Hey guys. I'm back, with a story for you to analyze.
Today I was in English class discussing old Anglo-Saxon texts, things I'm very interested in that other students aren't, but that's because I pitch a tent in my pants every time the word "Viking" or "Berserker" is mentioned.
Well, I was out the previous day because I had to leave school early to go see the Big Four at Yankee Stadium (EPIC! SLAYER!) and missed an in-class assignment about a text that involved an open-ended response. Today the other kids in my class reviewed each other's work and had to revise their responses. The teacher was passing out folders for us to put future SAT-related assignments in (I plan on getting a perfect score on that-almost did it with the PSAT last year in Soph year) and that we could put some designs on the folder to make it unique and what not, go home and past pictures of dudes or post a quote, whatever.
I was being myself, every notebook I have has a pentagram on it (see above) and I'm very cool about my Satanism, my Soph Teachers who knew I was a Satanist were cool about it, my English teacher Mr. Portas was actually very interested and enjoyed my standpoint on various responses from last year. So I draw a pentagram in the top-right corner on the front and turn the folder around, and proceed to write in big letters, my favorite quote. From Oppenheimer, the "Father of the Atom Bomb", "I am become DETH, the destroyer of WORLDS".
Sure, it was a bit more theatrical than when usually uttered, and it took up the entire back-portion of the folder, but I was being me, and I've received a lot of support from my peers and educators because of my eccentricity. My teacher proceeds to grab my folder and declare "Okay, we're going to do this again, we're not going to have Satanic symbols, and.." he flipped the folder over to the quote and pointed at it, "This garbage when it comes to the SAT's".
He proceeded to rip the folder in half and threw it out, and gave me a new one. I was being all neat with the heading too, the "Name-SAT Practice-Teacher Name" heading, showing I could be strange but incredibly well-versed.
I brought up the fact that when the Sophmore class goes on a local church's "Antioch" retreat, they can wear shirts displaying a quote form the Bible and get no backlash from the school. He responded by saying the folder was school property, which I can... half-way understand, but the fact of selective religious admittance still pissed me off.
So now I plot how I'm to deal with this situation. Is there anger? Yes. Am I going to be a child like him and rip up my problem? No. I just want a few responses to this tale of mine.
And one last note before the "-Chillz", at the end of last year we were to put together a portfolio of our best works over the year, and add a few more pieces of writing. I adored the project, and made the cover stand out from the traditional "scrapbook" style most kids had, I adorned it with flip-up pages, black paper, and a goat-pentagram on the front. Mr. Portas adored the aesthetic, ate up my tone and content, and I earned 225 out of a potential 250 points for the project. For those who aren't mathematically gifted, that's a 90 percent grade, an A-. He was able to look past my faith and see my content for what it was, or when he did acknowledge me faith, see how it affected my content for the better, as it should be. In my opinion, what my current English Teacher did was childish and shows strong religious bias, something NEVER permitted in public schools (especially a public school that's rated 6th best in the state of New Jersey). Maybe I'm wrong. Give some input!
And if, IF, your teacher still wasn't satisfied and if I wanted to be a smart ***, I would say something along the lines of "You know, Lennon was bigger than Jesus."
The teacher would most likely ignore the quote though. It would still be awesome though!
Oh, sorry, as for what you should actually do, you should talk to your teacher. I highly doubt you literally believe in Satan. I believe you should explain why you drew what you drew, said what you said, and explain the message you are trying to portray. If you don't want to get in trouble and you actually want to do well in said class, then you should be polite instead of being an ******** (something I would do).
First of all, I'm almost positive that you're not really a satanist. You may claim to be a satanist, draw pentagrams and inverted crosses - I know that neither of those things are actually evil or satanic or what have you, they're just as examples - and make up rules about a religion. You're shouting to the world that you're a satanist, and I think it has a lot less to do with your actual religious beliefs, and a lot more about getting attention. You're probably an atheist who wants to be a "nonconformist", "rebel", etc. So congratulations, you have now officially been left out due to your religion.
