Despite all that you usually read on an academic blogs I like my students, most of the time. The one thing that I can not stand, the one time that I bite my tongue so much that I draw blood is when students proselytize to me. Sometimes this happens in class, usually outside of class. I run a very de-centered class; I encourage students to question the world around them and their own beliefs. And I do this through modeling, I set myself and my views right out in front, I critically confront those beliefs and invite students to do the same thing. I encourage students to ask me questions about my political ideologies, and they do, some are personal (does your husband care that you are a feminist?) some are more general, like “Can a feminist be married? Wear lipstick? Shave her legs?” I don’t mind these questions, I actually like them. So maybe it is this openness that prompts students to ask me if I have been saved, if I have accepted Christ in my life or any other number of questions which mean the same thing. And it wears on me more then any excuse about dead grandmothers. I think I find this so irritating because I find any sort of fundamental religion problematic. And while I believe that people should be able to worship their higher power in any way they would like, as long as it is not in my living room, that they are free to allow that religion to guide their lives and even the way that they vote, I am also very adamant that their religious beliefs should not become the laws by which I live. I guess that is why students who try to save me just end up pissing me off. These are the same students who write papers and quote the Bible, using God as the author in MLA parenthetical citation. When I point out the problem with this I am often prey to a theological discussion about how the Bible was written, which I certainly don’t need. And these are the same students who don’t understand why a religious argument about morality and say homosexuality won’t appeal to a large audience. Why they ask? Well because not everyone believes in the Bible, or Jesus. This is when I get a shocked look from said student, as if they had never considered the idea that someone, anyone might not be of their religious persuasion, which I find highly unlikely in this day and age, but there you go.

I am never quite sure what to say to these students, I don’t want to be horribly mean, after all they are entitled to whatever religious ideology that they hold. I usually say that I have a religion that I am happy with, I leave out the information that I doubt lapsed Catholic is a religion. And I leave it at that, which usually works, but that doesn’t stop the classroom interruptions. This is from last week as the class was generally discussing their paper topics:
Student: “I think that society is falling apart because people are not moral.”
Student B: “Well, whose morality are you talking about? Who gets to decide?”
Student A: “Jesus.”
The class is torn between rolling their eyes and nodding in agreement. I now know how Bush got elected.