What’s in a Name? A Rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

A substitute teacher in Utah asked her fifth grade students for what they were thankful during the Thanksgiving season.  One boy said he was thankful that he was going to be adopted by his two dads.  The teacher reportedly responded, “Why would you be thankful for that?” and proceeded to lecture the class on homosexuality being “sinful.”  Eventually, she was escorted out of the building by the principal who said, “There’s the door.  Keep walking.”

            In my handful of conversations with friends, colleagues and even students, most wince at the “harshness” of the teacher “crushing” the good news that the little boy, who obviously had been in the foster system for some time, was being adopted.  The initial reaction by many is, “She should not have…” with a limited variety of responses offered, such as:

1)    She should not have said anything.  The teacher should have just gone on to the next student without comment.  If she comments, she will lose her job.  What good would that accomplish?  If she remains silent, she could be there for many years and have a subtle, but long term, good effect on students.

2)    She should not have been so condemning.  After all, isn’t it better for the boy to be in a home rather than institutionalized?

3)    She should not have brought her religious views into the classroom.  She is there to teach math, English, science, not to impose her particular values on the students.

4)    She should not have lectured the students but, instead, come up with a creative way to address the topic.  Perhaps, she could have invited advocates for both sides to come and discuss the topic of “family” with the class.  That way, the teacher is not advocating a position, but merely providing information.  The teacher remains neutral.

5)    She should not have aired her concerns with the entire class but, instead, talked with the student privately.  She just shouldn’t have done it that way.

Silence is never the option for the Christian when faced with the evil of the secular culture.  Silence is not golden in this instance; silence is passive endorsement and complicity.  For example, when asked how Christians could allow Hitler and the Nazis to commit atrocities, German Pastor Martin Niemoller is quoted as saying,

First, they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.

So, if silence is not the option, then how could the teacher navigate the rocky shoals of our culture’s, and thus the school’s, acceptance and endorsement of homosexuality successfully?  The answer is: she could not. 

Any attempt to second guess or even to suggest a better strategy for the teacher in this situation quickly leads to Pharisee-ism.  The Pharisees could never accuse Jesus of wrongdoing, but they always tried to find fault with the way Jesus did or said things.  When He healed on the Sabbath, they ignored the miracle and found fault with Him for doing it that day. 

Same sex marriage and adoption is not just unnatural or unacceptable by Christian standards; it is evil.  No matter how the teacher addressed the evil, she was finished.  She was toast.  Stick a fork in her, because she was done.  Any clever strategy suggested to the teacher would still result in her being shown the door and her being told, “Keep walking!” 

Why?  Because the educational system, the so-called “public” school, has adopted a purely secular worldview.  Secularism is the belief that there may or may not be a god, but even if there is, he is not relevant in history, art, science, literature, government, law, education, etc.  One’s religion is relegated to a privatized belief.  For the Christian nothing is private about his religion.  The belief in Jesus informs one’s economics, entertainment, education, etc.

A teacher’s job is to teach not just the subject matter, but also, every teacher conveys values and standards that are universally true.  For example, no teacher will encourage students to cheat on tests.  Do not lie, cheat or steal has application in the classroom and on the playground and in life.  Education by nature is religious.  It is not a question of is religion going to taught, but rather, which religion, or better yet, whose religion will be taught.

Secularism is not neutral; it is hostile to a biblical worldview.  It has taken almost fifty years for secular educators to dominate the schools to the point where they feel emboldened to demand not just tolerance or even compliance with secular demands, but now they demand obedience to the tenets of secularism.

For example, Peter Vlaming, a French teacher at West Point High School in West Point, VA, was fired for refusing to use the pronouns “he” or “him” with a female transgender student.  He would call the student by the name the student chose, but Vlaming refused to use improper pronouns referring to the student’s sex.  He chose to avoid using pronouns at all.  French is a very gender specific language, and Vlaming, being a Christian, knows that language has meaning.  Language carries ideas, and ideas have consequences.

At the school board hearing Vlaming stated, "Even higher than my family ranks my faith," and observed, "We are here today because a specific worldview is being imposed on me…There are some hills that are worth dying on.”

Any clever, or subtly crafted responses not only do not satisfy the secular demands and standards, but also such responses by Christians often confuse people and exacerbate the problem.

For example, recently, J. D. Greear, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest denomination of Christians in America, said he would use whatever pronoun a transgendered person preferred, citing “generosity of spirit” in dealing with people.  Such “pronoun hospitality” while appearing caring, loving, generous and tolerant on the part of Greear, actually led him to break the Ninth Command: Do not lie!  Simply by changing one little pronoun Greear inadvertently has chosen to lie to transgenders and to people in general as to who they are and Who made them.  God defines male and female, not man.  It may not matter, according to Shakespeare, what name one gives to a rose, but the Bard, of all people, would certainly recognize that language, even lowly pronouns, convey volumes of meaning.  Any misuse of pronouns certainly does not smell sweet.  In fact, such misuse stinks to high heaven.

Christians should not naively suggest pat answers or unrealistic solutions to the above two teachers, who, when faced with the evil of secularism, chose not to remain silent, but rather chose to bring their Christianity, their faith, into the public arena.  Christians should not kowtow to the prevailing secular worldview that demands obeisance and utter submission. 

James 4:4, “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

There is no compromise for the Christian.  A secular culture will always show us the door and demand that we, “Keep walking.” 

Bill Jack