[LuckyNo.Infinity]

I don't think it's necessary to shove the topic of religion aside; you aren't allowed to talk about your own religious or political views to your students because as a public school teacher, you're expected to represent a neutral perspective as not to color the perceptions of your students who are thought by whomever makes those rules to be impressionable... but mostly to avoid accusations of school-sanctioned propaganda and parental drama.

Why not give the floor to the students? If they actually want to discuss religion then that could be a cool opportunity for discourse where you could play referee and teach them something about respecting each others' views. If their questions are about your personal beliefs, that's hardly educational anyway, though I can imagine your frustration in being asked to censor yourself in this way.

I can't speak to the mentality of 2nd graders, really, but teachers are cool and I think that at that age I certainly concerned myself more with what they thought of me than I do now. I know one girl caused quite a stir at home because she wanted her parents to change political parties since elections were coming up and the vast majority of the class' parents were voting differently from hers. Awkward. And that was 2nd grade. Maybe there's something to say about the whole impressionable-child thing, however briefly it lasts with such intensity.