The News & Observer reported on Sept. 8 that a Wake County biology teacher apologized after comparing school to a Nazi death camp.
Ray Fournier, an employee at Fuquay-Varina High School, made this ridiculous comparison in an article that ran online for No Greater Joy, a Christian magazine.
His quote in the article said, “Walking through the gates of the public high school where I teach feels as if I were walking into a concentration camp dedicated to the spiritual death of those imprisoned behind these walls.”
He also said public school had turned a student gay.
That quote is rude and unsettling on so many levels, and he should be punished by the school accordingly—maybe even fired.
Fournier contributes to the No Greater Joy magazine.
Upon first glance, the online version of this magazine seems like an innocent Christian magazine trying to promote the word of their god. A sweet picture of a mother and baby adorns the cover with big bold words under them that read “Hug Often.”
But then when I started reading the content of the magazine, I realized that this man fits right in.
First off, one of the top stories was titled “The power of our God” with the graphic of a woman in a hijab happily reading a book (I’m assuming it is the Bible). This article is a review of a book, and emphasizes one chapter in which “God is moving in the mist of total darkness in Little Town, Arabia.”
The review also says, “God is moving amongst the Muslim people, giving them visions and dreams that lead them to search for truth.”
I don’t know if this sort of thing is normal, but I hope it isn’t. How can one religious group tell another religious group that they are wrong and serving the wrong god? I don’t know, but that sounds a bit cult-like.
Another part of this website that really got me was the question/answer part of it. One of the questions was “What are your thoughts on adopting/fostering?” and the answer really surprised me.
Michel and Debi Pearl, who signed their response as “The Pearls,” did not recommend doing either of those things. They started with saying that they fostered children for more than 10 years and to not do it unless their own children are “established, godly teens, and then take in only small children” and that the only exception would be handicapped children.
It gets even better.
“The Pearls” continue to say that fostering/adopting children is not raising family, it’s a ministry. They say that “foster children, even very young ones, come with much sexual experience and continue practicing” and continue with “adopted children bring with them many kinds of problems.”
They end the response by saying to train them like you would your biological children, meaning to spank them with a rod.
This post and the others like Fournier’s on the website are extreme, so I can see why he would be sharing his opinions such as the one he posted on that website, but being a teacher, he should have thought first.
There is no doubt that Ray Fournier needs to have consequences for his actions, but I don’t think he should be fired like some parents and students at Fuquay-Varina High School are suggesting. He should be allowed to have an opinion and voice it outside of the classroom, no matter how ridiculous. Besides, maybe we should teach him what the book he worships actually preaches: forgiveness.
