Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
That one would be opinion, because it's commonly held that they are born that way. So "people are born gay" would be a common assertion, "people choose to be gay" would be an opinion. There is no non-debatable proof to either statement, so it could not be fact.
That is the difference...to be a fact there must be no room at all for debate.
Regardless of what the right answer is, it would tell you zero about the teacher's personal opinion on gays is, because it's based on the textbook rules she is using or at least her interpretation of them, not her opinions.
The question of the reason for homosexual predilections tends to involve three factors: nature (born that way), nurture (raised that way), or simply choice (prefer that way).
People's opinions about the reasons for homosexual predilections are unlikely to cause anyone trauma in the way that undermining the validity of one's faith does, unless, of course, the teacher was being unkind, as there may have been homosexuals in her classroom.
I'm sure the differentiation between opinion, fact, and common assertion could have been accomplished without delving into such personal matters.
Blue is the prettiest color, school is fun, spiders are scary, Kate Upton and George Clooney are ugly --- all Opinions because they're not 'debatable,' all subjective not subject to evidence.
imo, the main points of disagreement are with using a God statement in the lesson and whether the teacher in any way stated or implied that God did not exist. You think using There is a God was just fine and she never said anything to dissuade the children from accepting God as real.
Even the super-liberal Salon recognized that using God in the lesson was a bad idea:
"But aside from the fact that Wooley’s version of what went down has been called into question and whether she was truly called to “renounce her faith,” the fact remains that God doesn’t belong on a school assignment in the first place. ... The assignment was not heretical; it was just dumb. And those aren’t opinions. They’re facts."
It probably wasn't the best choice in hindsight, in fact because people are so defensive about their beliefs being referred to as *gasp* beliefs, clearly it wasn't...but again it is not IMO the giant overblown deal people are making it, and I continue to maintain the teacher's views on God were never part of it.
I do believe in God, btw, although I'm not a big fan of organized religion (this thread offers hints as to why, lol)
Unless a person does have sufficient evidence to support his belief that God exists (and, btw, study a bit of the epistemological meaning of "belief"--that's not a black/white definition, either). If a person has sufficient evidence supporting his belief in God, then God is a fact for him. And he will say that his "faith" is not in the basic existence of God but rather in some other characteristic of what he believes about God.
What is "sufficient evidence?" Did OJ kill Nicole? I can line up evidence--all empirical--that will convince one group of people that he did, yet another group of people will say that evidence is insufficient.
So the problem with that question on the test is that it fails for the person who believes he does have sufficient evidence. The test should actually have been written in the form of:
1. A belief held by an individual without supporting evidence is:
A. An opinion
B. A commonplace assertion
C. A factual claim
2. A belief held with supporting evidence is:
A. A commonplace assertion
B. An opinion
C. A factual claim
3. A belief held by many people without supporting evidence is:
A. A factual claim
B. An opinion
C. A commonplace assertion
However, the basic lesson lacks accuracy. Even with supporting evidence, you really only have a hypothesis until it's been rigorously proven by robust continued collection of more data and true attempts to prove all other hypotheses.
Well i drove the nicole to OJ house myself and there was plenty of time for him to have killed her and that was a HUGE part of his defense- not enough time. So with all the actual evidence (blood and testimony) I would say hell yeah he did it.
Now- God is something people believe in. They have FAITH- and the definition of FAITH is b (1) : firm belief in something for which there is no proof (2) : complete trust
Watch when Christmas comes, the story will be different. Then all of a sudden Christmas becomes a God thing.....good thing these people don't have a tail!
Christmas is never a God thing in schools.. Nary a xmas carol is sung. Santa is a commercial non religious holiday. You only have to involve Jesus if you intentionally choose to.
That one would be opinion, because it's commonly held that they are born that way. So "people are born gay" would be a common assertion, "people choose to be gay" would be an opinion. There is no non-debatable proof to either statement, so it could not be fact.
That is the difference...to be a fact there must be no room at all for debate.
Regardless of what the right answer is, it would tell you zero about the teacher's personal opinion on gays is, because it's based on the textbook rules she is using or at least her interpretation of them, not her opinions.
Cripes, now you're getting into how often a 12 year-old happens to hear a particular statement and whether there's what to you is debatable proof. In fact, you've made this so complicated that you've confused yourself. Many people do assert that people choose to be gay, so if there's debatable proof as you claim, the statement will be a Common Assertion, not an Opinion.
That one would be opinion, because it's commonly held that they are born that way. So "people are born gay" would be a common assertion, "people choose to be gay" would be an opinion. There is no non-debatable proof to either statement, so it could not be fact.
And yet, I am personally acquainted with women who have told me that they are gay by choice.
Quote:
That is the difference...to be a fact there must be no room at all for debate.
That is far less often the case than you might think. What you think is a "fact" is almost always a matter of context, perception, and personal acceptance.
Did you know that if you duplicated Galileo's falling body experiments with modern timing devices, it would prove scientifically that heavier objects always fall faster than lighter objects?
Quote:
Regardless of what the right answer is, it would tell you zero about the teacher's personal opinion on gays is, because it's based on the textbook rules she is using or at least her interpretation of them, not her opinions.
The question does not have to be demonstrative of the teacher's opinion for it to be offensive to students beyond the boundaries permitted in the school environment.
Well i drove the nicole to OJ house myself and there was plenty of time for him to have killed her and that was a HUGE part of his defense- not enough time. So with all the actual evidence (blood and testimony) I would say hell yeah he did it.
As I said: I can line up evidence--all empirical--that will convince one group of people that he did, yet another group of people will say that evidence is insufficient.
As I also just said: What you think is a "fact" is almost always a matter of context, perception, and personal acceptance.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
yourself. Many people do assert that people choose to be gay, so if there's debatable proof as you claim, the statement will be a Common Assertion, not an Opinion.
