Something similar happened to me when my son said, "Oh my god" at his school. I got a friendly note from one of the school yard teachers on duty when he said the unthinkable, apparently. I did the same thing you did. I contacted his school princple, but I also contacted the Superintendent as well. I went balls to the wall on them too. I expressed my position as a non-believer and was then informed that I "live in a country that was build on Christian ethics" and did I ever "consider how my sons comment could offend those of faith." I then replied, "Number one, this nation was built on Native American Ethics Before your oppresive people came and stole it. Number two, seperation of church and state. This is Not a private school. Number three, did YOU EVER consider HOW YOUR comments offend those of a non-religious, non-existant faith?!" I let them know he was My Son and his use of the words Oh My God meant about as much to him as DOG is my Co-pilot soo... While my son is in Their care for the duration of his school day, their dogma has NO PLACE in his Life. If others are offended by the comments of a boy, then They need to put on their big girl/boy pants and grow the F up. That is a Y-P (your problem), not an M-P (my problem). As you guessed, I am the Delight of the school mother's sewing circle and head of the PTA!!! sarcastic chuckle

If you give them an inch, they'll take a mile.

Don't even let that crap get a foothold. Great job!

You called it right!

What a load of crap. You're right. If it gets worse, contact the ACLU, I guess? Or the Freedom From Religion Foundation?

I am a Biology teacher in the south. Some of my colleagues decorated their classrooms and played christian-themed holiday music all day during classes. Of course the christian students didnt mind but I paid more attention to the reaction of non-christian students. I noticed whispers and eye rolling, not sure if it was related to the theme or the work. I was asked by my chistian students to play christian-themed holiday music and I refused. What really surprised me was that other students stated to their peers that school and religion had to be kept separate and this IS a Science class, duh. There was so much I wanted to add and correct but they made my point and I was satisfied.

I'm impressed. Had this happened to my son, I would have felt like doing what you did, but I doubt I would have had the nerve.

Absolutely! It IS a public school. What does he mean by taking the lord's name in vain? It is NOT a religious school.

That teacher needs to stop pushing his beliefs on kids, keep it in church it's unfortunate in his eyes through faith he's saving him from eternal damnation.

Good for you! You're exactly right. I am a teacher and live in the South. Administrator's down here push the limits of separation of church and state all of the time. If we lived in the north they would be challenged constantly over the things they do here.

Being a non-Christian parent in the U.S. must be pretty stressful.

I agree. No one in any public school should be espousing any kind of religious belief. There is no "lord", so there is no taking some lord's name in vain. Also why there should be no reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance.

It's humorous that the religious can use words from the Bible for condemnation but woe is anyone using them for emphasis, jest or anyway the religious believe that is outside their comfort zone. I live in a Mormon community and the Mormon kids have a thing about saying hell. Although it is found 23 times in the KJV they can't use the word in normal conversation. My point here is that it's not right to let any religion make the criteria for conversation. They are in a public school so they need to live with it. What the vice principal objected to was tone of voice and perhaps context but not the words. Let them grow up. You did the right thing.

If fascinates me that saying "Jesus Christ" is considered taking the Lord's name in vain, but stripping away healthcare, giving tax cuts to the wealthy (people Jesus hated) and abusing the poor (the very people Jesus cared most about) isn't...

I think it DOES matter how he said it. If I gave an assignment, and some student replied with a pissed-off "Jesus Christ!" I'd have a problem. But the problem would be in the reaction more than in the words chosen to express that reaction. If the phrase was used to be rude or disrespectful to me the teacher (or to another student, for that matter) I'd have a reaction.

Unless we are talking about the religious figure, we use "Jesus Christ" as a light form of swearing or cussing, which is frowned upon in school. I say it quite a bit myself, and ALWAYS as a swear when I'm pissed-off or something irritates me. Depending on how and where he said it, I might give the student a half-hearted look of disapproval, or a low-key reminder of classroom etiquette. Or I might not bring attention to it at all. It depends on the context.

And, just to play devil's advocate, perhaps the vice principal was trying to draw a distinction between referring to Jesus Christ as a religious figure and "Jesus Christ" used as a swear phrase. Like, it's OK to say "Jesus Christ is a figure in Christianity," but not as OK to say "Jesus Christ, another quiz?"

not at all for gods sake lol

I agree religion has no place in a public school. One thing public schools are supposed to do is teach people of all different religions, ethnicities, and backgrounds and keep religous beliefs and other personal beliefs out of ths classrooms.

You did the right thing.

I agree with you .... but you the general population doesn’t get it, most often.... besides, Christians think it’s their duty to invoke the name of JC anytime, anywhere.

Just curious. What was the end result of your conversation with the vice-principal?

I agree with you. The vice principal is letting his personal views get in the way.

Definitely no place in public schools.

We're living in such a christian-based country that as atheist we Face discrimination all the time and I think many of us will agree that we feel the need to have to be silent about our beliefs because of this discrimination I completely agree with you that religion has no business being in public schools I think religion or whatever your beliefs are should be private and not forced on anybody because that's how fight start

You are absolutely correct!

You are exactly right, Wolverine. Public schools are funded by tax money. There is no established religion, view of, or belief in any deity in this country that is required to be adhered to. The principal needs to read the first amendment again.

You are correct. I would have added that the VP is a conservative snowflake, just to cause a bit of trouble!