Sharon Gilbert (9 Mar 2014)
"That's Monotheism, All Right"



My residence is in Arizona and by trade I substitute teach.  I was substitute teaching a 3-hour World History high school night class earlier this week.  The students were making posters to demonstrate different aspects of early World History:  origins of man, Mesopotamia, agricultural revolution, rise of civilization, Hinduism, Buddhism, monotheism were some of the topics.
 
Noticeably missing was Judaism being called by name which existed simultaneously with the other two religions and produced our Old Testament portion of the Bible.  I wondered if anyone would take origins of man and attempt to show an ape transitioning into a man since evolution was presumably taught.  I wondered what the reaction would be if someone made a poster of the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve, the snake and the forbidden fruit?  No one selected that topic, though.
 
When the students turned in their posters, monotheism was the last. and I looked at it and said, "Wow".  Then, "That's good" and just put it with the rest.  To depict monotheism a group of hispanic boys had drawn Christ's crucifixion showing the blood of Jesus being shed, at the top of a big hill, and the hill was filled with people in modern day dress who were bowing down.
 
That's monotheism, all right.  I'm glad some students still get it, and I hope their poster gets displayed with the rest.