I find that characterization, if accurate, acceptable as a school exercise.
I think it is very wise to learn about muslim culture, and unwise to say "Why do we care what "they" think."
I mean seriously, why not learn?
I find that characterization, if accurate, acceptable as a school exercise.
I think it is very wise to learn about muslim culture, and unwise to say "Why do we care what "they" think."
I mean seriously, why not learn?
In a twisted way I guess it is important to understand your enemy so you know how to defeat him.
1prophet
Diamond Member
- Aug 17, 2005
- 5,313
- 534
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They should ask the students the definition of Sharia law and its compatibility with the separation of church and state.
They should ask the students why a progressive muslim country like Jordan still has the acceptance of honor killings in its laws and why it is defended as necessary because more lenient punishments will violate religious traditions and damage the fabric of Jordan's conservative society, where men have the final say. What traditions from what religion are they defending?
They should ask the students is open homosexuality acceptable in muslim countries.
They should ask the students is atheism compatible with Islam.
They should ask the students why in a so called christian country like the united states can college students under their first ammendment right exchange bibles for porn without worrying about what the college administration would say but when a college professor post cartoons about Muhammad she gets censored by the college administration
They should ask the students why one can openly display Piss Christ or Mary covered in elephant dung and the artists behind it can safely walk the streets but Salman Rushdie has to hide in the shadows for his works.
They should ask the students who Sayyid Qutb was and what did he find that prompted him to condemn America as a soulless, materialistic place that no Muslim should aspire to live in and what was his influence on todays radical Islamists.
They should ask the students why Islamists consider Western liberalism and secularism as their greatest threat not christianity or judaism
They should ask the female students how would they feel if the religious right in America was to impose a dress code on them just like in many Islamic countries.
They should ask the female students what they think of this quote from Saudia Arabia "There is no faster way to corrupt nations than the emancipation of women ? that is getting her out on the street to entice men and ruin their morals,"
They should ask the students why many so called free speech advocates blamed Theo Van Gogh's death on himself like this magazine which called itself the Index of Censorship supposedly promoting free speech.
The greatest threat to Islam and the greatest threat from Islam is not christians or jews but Western liberalism and secularism but most secularists would cut off their nose to spite their face instead of admitting this.
I see a split in humanity between those who use reason, secular humanists, and those who know the absolute truth. The latter can be of any religion. People who are convinced they are absolutely right, are they not the real threat? A democracy filled with Christan's will establish Christian law. It has to no, since each Christian is dedicated to his one and only truth? The problem the religious have with secularism is the notion that truth is relative and therefore there are no absolutes. But how is religious absolutism any different than this. In religions there are millions on one and only truth, all absolute and all different. Secularism is simply more economical in that it cuts out all that bull sh!t.
The absolute truth isn't a product of words and thinking, but an act of 'Is'ness in which the only teaching is being.
The paradox of relative and absolute truth are resolved in being.
So there are two kinds of secularists, those who are convinced that they are right, the religious, and those whose religion is that all religion is relative. Neither knows a thing or should we say that each is stuffed full of phony knowing.
My dear Sir, you are the enemy and you cannot defeat yourself because every act of self-abnegation is done at the behest of the ego. All attempts do defeat yourself are self deception. The answer is always 180 degrees from where you look. Your situation is totally without hope of self rescue. Nobody faces truth because it's painful. God only appears to those forsaken and abandoned on the cross. When the flames of hopelessness have burnt the self to ash and the wind blows it all away the Lover steps forth in the Light.
Starbuck1975
Lifer
- Jan 6, 2005
- 14,698
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Religion and history are intertwined such that is nearly impossible to provide students an understanding of other cultures and ancient civilizations without some thought given to the spiritual.
However, public schools should not endorse or otherwise promote one religion over another...I see no problem with teaching kids about Islam...however, the approach utilized by this teacher does cross the line a bit:
While I doubt this little exercise would necessarily indoctrinate these kids into Islam, there should be a unified standard for how public schools handle the topic of any religion.
