Nothing confirms atheism to me more than correcting student essay papers.

[enlightenment]

8. Last semester, I had

a very fundamentalist Christian female in my class (European history). She was also a young Republican (or that ilk). Every other discussion post (online class) was a diatribe based on either - or both - of her pet issues. Nothing seemed to stop her; I could only slow her down on occasion. She never went over the line and always managed to answer the questions posed; she was savvy enough to avoid just enough contention that I couldn't justify tossing her out of the class. Her papers were nightmares of illogic and paranoia.

It was a long semester.

This semester, I have a very in-your-face, abrasive Jewish female in the class (same course). After the second chapter readings, which examined - among other things - the rise of religion in the Middle East, she wrote me a four page long rant accusing the textbook author of anti-Semitism. She offered up no less than six examples of how he was wrong. She was incorrect in five of the six cases. She finished her rant with the following line: "So, dude or dudette . . . excuse me, PROFESSOR dudette . . ."

It took me an hour to dislodge my eyebrows from my hairline. Only because I have decided to make her term as nightmarish as she will undoubtedly make mine is she still in my class.

My colleagues suggest that next semester I'll have a fanatically devout Muslim, and a repeat of the last two terms.

If nothing else, teaching confirms my atheism.