My mother told me about when she was in elementary school in Harrisburg, PA in the late ‘20’s, early ‘30’s around the 3rd grade, the teacher lead the students in “The Lord’s Prayer” but it was the “Protestant” version and she was not allowed to say, even to herself the Catholic version or make the Catholic sign of the Cross and was punished for not conforming. She also told me her few friends who were Jewish were either forced to say the prayer and were punished and ridiculed by the teacher if they didn’t.
This teacher in front of the classroom called my mother a “papist” and an “idolator” for being a Catholic and called the Jewish kids in her class “pickle lickers” and “You Jesus killers” and other vile names.
This same teacher punished my mother for getting a math problem wrong, and in front of the entire classroom, put her over the lap, pulled down her panties and spanked her naked butt while encouraging the class to laugh at her.
My mother never got over this shame and became “math phobic”. My mother was quite intelligent and well-read and excelled in music but was terrified for the rest of her adult life of even trying to do the simplest of math problems because of this teacher.
Thank you very much for sharing that grim story. I feel like the lone voice crying in the wilderness on these threads. I have seen so many Christians do some vile things, and smugly cling to some odd sense of righteousness. It is easy to overlook the differences in Christian denominations when ignorant.