Let’s play Are You Smarter Than a Christian!

(You’ll probably win against this one…)

This is always a fun game. Let’s start with a definition:

a·non·y·mous [uh-non-uh-muhs] adjective

without any name acknowledged, as that of author, contributor, or the like: an anonymous letter to the editor; an anonymous donation.
of unknown name; whose name is withheld: an anonymous author.
lacking individuality, unique character, or distinction: an endless row of drab, anonymous houses.

Say you’re an overly zealous teacher full of God’s Grace, working in a public high school. You find out some students want to form an atheist group at your high school and clearly you can’t let that happen.

You put the kibbosh on that.

But what good is ending it if no one knows about what you did? So, you write an anonymous letter to the atheist author of the student’s devil-worshiping material bragging about how you single-handedly stamped out atheism at your school. Except…you forgot what anonymous means. You idiot.

From the Huffington Post:

An anonymous teacher sent JT Eberhard, high school specialist at the Secular Student Alliance (SSA), an advocacy group for non-religious students, a letter bragging about being able to prevent a student atheist group from forming at his school.

In response, Eberhard investigated and eventually uncovered the identity of the teacher and then wrote a letter to his principal explaining why he believed the educator’s actions were inappropriate and even illegal.

In the letter — which was also posted to his blog — Eberhard notes that students took the initiative to form the group after receiving a brochure from the SSA detailing ways they could become involved with the organization.

It was the text of that brochure that the anonymous teacher criticized and attacked in the initial letter to Eberhard. In return, Eberhard brought what he felt to be the most offensive passages to the administrator’s attention:

“Educational staff has the responsibility of preparing students to be responsible adults. We expect all students to be treated with respect. We are not, however, obligated to protect those who choose to be deviants in society.

Obviously, I would not want to help students down the wrong path. A group tried to form at our school. It was from one of those students that I received this brochure. Not surprisingly, they could not get a teacher to sponsor the club. As educators we are dedicated to conveying the truth to students. If the students are proud of believing there is no God they should not feel like they have to hide it. They should not feel the need for a safe haven.”

Atheists are deviants in society and allowing an atheist group to form would be helping students down the wrong path. Educators are dedicated to conveying the truth and clearly the only truth worth conveying is that God is real and smites free-thinkers.

Eberhard wrote a nasty letter to that guy’s principal explaining how illegal that teacher’s actions were and he’s waiting on a response from school officials.

But!

The best part of this is how Eberhard sniffed out the guy’s identity in the first place: The dude included his regular e-mail address. Not a brand-new throwaway yahoo email or something. His regular e-mail. His regular e-mail that includes his zip code.

So let’s this be a lesson. If you want to brag anonymously about how your religious fervor snuffed out a small little flame of free-thinking, open-mindedness in a group of young persons, you should probably figure out how to actually get something done anonymously.