Speaking as someone who was brought up in an Atheist household
I can't really emphasize with much of the Catholic/Protestant stuff, but here's some advice.

If you've saved up enough money (or have other means of support) to do your own thing and there's a project you've always wanted to do, do it! Perhaps you should try reading the Manual (I've not read it yet but I heard it describes this sort of thing). Just make sure you don’t get sucked into b3ta or you’ll never get anything done.

As for spoon-feeding your students, try something to make them feel ashamed of themselves. The subtler, the more manoeuvrability you have if ever you get dragged in front of the HR disciplinary committee. Perhaps instead of a belltower and blood on the quad, you should let their badly spelled e-mails build up to the point where nearly every student has sent one and then go on a mass spelling-correction spree and tell them exactly what's on your mind re spoon-feeding. The campus cleaners will forever be grateful to you.
( mistaspakkaman and the inedible shifting caterpillars, Fri 23 May 2008, 13:38, Reply)