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My step-grandmother knew that the whole Apollo program was a Big Lie!
Grandma knew that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin and all those other astronauts never walked on the moon, that they never even went into space. You see, Grandma was a voracious Bible reader, and so she knew that the moon was not a solid body, as the earth is, but rather that it is a "light in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth." (Genesis 1:16).
Grandma also knew that the word "firmament" comes from the word "firm," meaning "solid." Therefore, she knew that no one had ever shot a rocket into space, because it would have hit the solid firmament of heaven and broken to smithereens. In fact, she knew that there was no such thing as outer space, because the entire universe consisted of a firmament that "divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament" (Genesis 1:7). To the end of her days, Grandma couldn't understand why other people were unable to see the wires that were holding up the people allegedly floating around in front of the television cameras that were supposedly in outer space. Grandma knew that they were in a studio out in the desert somewhere; operated by agents of the Devil who were bent on sending the souls of those of little faith to perdition!
Grandma did not intend to be one of them! She was saved by faith, and her faith was strong, indeed.
I consider it fortunate that Grandma lived in this great country in which everyone, without exception, is guaranteed the right to believe as he or she wishes!
I was reminded of Grandma the other day when a student of mine informed me that a clergyman she knew of had announced that everyone who used the Internet was going to go to hell! I find this depressing, not because there are so many people using the Internet, but because there are apparently people out there who believe that their future for all eternity could be jeopardized for something so trivial! I'm not sure what "going to hell" is all about, but it seems to me that it ought to be reserved for doing something really terrible.
On the other hand, I recognize that other people have different beliefs, and that they are as entitled to their beliefs as I am to mine. In a state-supported school, no one has the right to require a student to conform to any specific religious beliefs, or to any religious beliefs at all. So if using the Internet causes you a crisis of conscience, my opinion is that the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States allows you to stop doing it!
The problem is, I don't see any way you can pass any course I teach without using the Internet, so if someone in one of my classes is unable for whatever reason to use the Internet, he or she would be well advised to immediately withdraw from the course before I have to hand in a grade. As an agent of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, I have an obligation (which I am, by the way, happy to carry out) to allow you to practice your religion, as long as it doesn't interfere with my rights or the rights of the other students. I do not have an obligation to give you credit for doing work your religion prevents you from doing. If you stay in my class but can't use the Internet, you may well have to suffer for your faith by getting an "F" because you didn't do the assignments. I personally believe that would be a shame.
Some people believe that there is a conflict between science and religion. I don't intend to get into that argument, except by pointing out that I teach science, not religion, at MGCCC. Science depends on making observations and trying to explain them in such a way that one can predict future observations. The belief on which all science is based is that the universe actually is the way it appears to be. This essential belief is fundamental to all science, and cannot itself be proved scientifically. It is, in fact, an article of faith. Other people's faiths have other articles.
An example of science is that, if I pick up a book that says "Holy Bible" on it, and that book contains pages with words on it, and the words quote someone as having said something, I can, as a scientist, claim that "The Holy Bible says that so-and-so said such-and-such." I can support that observation by pointing to the appropriate text and demonstrating that the text actually says what I claim it does. What I or you believe about it is something else entirely.
Now, regardless of what you may think about the Bible, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to recognize that the Bible is a part of our culture, and that many people have at least a passing familiarity with the narrative that it contains, whatever they believe about it. To refer to the Parable of the Sower and the Seed or the Good Samaritan is to refer to ideas that most people in the United States, and particularly in Southern Mississippi, will recognize. Therefore, I may, at times, refer to something in the Bible by way of illustrating a point or citing an example, just as I may, at times, do with other documents with which I think my students are familiar, such as Tom Sawyer or Moby Dick. This does not mean that I am teaching religion, or that I require anyone to believe that the Bible is the Word of God (or that it is not, for that matter), or to read it at all, if he doesn't want to. While I may require my students to read from some other text which is much less popular than the Bible, I do not intend to assign anyone to read anything from the Bible because: 1) I don't want anything to think I am "teaching religion," and, 2) there is not a whole lot in the Bible that has to do with computer science, which is what I teach.
Having tried to explain to Grandma why I supported the space program, I think I appreciate the problem of trying to explain scientific principles to someone who refuses to believe in them. Therefore, if anything I say in class is objectionable to anyone on religious or other grounds, I support his right not to believe it. I don't require that anybody believe anything I teach him, only that he knows what it is. If, for example, if I ask a question on an examination and the answer in the book is something you don't believe because of your religion (or for other reasons), please feel free to reply, "the book says (whatever the book says) but I don't believe it." If your statement of what the book says is correct, I will give you credit for it. What you believe is your business.
Whether or not you pray is also your business. I support and defend your right, guaranteed under the First Amendment, to pray anywhere, any way, and to anyone you wish, as long as you don't interfere with my civil rights or those of your fellow students not to have to listen to you pray. The Supreme Court has ruled repeatedly that the school cannot sponsor prayers, whether they are led by the faculty, the students, or visiting clergymen, but it has never, as far as I can tell, even suggested that students or faculty members cannot pray if they want to. The idea that "the Supreme Court has taken prayer out of public schools," just isn't true. As long as there are examinations, there will be prayer in public schools! If you are praying when you are supposed to be listening or doing work, however, you are still liable for things you didn't learn or didn't do.
For those who might be interested, I have included here some links to my views on prayer in public schools, the origin and evolution (pardon the term) of the Bible, and what my religion teaches about the apparent conflict between science and religion. If anyone is interested, what my church teaches about virtually everything is in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which takes a long time to load and contains a lot of stuff that looks really weird if you are not a Catholic, and maybe even if you are. Again, I don't require anyone else read any of this, and certainly not to believe any of it, but if anyone is interested in what I personally believe, this is it.
If anyone wants to talk to me about any of this, feel free. I feel comfortable discussing my views on things outside of class, but, because I am a teacher, I do not intend to teach anything but computer science at MGCCC. But also feel free to hold your own views about things, regardless of whether or not they conflict with mine. You have an absolute Constitutional right to practice any faith, or no faith at all, if you so choose. I support that right one hundred percent, not only as a teacher, but also as a grateful American.