quote:

ORIGINAL: FatDomDaddy

There will be a TON of Catholic bashing against Rudi

and even more Morman bashing against Mitt Romney.

The press will do whatever it can to hide Obama's Islamic past

And if Leiberman get in.... look for the Anti- Jewish sentiment to rear its ulgy head.

quote:

ORIGINAL: FatDomDaddy

There will be a TON of Catholic bashing against Rudi

and even more Morman bashing against Mitt Romney.

The press will do whatever it can to hide Obama's Islamic past

And if Leiberman get in.... look for the Anti- Jewish sentiment to rear its ulgy head.

quote:

ORIGINAL: hisannabelle

minnetar,

out of curiosity, how do you feel about religious clubs in high schools? for example, fellowship of christian athletes was a major club at our high school, and yet there would have been an uprising had anyone tried to start a student group for a different religion. do you have the same view of religious-based clubs and organizations in public schools? if not, what's different?

annabelle.

quote:

ORIGINAL: hisannabelle

eh, and yet again, that's where my "why it should be offered as an elective" argument comes in, but i think i've already said that til i'm blue in the face.

since when do we hold guns to kids' heads and force them to take electives, anyway?

quote:

ORIGINAL: Musicmystery

As the U.S. enters (earlier than ever) a new political season (in the middle of an elective war) in anticipation of the 2008 presidential election, will religion again play a major role? Should it, given the U.S. Constitution? Does the U.S. risk becoming a one party state? Or a religious dictatorship? Here's my view--

http://writingtrue.blogspot.com/2007/05/clery-in-goat-line.html

What's yours?

Thanks,

Tim

quote:

ORIGINAL: hisannabelle

minnetar,

out of curiosity, how do you feel about religious clubs in high schools? for example, fellowship of christian athletes was a major club at our high school, and yet there would have been an uprising had anyone tried to start a student group for a different religion. do you have the same view of religious-based clubs and organizations in public schools? if not, what's different?

annabelle.

quote:

ORIGINAL: simmie

You can’t teach history without touching on religion.   As a middle school social studies teacher (teaching medieval to early modern times), we discuss religion on a daily basis in my classroom.  I am lucky that the curriculum chosen by my district deals with different religions in a historical perspective.  Understanding people’s biases, I volunteered to be on the committee that chose the series we would use.  I was impressed that the committee (of elementary and middle school history teachers) wanted to make sure it was as neutral as possible.  And in this P.C. climate, publishers strive for that as well.  It’s not like teachers make up what they are teaching.  For good or ill, teaching is very standards driven, with a constant look towards what is on state tests.  I know in my district that is where the focus is.  And sadly, “fluffy” subjects like history, humanities, science, art, music, drama, etc. take a back seat to language arts and math.

I always encourage my students to ask questions.  Raised a Christian (but no longer one), I admit to myself my limited knowledge on other religions.  I research my lessons ahead of time.  If I don't know an answer, I tell them flat out that I don't know.  Then we research the answer together.  I've also made it clear that I'm not trying to get students to believe one way or another, but that they need to realize things don't exist in a bubble all by themselves.  I also respect their curiosity about my personal religious beliefs but decline to answer and explain why I choose to keep them personal.

quote:

ORIGINAL: minnetar

quote:

ORIGINAL: hisannabelle

greetings musicmystery,

the simple fact is that the catholic church is in many ways a political entity. as perhaps the most organized major religious denomination, the catholic church has much more of an ability to say things like that than, say, one buddhist teacher writing in one part of the world might. the simple fact is, the catholic church has a specific leader and a specific body of beliefs. this lends itself more to the kind of political moves you write about in your blog.

overall, i do not believe that in the united states (or in most developed countries), religion should play a role in government. i hope that this election will lose some of the religious overtones that have characterized the past two elections; i hope that the anti-islamic patriotic christian frenzy that ensued after 9/11 will die down somewhat. it's kind of stifling for the rest of us (the, uh, non-christian minority). whatever happened to protecting the rights of the minority? isn't there something about that in the constitution, after all? only a few weeks ago did pagans in the military finally get the right to have a pentagram on their grave markers, after a long and bitter fight.

i also hope that one day people will realize that it is possible to teach religion in public schools without a) pushing/promoting christianity, or any other religion, as the one right true and only way and b) "tempting" the impressionable little children away from it. one of my biggest religion/government bitches is that the only place i have ever found any understanding for the separation between theology and religious studies is within the confines of a university. sorry, the whole "god in schools" debate is one of my biggest problems with the way government has handled religion.

anyway, i definitely agree with your blog, particularly the points you made about being pro-choice.

annabelle.

Annabelle,
how could religion be taught in school when there are children who are agnostics or atheists?  Is that fair to them?

minnetar

quote:

ORIGINAL: NorthernGent


Although not remotely religious myself, I found learning about Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam etc fascinating. As part of our religious education at school, we also discussed euthanasia, abortion, sex etc.

I suppose it depends on how religious education is taught. If it's used to ram Christianity or Islam down someone's throat, then that isn't my idea of education, but if there's an attempt to discuss the philosophy (and dogma) behind all religions, and their relevance to the modern day, then I would say it would be enlightening, as well as providing an individual with a more rounded education. Personally, I'd like to see philosophy become a core part of schooling.

quote:

Personally, I'd like to see philosophy become a core part of schooling.

quote:

ORIGINAL: hisannabelle

i have a question, though; do you also believe government teachers should be honest and forthright about their political beliefs? because that was one particular thing my government teacher in high school absolutely refused to talk about on the basis that he was teaching politics from as an unbiased perspective as possible. personally, i would see the concept of teaching religion in high school the same way.

quote:

ORIGINAL: outlier

quote:

ORIGINAL: NorthernGent


Although not remotely religious myself, I found learning about Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam etc fascinating. As part of our religious education at school, we also discussed euthanasia, abortion, sex etc.

I suppose it depends on how religious education is taught. If it's used to ram Christianity or Islam down someone's throat, then that isn't my idea of education, but if there's an attempt to discuss the philosophy (and dogma) behind all religions, and their relevance to the modern day, then I would say it would be enlightening, as well as providing an individual with a more rounded education. Personally, I'd like to see philosophy become a core part of schooling.

NorthernGent,

They were discussing high school here in the USA.  "Comparative Religions"
is often taught as a subject at college and/or university here.  Indeed many
secular colleges have a Religions Studies department.

This:

quote:

Personally, I'd like to see philosophy become a core part of schooling.

I will, as a philosophy major, wholeheartly endorse!  Furthermore courses in
Deductive and Inductive logic should be made core requirements.