Teacher In Trouble For Ripping Bible

An Idaho English teacher is in trouble for ripping up a Bible in class.

Burley High’s Karen Christenson said she was trying to illustrate a point about censorship, as her sophomore students read Ray Bradbury’s novel “Fahrenheit 451,” which is set in a future society that commands all literature be burned. —Teacher In Trouble For Ripping Bible

I once did a scene from Dr. Faustus for a drama survey course. I did the same scene two or three different times, to demonstrate how a different acting style could bring out different themes.

At any rate, at one point, I threw a “Bible” across the room. But I immediately picked it up and showed them it was just a prop — an ordinary book with a cross on the cover. I managed to make the point.

Maybe Christenson ripped her bible on the spur of the moment… but with a little planning, she could have made her point without risking offense.

Thanks for the e-mail, Josh.

4 thoughts on “Teacher In Trouble For Ripping Bible

  1. The point that I would make..is that humanism is basically a religion and our secular schools teach from this stand point.

    Why not throw a Moslem Koran to illustrate a point. Because that would be to controversial!
    Christianity has to take a “back stage” when it come to respecting its sanctity and rights.

    Look at the outrage and news coverage at Gitmo when a Koran was thought to have been flushed down the toilet. But it wasn’t! Then it was found that the prisoners do that deliberately to get media attention and cause chaos.

  2. I believe shock value has an important role in the classroom, particularly in high-shcool where you don’t often have a captive audience. However,I do think the censorship point could have been without defacing a book some may consider sacred. (Moby Dick perhaps?)

  3. Dennis,

    I find this story stunning and bizarre. Both the teacher and the students in her class will learn many things from this experience not all of them positive.

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