I can understand why a student might feel threatened when a fellow student angrely rips up a symbol of her belief system right in front of her.

Quote from the article:

Some Janesville parents said that they're concerned that in this incident, in which a student allegedly tore pages from a Bible, the balance between the two was tipped toward the First Amendment, WISC-TV reported.

As many Parker High School students get ready for Christmas break, junior Elle Jacobson is at home and will not be returning like her friends.

"I have never felt threatened like that in a classroom before," said Jacobson.

The 17-year-old is talking about an incident in her English class two weeks ago during a class presentation.

"This boy got up and his visual aid was a Bible and a book. And he got up and started his speech by saying 'Now, this piece of crap' and pointed to the Bible."

Jacobson said that she quickly felt threatened

"He took the Bible and he said, 'I'm going to do this because I can. I'm going to do something that your stupid, little minds aren't going to be able to comprehend and he took the Bible and started ripping out pages."

Does that mean that I think the student meant to threaten the other students?  I don't assume so.  As a matter of fact, I think there's a case to be made for temporary insanity.  The boy is a teenager going through an Ayn Rand phase.  Of course he's selfish, arrogant, self-centered and has a need to elevate himself and demean the others around him, and of course that need has a slightly destructive and sadistic edge to it.  Don't worry, they usually reach their peak with Atlas Shrugged, and fall off somewhere in the middle of The Fountainhead.  And even if they don't, they become too busy trolling websites in support of Ron Paul to be a real threat to anyone.

But in a culture where many Christians are constantly trained to expect that everyone hates them, that they are on the verge of terrible persecution, and are trained to expect hate and violence as the consequence of their beliefs...is it any wonder that the students felt threatened?

Even without that indoctrination and training, if you see a symbol of your identity attacked in front of you in this way, it is threatening.

People should probably try to avoid doing things that a reasonable person would find threatening.  Especially in school, where people should feel safe.

The father in this instance is outraged that the school is being careful of the boy's constitutional right to free speech, and feels that they are compromising his daughter's safety.  I wonder if he would feel the same way if someone got kicked out of school for wearing a tee-shirt with certain laws from Leviticus printed on them?

 And I even though I can understand how the girl might feel threatened by the boy's actions...what's with letting her stay home?  I don't see any reason to believe that she is actually in any real danger from a book-ripping Rand-head.

Seems to me that there's a fair amount of silliness on all sides of this issue.  If only they could talk about the issues, find some common ground, share a goal...

Now, let me see...who could bring these two camps together...Christians with a strong reverance for the Bible as a holy relic to be venerated above free speech...and impulsive drama-prone Ayn Rand fans with a crusader complex...

YES!  Ron Paul!  He is the answer!  He alone can heal this terrible rift.

(Hat Tip: Pharyngula)