The Gamut

CNN.com - Teacher suspended?for showing 'Passion' clips - Mar 8, 2004

An elementary school teacher was suspended last week after school officials learned that he showed students excerpts from the movie "The Passion of the Christ."

My local paper, The Steubenville Herald Star, asked in a survey question whether this teacher should have been suspended. 72% of those who responded said no, he should not have been.

What the hell were they thinking? Now, all I can assume is that these people hadn't read the story and that they were reacting to the idea that he was being punished for being religious. Otherwise, there are more than enough reasons to fire this teacher.

First, he obviously showed them a pirated tape or CD. The movie is still in theaters. Second, the movie is rated "R," and he showed it without parental permission. Third, the movie is extremely violent and he subjected the kids to at least 60 minutes worth of it. Fourth, the movie is controversial for reasons that have nothing to do with the separation issue.

But then finally, there IS the separation issue. The teacher claims that he was showing the movie for historical reasons related to his social studies class. What was he trying to show them? How there were more white people in Jerusalem 2000 years ago than we had originally thought? Of course he showed it for religious purposes. That's the whole purpose of the movie, espousal of the traditional American version of Christianity. Even I know that, and I haven't even seen it yet.