January 06, 2012

Public school gives out bibles.
posted by bernockle 12 years ago
  • Must be part of sex education. Poor King David wailing about his loins being dried up after his infidelity (and cowardly killing of the girl's father, the Hittite)... Solomon and his Songs of carnal gratification... Abraham and his cult of genital circumcision (taking down the exogamous family that signed on with that when they were too sore to fight back)... Onan being blasted for shooting his seed on a wall... Jesus defending the prostitute at the well. I can see the little kids furtively reading this stuff with a flashlight under the covers. As for the pagan stories, we used to read abridged versions back in grade school. but no Bible stories - that was for after class, back then.
  • I was mildly surprised when I poked around our hotel room in China and didn't find a Gideon's bible. What new Chinese craziness is this?
  • I think that kids should be allowed to pray in schools, but I don't think we ought to go out handing them bibles. Is there much Christianity in China?
  • I'd be all for religious studies in public schools if they entailed unbiased comparative overviews of the major beliefs, including atheism and native religions, along with courses in critical thinking. Simple in concept, unfortunately rather tougher in implementation. Proselytizing for a particular religion with a captive and impressionable audience should however discouraged.
  • *be discouraged*
  • I'm not discouraged anymore. Life is good. Giving thanks for life is the essence of religion.They've all evolved in their own ways toward more humanity. So, yes, let's be fair.
  • Go Pagan mom! That sounds like something I'd do if I had kids (which is probably why I will never have kids!)
  • Way back in the 70s, I attended a Catholic High School (as a non-Catholic, for the alleged educational superiority over public schools at a reasonable tuition). It had Religion as a regular daily class all 4 years, but in the 11th Grade, it got into Comparative Religion, taught by a Jesuit priest who seemed undecided whether to stay in the Catholic Church or become a Buddhist monk. It was an enlightening experience, as it was for most of the Catholic students, many of whom I suspected were being driven away from the Church by the previous 10 years of Catholic Education. There were a few 'devoted' Catholics, mostly jocks, who treated this 'Brother Atheist' with as much disrespect as they could. Another bit of enlightenment.
  • When I was in China, I expected to see Mao's Little Red Book in our hotel room's drawer, but alas, the LRB is primarily sold to tourists these days. However, I did leave China with a super-cool Mao watch that had actually fallen to pieces by the time we arrived back in the US just sitting in the box.