, by the way you live and teach, by who you are.


Everything you say above is true. If you sincerely believe something it will affect everything you do. But you still have to live within the rules of society, change the rules of the society you live in, or leave that society. Jesus and the 12 Apostles changed the rules. The Pilgrims left the society. George Washington and the continental army changed the rules. Martin Luther King changed the rules. Those are your choices.

If Jerry Bueller taught Christianity in his classroom, he broke the rules. Agree or disagree with them, they are the rules we have, and those are the options we have in dealing with them.

He has the right to hate gay marriage, and to spout off about it. What he doesn't have is the right to do is express that in the classroom or to treat students differently because he believes they are sinners. If Jesus refused to judge the adulteress, what right to we have to judge anyone?

Thanks. I believe you can be spiritual (even religious) without throwing reason out window.
 
As long as she's had her shots, I'm sure we'll be fine. :^)

Jerry Buell is an interesting case. I do share his belief that marriage is between a man and a woman, but that is as far as it goes. I do not share the hatred he showed by his statements, and I don't blindly support him because we share some beliefs. If he has been preaching his religion in the classroom, he should have been removed long ago. If he has treated any student with anything less than respect he should have been removed from the classroom. But when it came to his spewing his views on Facebook, the problem there was that he thought he had privacy. As much as some people want to deny it, if this had been someone spouting hatred against straight marriage it would have been ignored or laughed at. If it had been a gay teacher attacked because he didn't understand his Facebook settings we would be railing at the attackers and at Facebook for having such obfuscated privacy settings.

But this wasn't a fringe wingnut talking about straight marriage, or a gay teacher put in harms way because he didn't understand his Facebook settings, it was a fringe wingnut spouting against gay marriage, so he get international exposure (polarizing people who might have been able to at least peacefully coexist) and is pilloried. You might even say he's on the way to becoming a martyr if his career is damaged or ended because of his Facebook comments. That will not help the cause of gay marriage or gay rights in general.

The school may be showing the most wisdom of all, moving focus from gay bashing to separation of Church and State.