Blog #3 - Is the church and state really separate?

There is a saying that is popular in the school systems and nearby church congregations. Separation of Church and State. This blog is not to criticize any one religion or lack thereof, only to bring awareness of the topic of religion in school, and to exercise my thoughts and wonderings about the topic.
As we are reading these Young Adult Literature books, one thing keeps occurring to me. I was raised in a Christian household. We attending church every Sunday morning and night, on Wednesday nights, and whenever there was a church event; we were there. My parents raised me strongly in the Christian beliefs. As a child I was surrounded by the beliefs that they wanted us to learn, and was sheltered from the worldly things they did not want us to learn. As I grew up, I went through the stage of decided for myself what it was that I believed, or didn't believe. Some of my original black and white decisions became a blurry grey as they became more and more complex the more I found out who I was and what I believed.
I was always raised to love the sinner and hate the sin. That is what my parents taught me, and that is what the Bible said. So that is the way that I lived and am still living. I believe that being transgender is wrong because God said it was wrong. But, that doesn't mean that I will love that student less than the others. That does not mean that I will not treat them with respect and love and encouragement. I believe that suicide is wrong in every corner of what is wrong or right. But that doesn't mean that I will ridicule a student considering it, it doesn't mean that I will treat them any different. I believe that God created everyone in his image, everyone is special and God loves every single one of us. That means that he loves the deformed, the crazy, the insane, the mentally messed up, and every single different race or color of skin. So, why shouldn't we?
So, in reading these books, my internal belief system kicks in. I disagree with a lot of what these books are talking about. But, I understand that these kinds of situations happen in our world. So, here is my question. As teachers, how do we approach controversial topics or books without completely shutting off someone's internal moral compass? The one thing that I was never afraid of as a student was to speak my mind and speak out for my beliefs. Yes, sometimes I was attacked or made fun of. That was not the point. I stood up for what I believed. I loved to debate and argue my point. However, not every student is like me. How do we as teachers, have debates and discussions with our students and make these religious students feel safe enough to speak their mind? Everyone is entitled to their opinions, both religious and non. Furthermore, I believe that the majority of the parents that would have an issue with these books would be the religious parents. So, as teachers, how do we address the controversial topics and make them known to our parents and make them feel comfortable with the books?
These are all questions that each teacher must address in his or her own way. You don't even have to have an answer. This was food for thought, to keep in mind that not everyone has to agree on the same thing. It is possible for people to disagree and not hate each other, to disagree and have deep and conventional conversations with one another. It is important to remember that each student is special in their own way though each one is different in their own way. Even the Bible has been banned from schools just like some of our YAL books. It is important to keep this in mind as we travel the unknown waters of these topics and the books that go along with them.