Atheist teacher causing problems?

One of my news headlines this morning was a story out of Lake Stevens , WA involving an atheist teacher. He teaches an elective American Literature class. Part of the class involves discussion about creation myths followed by a discussion of good and evil.

The problem arose when he asked the kids in his class to look at the Iroquois creation myth and the creation myth of Genesis. Then the kids were supposed tell how these stories served the four functions of mythology.

He has been teaching this class for 7 years with this same lesson plan. One of the girls in his class was offended by this and her parents complained to the school. Here is what her mother had to say:

"She made a stand," Claire Olsen said. She doesn't expect public schools to teach or cater to one religion over another.

Ok, in my opinion the school DID cater to one religion by allowing this teacher to be reprimanded over this. Most myths were religions at one point. If there was no talk of religion allowed, the class would fail miserably. Myths are a huge part of our literature. The parents wish to believe that this teacher was "preaching" atheism to their daughter, when all he did was ask these kids to think. Is that not allowed in our public schools anymore? Does thinking offend Christians?

Also, this was the first complaint he received in the seven years that he was teaching this class. Could the complaint possibly stem from the fact that he is an atheist? I'm sure he has had other Christians in his class, but this year one student asked him what he believed and he informed the student that he was an atheist. I think this is the real issue here. This girl was appalled that her teacher was an atheist. Then, when she got the assignment she made the connection that he was trying to convert her to atheism. Why? Because in her religion, people do try to convert others so she just assumes that he would do the same.

What makes this story even worse is when one compares it to a story from a month or so ago. In that case, a teacher WAS preaching to his students about God. He is a history teacher and he told his students that evolution and the big bang are not scientific!! What happened with this case? He eventually was reprimanded, however, the student got a lot of flack from his community for "baiting" the teacher and recording him. Then, what does the school do? It prohibits students from recording teachers without their permission! Do we see a double standard here?