Parent Barged Into A Middle School Science Class To Demand They Stop Teaching ‘Astrology’ And Lying About How The Earth Was Made
Can Christians please note that astronomy and astrology are two different things?
mediaphotos / Getty Images Signature / Canva Pro For decades now, Christian parents have raised a ruckus over what their kids are taught in school, and one Minnesota parent seems to have taken that ruckus into the classroom itself.
A teacher on Reddit described how she came face-to-face with a Christian parent with an ax to grind about her child's science class curriculum, and it left the teacher exasperated, mystified, and wondering what exactly she should do about it.
The Christian parent barged into an online middle school class and demanded a science teacher stop lying about the earth's formation.
In recent years, conservative Christian parents and far-right activist groups like Moms for Liberty have made schools ground zero in their fight to have their religious beliefs about everything from race to LGBTQ+ rights imposed by force via school curricula.
Moms for Liberty has been particularly disruptive, routinely hijacking school board meetings nationwide to mock and attack administrators, parents, and sometimes even students who don't ascribe to their interpretation of Christian doctrine, often using disinformation about school curriculum to make their points.
The mom who confronted this teacher seems to be cut from the same cloth.
"Today, I was working with our 8th graders and was just about to send them off to work individually in breakout rooms when a parent interrupted our class," the teacher wrote. The teacher's school conducts classes online, and the mom used the online portal to hijack the class and irately make a series of demands.
The mom accused the teacher of teaching 'astrology' to students, confusing it with astronomy.
After commandeering the class's attention, the mom "demanded to know why we were teaching astrology to her child."
For many Christians, astrology is regarded as evil and Satanic. They consider it a form of the future-predicting "divination" associated with Occult practices forbidden in certain Bible passages, even though connections between Christianity and astrology have long been drawn.
Regardless, astrology was not what was being taught in science class — astrology isn't even considered a valid study by scientists in the first place.
"I had to calmly explain that we were learning astronomy, which is different than astrology," the teacher wrote, likely before banging her head on the nearest wall in frustration.
The mom then demanded that the students learn creationism from the Biblical Book of Genesis.
The mom calmed down on the whole astrology thing once it was explained to her what astronomy is (God help her), but she still had an ax to grind — specifically, many Christians' favorite scientific bugaboo, evolution.
The mom "demanded that we stop teaching her kid lies about how the Earth was made," the teacher wrote. "She demanded that we support what she's teaching her kids at home in the Book of Genesis."
The teacher noted that this was all in front of the entire class, not in a private discussion, and that it took quite a bit of wrangling to get the mom to calm down, relent, and leave the class. "I don't get paid enough for this," the teacher bluntly wrote in conclusion.
Fellow teachers shared similar incidents and urged her to bring it up to school administrators.
One teacher described how they handled a similar situation. "I had a parent insist on a meeting with me, the principal, and the superintendent about my teaching evolution," they wrote.
"I just said, 'I teach what's in the state standards. Creationism isn't in there,'" adding that "I have no training on religious education." As you can guess, the parent was unhappy with that very simple explanation.
"This might be an issue admin needs to deal with," another teacher wrote before suggesting the teacher tell the mom, "This is the curriculum you're required to teach … and she's free to send her child to a private religious school if she feels that strongly about it."
It is absolutely bizarre to expect a public school to teach your specific religious beliefs. As one teacher noted, this mom would likely throw a fit "if you were teaching any of the hundreds of other religions," too.
Nobody is telling Christians they need to change their beliefs, but teaching religion is not what public school is for. They are not churches, and religious freedom means freedom from religion being imposed on others just as much as it means freedom to worship as each person sees fit.
It's really not that complicated, and given that the entire religion of Christianity itself is based on the free-will choice of whether or not one accepts Jesus Christ as one's savior, it's utterly bizarre that so many Christian parents expect the religion to be forced on people at school instead. It cannot be both ways. Pick one.
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice, and human interest topics.