However, public schools should not endorse or otherwise promote one religion over another...I see no problem with teaching kids about Islam...however, the approach utilized by this teacher does cross the line a bit:
Can you imagine the backlash if the same teacher had students engage in Christian or Jewish prayers in a classroom, or engage in the rituals of those religions...like for instance asking these kids to fast during the Christian celebration of Lent.
While I doubt this little exercise would necessarily indoctrinate these kids into Islam, there should be a unified standard for how public schools handle the topic of any religion.
Those pledges and early documents were written by Free Masons, for them god or the symbol "G" stood for the higher power, weather it be christian, buddah, or whoever. As time went on it became associated with the christian god, but that was not the original intent.
0roo0roo
No Lifer
- Sep 21, 2002
- 64,862
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its fine as long as they point out all the deeply imbedded bigotry contained within islam. the intolerance especially of homosexuals and other religions, especially those not of the book, the oppression, the foul mixture of church and state, the horrible example mohammed set for his followers. you know, just to be fair and balanced as its taught as "history" not religion. ahem. basically its an ideology that contains everything a liberal school teacher should be against.
Clearly, not in California.
Maybe we should chant "praise be to Jesus", after all that should be ok with even you. Oh, and recite a few Leviticus passages along with the Koran.
Originally posted by: DealMonkey
Damn. No takers? Come on answer the two questions, it'll only take a sec.
You're opening pandora's box; keeping such a program clean of bias would be difficult at best.
Originally posted by: zendari
Originally posted by: DealMonkey
Damn. No takers? Come on answer the two questions, it'll only take a sec.
You're opening pandora's box; keeping such a program clean of bias would be difficult at best.
It would. But this is a hypothetical question where we can ignore granular details like that for the moment. Let's assume they can keep it as balanced as humanly possible. Not Fox News Channel balanced, but really balanced.
Define every. Do you talk about the varying versions of Christianity? or Shiite vs. Sunni Muslims? What about the three major subsets of Jewish religion? Then lets throw in all of the mystical religions. You'd never be able to cover them all AND give all of them equal time. For one thing, very little is known about some religions, even very publicized ones like Scientology.
I personally wouldn't have a problem with it, especially as a senior year elective. I went to schools run by the Christian Reformed Church, K-12. In our junior year we were required to take a class called Reformed Doctrine. The major point of the class was to tell us about the doctrine of the CR church. But they also spent several weeks comparing the CR doctrines to those of other Christian denominations as well as some of the major non-Christian ones. Of course there was bias and a concentration on the negative aspects of the other religions, but I did learn some interesting stuff.
I do not think it should be required, though and I think the Courts in this case are being very hypocritical even though I think the pledge should go back to the way it was before 'under God' was added.
Okay, you're right - make it an elective for High School Seniors. My point was that it probably is beneficial to have kids learn at least a little about the world's various religions (and yes I mean every) at least so they have a reference point when discussing world events and unrest, etc. I think even within the context of such a class, the lessons being taught at Byron Union School District seem a little over the top in my opinion. They should really dial it down a bit. Perhaps the teachers thought it would make the class more interesting, I don't know. In any event, if the kids left with a broad knowledge of the world's religions, it would probably serve them well on many levels.
But remember, the point is to educate not indoctrinate.
Just as it is important to understand that not everyone of a particular race or religion is your enemy.
The fact is that we are painfully ignorant of the Islamic world, and whatever the reasons, I think we can mostly agree that being ignorant of a large religious and cultural group is never a good idea.
I don't know...just playing Devil's advocate here (how appropriate
), Islam is NOT like other religions in this country. Most public school children know a HUGE amount about the major religions in the US and next to nothing about Islam. Our culture is very oriented towards Christianity already, there is no need for a public school to provide perspective on the Christian faith, most kids get enough of that already. Islam, however, is not well represented in our culture. While I disagree with the extent the school took the idea, I also disagree with the idea that we don't have more to learn about Islam than we do about Christianity.TRENDING THREADS
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