Armed to the teeth, I presume.
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There in a quite appropriate nutshell is the result of the marriage of religion to her first cousin politics.
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Then again, she could have done it specifically because it was a hornets nest in an attempt to shine a light on the intense religious bigotry sweeping the nation.
No, I didnāt think so either. One could always hope though.
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Because itās sooooo haaaard to adult and critical think.
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I agree. Nobody should be having students write religious statements in class, whether they can understand them or not, even if itās being used as art practice or whatever.
Similarly, I would say that schools shouldnāt make kids recite pledges they canāt fully understand, especially when they are sufficiently young that, in other contexts, we regard them as lacking agency to make such commitments.
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I donāt know about that. Islam, Christianity, and Judaism all assert the existence of a single God, and each of those religions is an offshoot of Judaism (Islam, as we all know, believes that Muslims are descended from Ismael, the son of Abraham and Hagar, one of his wives, who were banished). If they each accept the premise that there is only one God, it isnāt a huge leap to the possibility that it is the same God. Iām not preaching anything here, but this was a high school assignment, and I donāt find it sacreligious that high school students would confront this concept in a lesson.
At that, the Arabic was not translated, so the students would not even have the opportunity to be ācorruptedā. We are going off the deep end.
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Simple- they are afraid of critical thinking. Thatās why you rarely find a fundamentalist who has actually read the entire bible. Most who do become atheists. Those that have and yet still cling to the faith are incapable of critical thought.
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I agree with your whole post, but this highlighted portion entails critical thinking skills. (And itās not just white Christians who are lacking in that department).
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Year 1637 was a good vintage. Itās good to know some of it can still be found by those wanting a sip or two.
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Of course not, especially in that school district, which appears to be thick with fundies. This assignment would have engendered a very different reaction in the alternative high school here in Ann Arbor, but if it was done in the school districts out in semi-rural areas near here, I bet the parentsā reaction would be similar to what happened in VA. Itās sad that our country is like this, but I donāt think itās any different in this respect than it was back in 1955.
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We can spend all the money we wantāand we donāt spend enoughābuy all the technology there is, require more subject matter courses for an education major, or do whatever cool things the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are pushing this year. But as long as public schools are politically structured so that they goes into pantshitting retreat and apologize crisis mode over the periodic outbreaks of hysteria from stupid people who demand that the schools make their kids more, rather than less, stupid, none of it will make a molecule of difference.
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Thereās a BIG difference between mentioning religion, explaining it, referring to it or studying it and advocating it. The teacher did not come close to the line in what she did, Where she might have gone wrong was in underestimating the ignorance and intolerance of the community.,
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āOutrageā
Is now a commercial commodity.
And has been for quite some timeā¦ 
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These students are the people eventually helping you at the DMV, the Post Office, the grocery, the theater, etc. Blank stares and gaping maws greet me everywhere I goā¦
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More proof that Religion makes you STUPID.
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Even though Iām an atheist, in an ideal world Iād be OK with American public high schools having elective comparative religion courses, where students could learn, for example, about the historical roots of the Abrahamic religions, how they are similar, and how they differ, as long as it was conducted absolutely without any advocacy for or against any particular religion.
I think the chances of such a course not ending in the kind of shitshow we have in VA are pretty low, unfortunately. Religion is the third rail of public education.
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Ah yes, the kids at the check out counter who look at you in stunned awe when your having added coins and ones to the twenty you gave them for no reason they can discern results in your getting a five or a ten back in change.
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āShe gave up the Lordās time,ā Herndon continued, referring to LaPorteās lessons. āShe gave it up and gave it to Mohammed.ā
damn these tears are deliciousā¦I mean fucking tasty!!!
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I raised a kid. I kept an eye on him. I didnāt obsess about every damned lesson plan he was given. He had his own mind, thought for himself, exercised judgment. Letting kids run loose in the neighborhood to explore is no different than running loose in academia. Throw every damned thing you have at them and let the chips fall where they may. Theyāre smarter and more resiliant than we think they are. Most of the time they employ a sense of curiosity imbued with healthy skepticism that ferrets out the BS as well or better than the adults around them. Leave the kids and their teachers alone. Geez, donāt you have jobs or something to keep you busy, youāre getting on my nerves!
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Iāve actually done that and watched the confused look on their face turn into amazement when they hit the key on the register which tells them the change they owe you is a ten and a five.
Itās actually depressing that some people are that ignorant.
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