Earlier this year at Forest Park Elementary School in Fort Wayne, Indiana, a second-grader known only as A.B. was asked by his classmate where he went to church:

A.B. responded by stating that he did not go to church and did not believe in God. He also stated that it was fine with him if his inquiring classmate believed in God.

Good answers, but they upset the girl who asked him and she began to cry. Eventually, their teacher Michelle Meyer stepped in to find out what happened and it resulted in her punishing A.B.!

Ms. Meyer told A.B. that she was very concerned about what he had done and that she was going to contact his mother — although she never did.

This was very upsetting to A.B. as he was made to feel that he had done something wrong.

It got worse after that:

On the day of the incident and for an additional two days thereafter, Ms. Meyer required that A.B. sit by himself during lunch and told him he should not talk to the other students and stated that this was because he had offended them. This served to reinforce A.B.’s feeling that he had committed some transgression that justified his exclusion.

All this because he dared to answer a question honestly.

According to court documents, A.B. and his classmates were playing before lunch on the school’s playground Feb. 23. One of his classmates asked him if he went to church.

The boy told her he did not go to church and that he did not believe in God. According to court documents, this upset her, and she told him he hurt her feelings.

The playground supervisor reported it to Meyer, who asked A.B. about it before he went to lunch.

“Meyer asked A.B. if he told the girl that he did not believe in God, and A.B. said he had and asked what he had done wrong,” Falk wrote.

She then asked A.B. about his religious practices, where he went to church and whether his mother knew how he felt about God, according to court documents.

“She also asked A.B. if he believed that maybe God exists,” Falk wrote. “(She) told A.B. she was very concerned about what he had done and that she was going to contact his mother – although she never did.”

The day of the incident and for two days afterward, Meyer made A.B. sit by himself during lunch and told him not to talk to other students because he offended them, according to court documents.

Veida wrote: Could someone explain to me why she thought the kid offended the other kids?

THWOTH wrote:

Veida wrote: Could someone explain to me why she thought the kid offended the other kids?

Because she thought it might cause trouble if the other religious parents found out, and because she's a bit of a bully.

Kuia wrote:We really have no idea what else happened. It is possible that AB did or said more things that have not been included.
He could have been a nasty little toad. We just don't know.

Veida wrote:I'm somewhat baffled by this story. What the teacher (allegedly) did makes no sense to me at all. Could someone explain to me why she thought the kid offended the other kids?

http://www.journalgazette.net/news/loca ... er-7378928

According to court documents, A.B. and his classmates were playing before lunch on the school’s playground Feb. 23. One of his classmates asked him if he went to church.

The boy told her he did not go to church and that he did not believe in God. According to court documents, this upset her, and she told him he hurt her feelings.

Veida wrote:

Is this a kind of punishment that they learn in teacher education?

Veida wrote:It's just so alien to me that a teacher would do something like that to a child.