Christian music on bus

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get earphones. Driver has a hard job; let him listen to his preferred music.

What if his preferred music were Eminem and the like? Would you say the same thing?

Then if the parent were criticizing folks would say that she is narrow-minded and insensitive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OMG, imagine that! A teacher playing O Come All Ye Faithful or Oh Little Town of Bethlehem during the Christmas season! Imagine! Oh wait, I don't have to.

That would stir up the Warriors against Christmas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ask about the iPods. I would not ask if the driver can be forced to stop playing his or her music as long as it didn't contain explicit language.

Driver should not be playing religious music.

Technically, this poster is correct. You could make a stink about it from a 1st Amendment perspective, since the bus company is employed by the state, yadda, yadda, yadda.

From a practical perspective, however, antagonizing a person like a bus driver who has the power to make your child's life more difficult for a principle is probably not worth it.

If it's really an issue for your kid, get him/her an iPod and move on.

Employment lawyer. This is not correct at all.

The First Amendment does the exact opposite of what you are implying. It guarantees us the right to express our religious beliefs in our workplace. In fact, even federal employees can play "Christian Music" and put up Christmas Trees.

The bus driver can't proselytize to the kids, tell them about Jesus, pray with them, or insult their faiths. But she/he can certainly enjoy her Christian music.

And I highly doubt there is anything whatsoever in this music that speaks to devils, Satan, etc.

Your analogy to playing Christian Music in an office doesn't quite work here, counselor. The bus in this case is more akin to a classroom. And the bus driver, in a position of authority over the children on the bus, is more like a teacher. The argument would then follow that the bus driver playing any music that arguably espouses religious doctrine - "God is good" "Praise the Lord" - would violate the child's 1st Amendment rights.

That being said, I would favor going with an iPod and pick a different battle.

If most school bus situations are akin to the classrooms, then God (yes, God) help our schools!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get earphones. Driver has a hard job; let him listen to his preferred music.

What if his preferred music were Eminem and the like? Would you say the same thing?

Then if the parent were criticizing folks would say that she is narrow-minded and insensitive.

No they wouldn't. Very few people are going to say that it's ok to play Eminem on an elementary-school school bus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The bus driver probably has the radio tuned to 91.9, WGTS -- all positive.

If the driver is in a positive, upbeat, life affirming, values driven -- and non-stressful -- state of mind, then that's the kind of person I want driving my kid and everyone else on the school bus.

[Anonymous]

Wow it looks like all the burden/responsibility of instilling and developing and reinforcing the ethics and values you want for your child is solely on you. I can't imagine what that must be like - to live in a world where YOU have to raise your own kid amidst all the distractions and dangers and not sit back and simply rely on the rest of society to do it for you. Oh the horror...boy all those other mom's and dad's out there who don't have to worry about such inconveniences sure are lucky.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here- wow, I kind of feel sorry for people who feel the need to be bitchy or snarky anonymously. Maybe my six-year-old is a little confused, but he has been exposed to almost 200 hours of doctrine that our family does not believe in. I am not trying to protect him from the world or other beliefs systems, but I find that that much time with anything is likely to be a little confusing for a young child. Hence the nightmares, which are being dealt with but I was hoping to diminish. Luckily he has been allowed to sit in the back of the bus, which should limit that exposure.

If your kid is having nightmares about hell, it is not the bus driver's music that is for sure.

You need to look elsewhere for what is causing the nightmares. Start at home and work out from there.

+1 It's normal for 6 yr olds to have nightmares. Mine has been having them about robbers even though DC has never been exposed to one, and we don't talk about them at home. DC probably picked it up at school or something.

+2. It's at this age that most normally-developing kids start to think about death.

Does your religion have a hell? Maybe that's where he's getting it. Because your kid isn't hearing about it in gospel songs, which I get that you wouldn't know unless you were familiar with them, but as other PPs said, gospel songs are all about heaven.

Nobody sings about hell. Why would you sing about something like that?!

