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Location: In a little house on the prairie - literally
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Floorist
I took a college World Religion class taught by a Christian pastor. He would repeatedly say that there was no logic in any religion except Christianity.
I took several comparative religion classes at university, and one of them was taught by a Catholic priest.
It was one of the best classes I had, and he gave some great understanding on religious history. He had no problems that his class consisted of various types of Christians, some Jews, and a whole stack of atheists. He was just a good prof.
Uhhh that chart is wrong. Jews eat hummus too. And uhhh Buddhists are neither polytheistic nor do they "want" reincarnation. They try to avoid it, actually. And they are usually in the atheist spectrum.
I think you need to look at it as not telling about the characteristics of a particular religious group, but suggesting preference - (I concede some seem a little arbitrary) direction to a particular religion.
I would go with no course in high school. I guess I am a cynic, I think there are enough parents who could never handle a world religions course no matter how well balanced and impartial it was to make it worth the attempt.
I went to Syracuse University in the 1950's, nominally a Methodist school in those days, though you could have escaped knowing it. In 1958, sophomore year, I took a year-long world religions course as my first elective. It was taught by a man who was a minister in the Christian/Disciples of Christ church, but other than the fact that he told the class of his affiliation that was the last time that it entered the course.
It was the most exciting course I took in college. The textbook was excellent, and the course he had constructed and his enthusiasm in teaching it were nothing short of magnificent. It enriched many of the other courses in the rest of my higher education experience. It was the single best course I took at the University, and opened up so many doors of investigation for me that it has had the most pervasive and lasting impact on my life of any course I took. And the man who taught it was because of this course one of the biggest influences on my life.
But an American high school?...in these times? Forget it. American Christians are hardly more ready for it than Sunni fundamentalists. The U.S., Iran, Pakistan....it won't fly.
It would have to be someone of no more than moderate religiosity themselves, to be sure. I would prefer that to be an atheist, but a liberal Christian or Jew could be fine. If they were an atheist, it probably wouldn't best be someone who is as negatively disposed towards religion as myself, but someone who has a basic level of respect for other cultures.
I think that one of my Religious Education teachers was an atheist and the second was a Christian. We all assumed that the first one was a Christian (because he was teaching us about religion), but he assured us that he didn't actually believe in any of them, but merely had an interest in religion. It felt really strange when I found out that my second RE teacher was a Christian (I heard 2nd hand that he was spotted praying outside his classroom). It always did feel strange to me to learn that someone was religious.
In any case, I think that both provided reasonable balance. The first teacher didn't teach me that all religion was idiotic and the 2nd did not convert me to Christianity.
My father is a teacher and an atheist who likes to focus on religion. I think that he would provide a fairly balanced assessment of religion, without converting (or attempting to convert) all of his students to militant atheism.
i don't think comparative religion classes belong in high school. university yes, but not high school.
in high school learning world history and USA history there is enough religion mentioned as far as leaders and wars, and other cultures are also covered in those classes.
because until a student learns the history and geography and timelines, the religions aren't going to make sense anyway.
I think you underestimate the capacity for intelligence of sixteen and seventeen year olds.
you underestimate the abuse of power by adults seeking to indoctrinate and promote a personal or political rant or agenda. no church in schools is pretty clear. not on my taxpayers dime. in college they can foot the bill. i'd rather see ethics classes taught in high school that examine and explore areas of behavior and taking responsibility for our thought, speech, action, attitudes, beliefs, and choices. Things like bullying; honesty; cheating; kindness; why it is important how we act towards others. Tie events in history and on the world stage directly to our own personal interactions. So they can see the direct connection that hate leads to war. Things like that.
Last edited by Tzaphkiel; 12-27-2015 at 09:17 AM..
No, I don't. You're working hard to try to dodge and evade taking accountability for the categorical statements you've made. Stop doing so.
Again: I think you underestimate the capacity for intelligence of sixteen and seventeen year olds.
Teenagers are easily susceptible to brain washing. Teachers should be unbiased, but most are not.
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