Help me witness in class please!

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Argh

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Hello all,

So I am back in school to get my teaching certification. One of the course I am taking concerns such issues in education as race, gender, and class. So far, this class has taught me a lot of good information on such controversial issues as the achievement gap between White and Non-White students in America. However, the course is now moving into a segment on gender, gender identity, and homosexuality. The instructor plainly believes that homosexuality and homosexual actions are normative, and I think so does a good portion of the class. Unfortunately, I anticipate an argument tomorrow or next week over the issue of homosexuality. Naturally, I am reading over the Catechism of the Catholic Church, especially Paragraph 2357, “Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons” by none other than His Holiness himself while he was yet a Cardinal in 1986, and another letter by His Holiness called “Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions between Homosexual Persons” from 2003.

I believe that teaching tolerance and the dignity of every human being as a child of God, versus teaching homosexuality and homosexual actions as entirely normative, is a fine line. I also believe that it is not a (public) teacher’s role to force a particular set of values upon his or her students. As always, I pray for strength to stand up for my beliefs and guidance to speak in my defense, but I cannot exactly find a way to rebut a potential question that the instructor asked another student as class was ending yesterday that went something to the effect of: “If it [meaning homosexuality] were any other issue like racism, would you then ‘respect’ your students’ beliefs [to be a racist or be otherwise prejudice]?”

If you have any ideas to help me out, please let me know. Obviously, racism and “homophobia” are two separate things not even in the same “ballpark” - the Church has never taught that any particular race, ethnicity, nationality, or group of people are superior or inferior to another.
 
Homosexual activity “lacks those very elements which could make it a natural sign of the union of persons. This is why the most that can be achieved in a homosexual act is mutual masturbation.” (Michael Palachuk, *Why Is Homosexual Activity Morally Wrong? *Referenced in The Truth About Homosexuality, Section: The Argument from Natural Law, Fr John A Harvey, Ignatius 1996, p 133-4).

Fr Harvey (Op. cit. p 134-138) shows that the act of homosexual intercourse lacks the two components that make sexual intercourse natural:
  1. The gastrointestinal tract is a hole running through the body – oral or anal intercourse remains on the surface and is not inside the human being, whereas vaginal intercourse is about a real physical union.
  2. Since the homosexual act cannot be procreative it cannot unify those engaged in it by tending toward a child who will have characteristics of both parents. Homosexual acts are ipso facto unnatural.
These two articles may be helpful:
Homosexuality: 1. The Disorder Question
Homosexuality: 2. The Truth Question
See: catholicculture.org/commentary/otc.cfm?id=633
 
Argh said:
Hello all,

So I am back in school to get my teaching certification. One of the course I am taking concerns such issues in education as race, gender, and class. So far, this class has taught me a lot of good information on such controversial issues as the achievement gap between White and Non-White students in America. However, the course is now moving into a segment on gender, gender identity, and homosexuality. The instructor plainly believes that homosexuality and homosexual actions are normative, and I think so does a good portion of the class. Unfortunately, I anticipate an argument tomorrow or next week over the issue of homosexuality. Naturally, I am reading over the Catechism of the Catholic Church, especially Paragraph 2357, “Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons” by none other than His Holiness himself while he was yet a Cardinal in 1986, and another letter by His Holiness called “Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions between Homosexual Persons” from 2003.

I believe that teaching tolerance and the dignity of every human being as a child of God, versus teaching homosexuality and homosexual actions as entirely normative, is a fine line. I also believe that it is not a (public) teacher’s role to force a particular set of values upon his or her students. As always, I pray for strength to stand up for my beliefs and guidance to speak in my defense, but I cannot exactly find a way to rebut a potential question that the instructor asked another student as class was ending yesterday that went something to the effect of: “If it [meaning homosexuality] were any other issue like racism, would you then ‘respect’ your students’ beliefs [to be a racist or be otherwise prejudice]?”

If you have any ideas to help me out, please let me know. Obviously, racism and “homophobia” are two separate things not even in the same “ballpark” - the Church has never taught that any particular race, ethnicity, nationality, or group of people are superior or inferior to another.
Click to expand...
I’m an elementary school teacher and for what it’s worth, this is my opinion on the subject. I do not have the right to instruct my public school students in matters of faith and creed. I cannot tell them what to believe either religiously or politically. To do so would be a blatant abuse of my position. The homosexual agenda has no business being promoted in any public school anymore than any other religious belief system. (By the way, the belief that homosexuality is NOT sinful and a crime against one’s self and God is as much a religious belief as the belief that it is. Therefore, anyone who claims that those opposed to homosexual lifestyles are “cramming their beliefs down their throats” are dong the same thing when they try to get their own agenda taught in school.)

Now, that being said, it is very likely that a teacher, at some point in his or her career, is going to work with a child from a household that promotes and practices homosexuality. It is important that the staff that works with that child communicate and work together to do whatever it takes to make that child feel safe and welcome at school. Bullying cannot be tolerated, no matter what.

Lastly, regardless of what certain groups would love to force teachers to teach in school, I cannot publically condone homosexuality because it is against my faith and I believe it is wrong. I have a right to my faith and fortunatly I work in a state that seems to uphold that right. (at least at the present moment.)
 
Allegra said:
By the way, the belief that homosexuality is NOT sinful and a crime against one’s self and God is as much a religious belief as the belief that it is. Therefore, anyone who claims that those opposed to homosexual lifestyles are “cramming their beliefs down their throats” are dong the same thing when they try to get their own agenda taught in school.
Click to expand...
👍 👍 I wish we could put banners up everywhere with that on it.
 
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