Forced religious content in class

[jillerica]

Hi to anyone reading this.  I'm a 40 year old returning student to the local community college for a degree in nursing.  No offense to anyone, but I live in rural, podunk Georgia.  Lat week, I was required to attend a MANDATORY sudent nurses association meeting (How one can mandate participation in a social club confounds me, but that's for another day).  Anyway, the student president of the nursing student association begins the meeting/lecture with a presentation by the president of the newly organized christian student group, of which the student nurse association president is a founding member.  For 15 minutes this young man attempts to sell the virtues of his organization to the unwitting masses.  The student nurse president posts weekly bible quotes (related to nursing) on the on line version of the class.  I have to read these quotes becuase I am responsible for any and all content that could be posted on the site.  The instructors end messages with "God bless" and I'm praying for you type stuff.  This is a public college!! Is there any help for someone like myself who doesn't want to be forced religion in a secular environment?

Many thanks!

[elliebean]

Idk, I went to college in Mississippi, so things weren't that different for me.  Good luck.

[theTwiz]

If there is a muslim or jewish student organization on campus, they might be interested in knowing about this. when i was in college, we rarely had any problems with this because of the large muslim student population.  any non-religious organization that tried to push one religion on its members would be met with the fact that their own organization had a significant number of members that would either not take kindly to it, or would want equal exposure for their own religion.  this never happened while i was there, though.  thankfully schools with an engineering department as large as mine tend not to have a lot of religious fundies running around.

or you could go guerrilla-style and submit a request for some nursing-related scriptures from the qur'an to be posted. if they get denied, you have the groundwork established for a student uprising, provided your school has the population to support it.  

alternatively, you could take some time to reflect on whether or not bible verses posted on a website are really that harmful. not saying either way, just be sure to consider this before taking any action.

[Spatiality]

I think my suggestion would be is to find an official that will contend more with the laws side. But, seeing as it is a community college and there are not(or should not be) impressionable adults, it isn't much of an issue. IMO, when it says no religion in public school, it sounds mainly aimed at elementary to high school. Kids are trying to find their identity, and when something else is being taught in the home rather than in school it could cause controversy. I wish Politics applied with that too, lots of MCCAIn Vrs. OBAMA last year. A rumor even went around that someone was going to shoot up the school is Obama won.

[Whitney]

Have you contacted administration to make sure they are aware that the nursing association president and your professors are pushing religion on the group/class? If so, and administration doesn't care, I would contact your local ACLU and get their opinion on how the separation of church and state laws affect community colleges and what they might be able to do to help you.

[dogsmycopilot]

Hi to anyone reading this.  I'm a 40 year old returning student to the local community college for a degree in nursing.  No offense to anyone, but I live in rural, podunk Georgia.  Lat week, I was required to attend a MANDATORY sudent nurses association meeting (How one can mandate participation in a social club confounds me, but that's for another day).  Anyway, the student president of the nursing student association begins the meeting/lecture with a presentation by the president of the newly organized christian student group, of which the student nurse association president is a founding member.  For 15 minutes this young man attempts to sell the virtues of his organization to the unwitting masses.  The student nurse president posts weekly bible quotes (related to nursing) on the on line version of the class.  I have to read these quotes becuase I am responsible for any and all content that could be posted on the site.  The instructors end messages with "God bless" and I'm praying for you type stuff.  This is a public college!! Is there any help for someone like myself who doesn't want to be forced religion in a secular environment?

Many thanks!

Hey. Fellow southerner here (Mississippi) and I had the same experience. Unfortunately, if you complain it may end badly. I did. My teacher's emails contained bible verses, I complained, she filed false charges on me for intimidation and I was kicked out. The ACLU is no help either as their recent decline to take an atheist donation shows- they don't help people like us down here where we are not politically popular. My heart goes out to you, but I have yet to find a solution. Like you this was a community college that was supposedly public.