My son was forced to pray at a school-sponsored event; sucks to be agnostic in a Christian culture

[Daemonaquila]

14. There's always a choice, and sometimes it's not something that can be done nicely.

I had a couple holy-roller freak teachers when I was a teen, and believe me - even a student can put her foot up their ass and end the crap. Look I respect that you're trying to deal with it through the principal and up the chain, but you've got a 50/50 chance. This is where you need to be calling the ACLU, the media, etc. as well.

But unfortunately, your son is best equipped to end it. I was one of those students who didn't just squirm, but made the statement over and over. "There will be consequences?" "Really? And what are they? I don't pray. I don't do your god. And I'm not going to pretend."

Yes, I really did the equivalent as a kid. I had a teacher go full red-faced ballistic at me in front of the class, and I stood there (heart pounding) with a poker face and crossed arms. After he was done, I looked him in the eye and said "This is school, not church. I'm not a christian, and I 'm not going to be." He looked like he was going to start another freakstorm, but then it just went out of him as he saw 30 heads watching the incident, and glints in 30 eyes looking him up and down like a hurt gazelle among a herd of lions, and he did the calculation about the next 6 months of media coverage, parental complaints, school board meetings, and awkward silences in the teachers' lounge.

Yes, it's rough being an agnostic kid, but as they say, it gets better. That is, it gets better if you learn to speak up knowing your parents will back you if some SOB tries to give you detention for standing up to forced religion. I had to deal with two religious bully teachers this way, and I dealt with 3-4 others who weren't as bad and avoided the full-out confrontation, but I was the one who had to do it.

Good luck. I hope you can take care of this, but you'll probably have to bring in some big guns and your son will probably have to take a personal stand - parents alone can rarely have the kind of effect that a student speaking up can have.