If this is a public school, the parent could have gone to the principal and gotten a very different response.

I'm not offended by... well... anything. But in high school I had a similar situation. After reading the Diary of Anne Frank a teacher had a longstanding tradition of having the students wear a yellow star of david throughout an entire day of school. Since all the other students had already been through this, they knew to treat the kids a little different, but not cross any lines. I fully believe its a good exercise, but asked that he use some other symbol. In a public school he flat out told me that I would wear a religious symbol on my clothing all day, or fail the class. It's a required class, dropping is impossible. Lets just say once my angry father got involved, this assignment was never an issue again, and the teacher proceeded to apologize to me.

While the teacher could have handled it more diplomatically, I feel that he is justified in asking his students to read the book.  What good does it do to only read the things that you agree with?  Certainly, she shouldn't be required to agree with the views entertained in the book, but that's not an excuse for flat out refusing to read it.  I've had atheist professors assign readings out of the Bible, for example.

Personally, I would have just read it. I can appreciate a piece of literature or art for what it is and not necessarily have the content cloud my judgment.

My concern lies in the violation of the person who has a religious objection to the material. It isn't always that they are being narrow minded and tolerant, although I know this is more often the case than not. But what about those who feel that sexual thoughts and feelings outside of a heterosexual marriage are a sin, and who struggle with that issue? What if they are struggling to adhere to a spiritual standard they have set for themselves (regardless of what the Bible says - this could go for a non-Christian religion as well)? What if by knowing what the book contains, they know that the book is going to cause them to sin and do something they don't want to do? Why should they be forced to do that, regardless of how dumb the rest of us might think it is that they don't want to?

This is an extreme example, but it holds the same concept for me: Would it be right to tell a female Muslim student to strip down to her underwear for a bikini painting project in an art class with male students, or drop the class if not? Would it not be fair for her to ask for an alternative assignment that does not cause her to violate her beliefs? I would be aghast if a professor told her she had to remove even just her hijab in front of male students or drop the class. I'm inclined to think most people would agree with me. Why should the Christian girl be treated with any less respect?

So, I think the professor was wrong, because he should have offered an alternative if she requested it. She wasn't asking to get out of any work or anything like that. She was simply asking for work that wouldn't violate her beliefs or possibly cause her to sin in her own mind. If he was any kind of professor worth his salt, he would have been easily able to immediately think of a similar work of literature of the same volume, complexity, and "lesson" that didn't involve sexual sin for her.

Okay, as a person who was forced to read sexually explicit, "classic" literature in high school, and as a secondary education major in college, I can't even say what I want to say about that teacher right here, because it would involve a LOT OF NASTY WORDS, and this audience seems sensitive. :)

I am inclined to believe that the teacher is almost 100% at fault.  I understand that the school can't bend to every parent's will, but alternate reading is NOT a big deal (certainly not something over which a mother should be forced to homeschool her child), and you can bet your rear that if it were a book containing a bunch of racial slurs that one of the students found offensive, they wouldn't have to read it if they complained.

There should either be a law that requires teachers to provide alternate reading at the same level, or there should be some sort of rating system for literature to ensure appropriate material only is allowed.  Books don't have to be censored, but they don't have to be forced on students either.  If it were a movie with an R rating, that guy would have been immediately fired.

I don't care if that student and mother really were narrow-minded, hysterical classroom trolls -- the way that teacher handled it was completely in the wrong.  THIS is the kind of crap that only assures me in my decision not to be a teacher after graduation.  I'd be so constantly infuriated at the injustices going on in our educational system, I'd explode.

I withdrew from a college class for this reason. My family was aware of what the book was and did not want me to read it at my age (I started college during high school). Now that I'm older I would stay in and read it. At the time I think it was a good decision to withdraw.

As a Christian, I will say she is judging literature on its content rather than its literary worth when she cannot even judge the book because she hasn't read it. I have read quite a few controversial things in my AP English class (i.e. Oedipus Rex), but we were all excited to learn and be introduced to new literature. The student and parent should have been more open-minded.

Sorry, they call it a reading "assignment" because it's the teacher's choice, not yours.  They're not forcing the student to agree that incest/homosexuality is good-  they're just exposing them to literature involving that, potentially to stimulate classroom discussion about it.  In the real world, you can't just get out of something if you don't like it.  I think higher income taxes for the hard-working middle class are dumb, but the government's still going to take my family's money.  Also, I don't know what book this is, but I wonder perhaps if the book's "obscenity" was overexaggerated-  did the relatives *know* they were related when they married?  Because if not, shizzle like this is still going down in Alabama.  And hey now, hermaphrodites aren't evil incarnate, they just happen to be born with the best of both worlds...

I think that books that have controversial issues need to be read, but explicit sex scenes are something that many Christians, myself included, do not think we need to put into our minds.  I think the student should have done some research ahead of time as to the content of the class and chosen a different one, but I also think the professor ought to have worked with her a bit; it's not too hard to find a book with common themes that might be less offensive.

@XxFireXboltxX@xanga - The only class where the Bible would be assigned reading would be a religion class.  And people who took that would know what they were getting into.

It's not like atheists would sign up for a religion course and then refuse to read everything (unless they were trying to make a point about how silly some Christians are being when they do the same thing with other reading material).

Sometimes I wonder if some Christians have really paid attention to the kind of material that is in the Bible.  It is not G-rated by any means, actually if you made a realistic film of the Bible then I don't even think they would allow it to have an R rating.  I understand that some things can lead Christians to temptation and some subjects Christians are sensitive to, but Christians need to read these books partly because that is what education is--learning things and finding out how you view them so that you can strengthen your own viewpoints and then talk to others using those things you have read or learned about.  Everything is used for the glory of God.  Depravity leads humanity to search for something that could fill the emptiness and fix their brokenness.  The Bible is probably one of the greatest, most controversial, most "un-Christian" books out there...but that is because Christians think that life, education, relationships, etc. should all be safe, comfortable and g-rated.  We are afraid of being vulnerable, being tempted, giving in to righteous anger, etc.  Was Christ afraid of these things? No. And that is what made him so revolutionary.  I think think both people in this situation were being self righteous.  I think the mother was being ignorant and I think the teacher was not being clear on his reasons for assigning the book.  Every teacher I had that assigned works that may have offended my faith (though none of them did) had a reason for assigining them.  There was something significant in them that represented a portion of the human experience, some truth that was transcendant.  Literature, films, music, etc. all do this.  If the parents are going to complain about the reading assignments then they also need to protect their kids from the theatres, the radio stations, their friends, everyone in their schools and everyone at their jobs.  Let's face it, we are surrounded by a Christ-less culture and isolation is not the answer (and plus I don't think you can completely isolate them).  We need to teach our kids to be firm in their faith, to have tough hearts in discernment of culture and soft hearts in compassion for other people and teach them that no matter where they go, what they do, who they talk to, what they learn, what circumstances they end up in, etc. the Spirit is always there to guide them.  This is life with all of its difficulty and challenges.  Embrace it and help in redeeming it by showing the love and truth of Christ.

@Pcgecko85@xanga - well... toughen up, yeah, but i agree that teacher could've handled the situation more diplomatically. 

Teacher .....
I don't like teacher ....