Maddie, a high school senior, has earned FFRF’s $1,000 Strong Backbone Activist award for her calling out of one of her teachers for overtly promoting his religious and political beliefs.
Maddie writes: “A teacher of mine was continuously using his authority to promote his personal political and religious beliefs in an academic setting. There was an incident where he discriminated against me in the classroom because of my atheism. I felt disrespected and humiliated. My mom reached out to FFRF and, within days, we had a resolution that will hopefully result in no other students experiencing what I did. I am so grateful to FFRF.”
The following is FFRF’s press release from that interaction.
FFRF commends district for protecting atheist students
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is applauding the Tulare Joint Union High School District’s quick response to its complaint that a high school teacher was promoting religion in class and bullying nonreligious students.
FFRF recently reported that a teacher at Mission Oak High School in Tulare, Calif., had been using his position to promote his personal religious views to a captive audience of students. FFRF’s complainant reported that the teacher had placed several inappropriate religious and political displays, including on a fridge in his classroom, reading “Pray without ceasing,” “Unborn Lives Matter” and “Let’s Go Brandon,” a euphemism for “F… Joe Biden.” Additionally, the teacher reportedly instigated a discussion with students about “666” being the “devil’s number,” which led to a student revealing their atheism. The teacher responded that an atheist is “a fool,” and students in the class reportedly made signs in the air of crosses or of praying.
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