A middle-school teacher in Dublin, Georgia, was tossed from school – and her job – for allegedly telling her students President Obama isn’t a Christian.
Nancy Perry is now due to retire at the end of the year, said Dublin Schools’ spokesman Chuck Ledbetter, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
“It is not the place of teachers to attempt to persuade students about religious or political beliefs,” Ledbetter said, in the news outlet. “In doing so, the teacher was wrong and that has been communicated to her. … Just as importantly, we are communicating this message to all staff of the school district.”
Perry, a longtime teacher at the school, allegedly made the remarks in March. In addition to saying Obama wasn’t Christian, she also reportedly told students anyone who voted for him wasn’t Christian.
Parents expressed outrage, while the NAACP kicked off a campaign for the school to sanction Perry.
Ledbetter, meanwhile, said the schools are going to use the incident as a teaching moment. The Dublin Board of Education has scheduled training sessions for the professional staffers who work at the district, in order to ensure “the administration from the central office to the principal of each school clearly and consistently communicate to teachers our expectations,” the paper reported.
Perry has denied making the comments. Ledbetter has apologized for her statements, just the same, USA Today reported.
Obama has identified himself on several occasions as a Christian, though many self-described religious-affiliated groups disagree.
The Christian Anti-Defamation Commission, for instance, has posted a blog entitled, “Seven Reasons Barack Obama is not a Christian.”
Among the blog’s statements: “Obama is in the process of trying to recreate the Christian faith in his own, very liberal and unorthodox image. Built on a foundation of radical Black Liberation Theology, theological liberalism and post-modernism, Obama is undermining historic, biblical Christianity while claiming [he] is a Christian. In the process, he is defaming the Christian faith. … By any historic or biblical standard, Barack Obama is not a Christian.