(FWIW, OP strikes me as a little fishy. Either a troll or a wannabe victim who is exaggerating her case.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We do teach tolerance. A lot. Big part or our religious tradition. Just want to minimize exposure.

Tolerance =/= zero exposure. Appreciation of diversity =/= shielding your kid from other points of view.

Sorry, a lot of what you write doesn't make sense, including the statement above. You use the word "minimize" but what you're actually saying is, "I don't want my kid exposed to another religion, period."

If you really value diversity, you will use this as a teaching opportunity, to explain "we believe something different, for X, Y and Z reasons." As your kid gets older it's going to be harder and harder to keep him in your bubble, so you might as well start explaining now.

OP is one of those people who want to expose her child to other religions clinically, like a social experiment, and pats herself on the back for being so open-minded, but is struck with terror at the thought that one of those religions may actually *affect* or *touch* her child in any way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get earphones. Driver has a hard job; let him listen to his preferred music.

What if his preferred music were Eminem and the like? Would you say the same thing?

Then if the parent were criticizing folks would say that she is narrow-minded and insensitive.

Uh, no. There's a difference between tolerance for other cultures and tolerance for porn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow it looks like all the burden/responsibility of instilling and developing and reinforcing the ethics and values you want for your child is solely on you. I can't imagine what that must be like - to live in a world where YOU have to raise your own kid amidst all the distractions and dangers and not sit back and simply rely on the rest of society to do it for you. Oh the horror...boy all those other mom's and dad's out there who don't have to worry about such inconveniences sure are lucky.

FYI - that was sarcasm. EVERY parent has to deal with similar issues of struggling to navigate their child upstream against the current of cultural distractions and dangers in the outside world. There are Christians everywhere but not everyone is Christian. There are televisions everywhere but not everyone watches tv. There are dialects and expressions everywhere but not everyone speaks the same language or uses the same terminology. You get my drift? Exposure is a part of life and good parenting is not about shielding our children from exposures but enabling them to embrace themselves so they are not susceptible to those exposures while still open-minded enough to respect others appreciation for those exposures. In my opinion you're going about this all wrong. Quit complaining about the bus driver and concentrate on your child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Doubt the music is about damnation. Christian music that I've heard is always very upbeat or positive, sometimes syrupy, but not scary.

The stuff I hear is about how horrible the person is and so lucky to be saved by Jesus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We do teach tolerance. A lot. Big part or our religious tradition. Just want to minimize exposure.

Tolerance =/= zero exposure. Appreciation of diversity =/= shielding your kid from other points of view.

Sorry, a lot of what you write doesn't make sense, including the statement above. You use the word "minimize" but what you're actually saying is, "I don't want my kid exposed to another religion, period."

If you really value diversity, you will use this as a teaching opportunity, to explain "we believe something different, for X, Y and Z reasons." As your kid gets older it's going to be harder and harder to keep him in your bubble, so you might as well start explaining now.

OP is one of those people who want to expose her child to other religions clinically, like a social experiment, and pats herself on the back for being so open-minded, but is struck with terror at the thought that one of those religions may actually *affect* or *touch* her child in any way.

I agree! Get over it or go live in a bubble!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get earphones. Driver has a hard job; let him listen to his preferred music.

What if his preferred music were Eminem and the like? Would you say the same thing?

I like Eminem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So....my child is bussed to a magnet school about 45 minutes each way. Turns out the driver plays Christian music a lot, and he has my child sit up front due to his height and impulsivity issues. We are not Christian and my child had some serious issues last year -nightmares about the devil and hell, confusion about our faith tradition, etc. last year. Can I ask him not to play Christian music? Can kids bring iPods on the bus?

If your son is confused and having issues, you're the cause.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If music is violent, obscene, racist, sexist, or homophobic, etc I would object. If it is sappy Christian praise music I would let it go. (I am a Christian who hates praise music and think it distorts true Christian doctrine.)

How does praise music distort Christian doctrine -- we are supposed to be praising God. Weird