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.
Quote: Originally Posted by Fiyero
Do you object to them teaching your child that gravity or germs are real?
Quote:
Originally Posted by pentatonic
Are those fact?
Nah, a whole bunch of people made 'em up over thousands of years, writing in dead languages that have been translated and re-translated a thousand different ways.
I grew up at a time when the public schools I attended had daily prayers. My high school required prayer and a Bible reading (students rotated this responsibility; when it was your turn, you read or recited a verse. I mostly picked the Psalms) during homeroom in the morning. At Christmas time, my elementary school had a nativity pageant starring us kids (I got to play Balthazar -- the black wise man -- whose gift was myrrh).; at Easter time, the local movie theatre had a free showing of "The Ten Commandments" which all of us walked from our school to attend, led by our teachers.
None of this had any evil effect on me that I am aware of. I never became a Christian, fundamentalist or otherwise. I certainly do not consider myself intolerant of others, religious or not. But I did become attracted to the beautiful language of the King James Bible, and to the literature of Elizabethan and Jacobean England. This led me into majoring in that field of literature at my university, and helped me begin an academic/teaching career, which on my retirement in April, will have spanned just over forty years.
My point is that by denying young people exposure to religious literature and thought, and making the transmission of politically incorrect writing some sort of thought crime, we are closing off an avenue which can be beneficial in so many ways, and become the source of the kind of enthusiasm for learning among her students which is the goal of any competent teacher. The contemporary political orthodoxy and prejudice against religious language and art in education strikes me as being indicative of precisely the kind of intolerance with which non-believers so often pillory religious people.
To put it more bluntly: how can one intelligently discuss the development and history of the western civilization of which, like it or not, we are the inheritors, without experiencing the literary, musical, artistic, philosophical, and political movements inspired or heavily influenced by Christianity?
I find it ironic that those who would desribe themselves as "progressives" think that they can improve our educational system by restricting access to a vast swath of knowledge out of concern that its content is somehow inimical to their political goals. To me, this sounds suspiciously like what China and other authoritarian regimes are up to by policing the internet and restricting access to certain Google searches.
If we keep denying kids access to the literature we don't like, we're going to end up with a bored and uninspired bunch of kids inhabiting an educational system that values conformism and political correctness more than open inquiry and the excitement that comes from confronting and debating the widest possible variety of beliefs and means of expression.
I grew up at a time when the public schools I attended had daily prayers. My high school required prayer and a Bible reading (students rotated this responsibility; when it was your turn, you read or recited a verse. I mostly picked the Psalms) during homeroom in the morning. At Christmas time, my elementary school had a nativity pageant starring us kids (I got to play Balthazar -- the black wise man -- whose gift was myrrh).; at Easter time, the local movie theatre had a free showing of "The Ten Commandments" which all of us walked from our school to attend, led by our teachers.
None of this had any evil effect on me that I am aware of. I never became a Christian, fundamentalist or otherwise. I certainly do not consider myself intolerant of others, religious or not. But I did become attracted to the beautiful language of the King James Bible, and to the literature of Elizabethan and Jacobean England. This led me into majoring in that field of literature at my university, and helped me begin an academic/teaching career, which on my retirement in April, will have spanned just over forty years.
My point is that by denying young people exposure to religious literature and thought, and making the transmission of politically incorrect writing some sort of thought crime, we are closing off an avenue of learning which can be beneficial in so many ways. The contemporary political orthodoxy and prejudice against religious language and art in education strikes me as being indicative of precisely the kind of intolerance with which non-believers so often pillory religious people.
To put it more bluntly: how can one intelligently discuss the development and history of the western civilization of which, like it or not, we are the inheritors, without experiencing the literary, musical, artistic, philosophical, and political movements inspired or heavily influenced by Christianity?
I find it ironic that those who would desribe themselves as "progressives" think that they can improve our educational system by restricting access to a vast swath of knowledge out of concern that its content is somehow inimical to their political goals. To me, this sounds suspiciously like what China and other authoritarian regimes are up to by policing the internet and restricting access to certain Google searches.
If we keep denying kids access to the literature we don't like, we're going to end up with a bored and uninspired bunch of kids inhabiting an educational system that values conformism and political correctness more than open inquiry and the excitement that comes from confronting and debating the widest possible variety of beliefs and means of expression.
Quote: Originally Posted by Fiyero Do you object to them teaching your child that gravity or germs are real?
Nah, a whole bunch of people made 'em up over thousands of years, writing in dead languages that have been translated and re-translated a thousand different ways.
But we BELIEVE!
Well, continue believing in a theory since you have nothing else to believe in. Your choice. Again, couldn't care less.
What is right and what is wrong? I am sure that the vast majority would agree on these things. You really are dense......
Religious conservative parents often teach their children to dislike gays. Those children then mistreat and bully gays in school. And yet, religious conservatives are typically the ones crying that there is less God and morality in schools.
Do you not see the issue? It's not liberals having their kids sing songs about gay people burning in Hell.
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.