On topic: you have the right to draw whatever you want on any folder you please, provided that it belongs to you. However, the folder in question is the school's property, not yours. So, the school has the ability to control what you do to its folder, just like it has the ability to control what you do to its desks, or any of its other equipment. So while the teacher may have overreacted a little bit by tearing it up, the point still stands: you should not have drawn on the folder, no matter what it was. The actual drawings may have had something to do with it, but seriously, Satanism is not your actual belief. It's more like one of those Pastafarian Flying Spaghetti Monster things. You can stop now. Or you can explain to the teacher about it, and hope that he understands. If you really care about a test or an assignment, you should not doodle on the folder. I had a teacher once who refused to take one of my homework assignments because it was crinkled and there was a small tear(not near the writing, but off in the margins). The reasoning is simple. How well you treat the paper, and the folder, and everything else, reflects how much you care about the test. If you really cared about getting a good grade on a certain test or assignment, then you would be careful with it. Doodling all over it shows a certain irreverence. If you really NEED to doodle pentagrams all over stuff, then carry a notepad with you to school, and doodle on that. Don't doodle on your work, or the school's stuff.
I remember in 5th grade that whenever anyone mentioned religion our teachers told us not to talk about it, but now that I look back I could've gone all 1st amendment on them.
And they could've gone all seperation of church and state on you.
In that case, then the teacher was the one in the wrong completely. Chillz was well within his rights.
Not necessarily. If he had drawn a crescent moon with a star, and written on the back "I am become OSAMA", I'm sure it would have gotten a similar reaction, regardless of his personal beliefs. Satanism, while not terrorism, can be just as deeply offensive, and it was Chillz's(?) fault for not keeping that in mind.
I'd just say, whether you're a Satanist, Catholic, or atheist (or any number of other forms of belief), it's best to keep your beliefs at home or in your church or with other like-minded people. School doesn't exist so you can express your love for the Dark Lord (or God, or Allah, etc.).
But yeah, would you draw a KKK or Those Nazi Symbols on the back of a folder?
The KKK had a symbol? Burning cross?
^ Most of that was supposed to be quoted, but whatever.
yea that shouldof been quoted since at first I thought you were making fun of him, and don't go onto those websites before looking up satanism on wiki, there are two kinds of that religion, i quote using wiki
Theistic Satanists venerate Satan as a supernatural deity. In contrast, Atheistic Satanists[3] consider themselves atheists, agnostics, or apatheists and regard Satan as merely symbolic of certain human traits.
So I think I remember chillz saying in another forum that he is the Atheistic Satanist, so he wouldn't be doing any of those things you posted.
I would think a genius would be very well aware of the biases of people... and that a genius would accommodate for those biases in his life so that he could glean the most out of his time here on earth. To just ignore something so obvious and to refuse to acknowledge it just doesn't seem very smart. I think people judge things based off of their own experiences and/or what hits the closest to home. The connotation of Christianity to a lot of people who follow it doesn't come from its past... It comes from the mission trips, the charity, the helping with disaster relief that they've taken part in. (not saying that you can't be otherwise and still do those things)... the connotation I believe most non satanist people have for satanism is something along the lines of militant atheists who just want a little more attention... or who just like to argue and possibly be *** holes (...No, 314d1, I do not mean that they think satanists are rectal orifices)
So, people view satanism as either a group for people who aren't really how they say they are or deranged people who do stuff like the cited source. There are other stories I've read (true or not... I do not know) where a kid killed and ate his mother in the name of satan. Or maybe it was actually this. The, "devil made me do it," bit doesn't help you too much in the eyes of your peers. You might very well love your dark lord, but if you can't discern that people are going to be opposed to you for any of those reasons, then you might want to question your genius. It's not hard to see that someone might not want to see those symbols just the same as they wouldn't want you drawing swastikas, KKK, and hanging minority ethnic groups from trees on your folder. You're completely ignoring the avoidance of hate groups factor... Not everyone will liken them to those other groups, but I can see how some might.
So I think I remember chillz saying in another forum that he is the Atheistic Satanist, so he wouldn't be doing any of those things you posted.
He has used "Paradise Lost" as argument for Satan being the real true good force. He cited the author's statement on having had a "muse/angel" tell him the true story. Either that was frivolous extra crap or he worships satan his lord and master.... or he hasn't gotten his story straight which would imply shenanigans.
