Oh, OH! I will, I WILL!!
Question: Why can’t Jesus eat M&Ms?
Answer: Because of the holes in his hands.
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Well I never need to see the reason the religious continuously insult or try and convert everyone and impose their ideologies (either directly or indirectly) upon others who do not follow their religion.
I also never understand why people of political leaning X like to say political leaning Y are idiots and wrong and insulting the other side.
If I didn’t know better it’s almost as if people like promoting their ideas and arguing against people who disagree with them but I know it can’t be that…
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This is changing. They’ve really begun to step it up (sometimes it always was).
I went into a Catholic school the other day and ALL the decorations and things they were making kids do an put up on the walls etc were very religiously themed and it was pretty despressing to see done to children, as an atheist.
sebs29332’s post is very assertive, but I don’t see it as insulting. That post is no more insulting than when a theist mentions God, Jesus, Muhammad, heaven, etc, confidently assuming that everyone else feels the same. Less insulting actually, since sebs was stating an opinion, without making assumptions one way or the other about the readers’ beliefs.
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At least in most states comparative religion/RE/religious history is already, and has been for a long time, part of the history/social studies curriculum. The ongoing push from the right to have it taught as literal truth religion or in science classes is a separate issue. In fact one of the main rejoinders from the separation of church and state side of the debate is that religion is taught in our schools. Just in a proper (and legal) secular social studies curriculum. The conservative right doesn’t like that (or ignores it) because what’s being taught isn’t their particular interpretation of one particular religion and as being true with the exclusion of secular subjects that challenge that interpretation.
I’m not sure how the RE aspects might have been effected by the new common core standard though. I can see it get de-prioritized or confused as so many things seem to be.
Cory can you please attribute the artwork by Derek Chatwood? https://www.flickr.com/photos/bar-art/414998399/
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I was hoping that things might have improved since I was there (I was bullied continuously at school, I think that teachers were afraid to do anything about it because of Section 28).
However, looking at the wikipedia page for my school, they are now claiming that the school was started by Saint Cuthbert in 685 (there is evidence to support this).They didn’t do that when I was there and I don’t know if the reason for this is religion, prestige or both.
My brain breaks at the idea I went to a 1300 year old (state) school though.
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You mean that image isn’t from the Gutenberg Bible?
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It’s okay, it’s been co-opted now 
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Occupy Craggy Island
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How was that an insult? Bit touchy, are we?
This is the issue with religion. People are cultishly trained to respond with anger and bile to any opinion contradicting the taught validity of the religgious thinkings. “Tolerance”, “Love”, my butt. The legions of followers close ranks and act in concert to influence, deceive, pull the wool over eyes, all within the framework of a belief system designed to provide just such a response.
It never, ever ceases to amaze me that one of the most important pillars on which the USA sits is freedom - yet such a large number of its citizens are constrained by religgious ideology that destroys the very fabric of free thought.
I have no beef with all of this, other than when religgious types attempt to inflict, obliquely or otherwise, their views on others. It’s appalling, shameful, embarrassing.
Getting religion out of schools is step Number One. Getting it out of heads would be even better.
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And also - the term “Atheist” is a categorisation of someone who isn’t in a category from a religious point of view. It’s a useful identifier on the spectrum of not religious to religgious, but meaningless.
It presumes that people need to be described as being on that religgious spectrum, whereas for people who don’t believe, it’s got nothing to do with anything. I’m not on that spectrum, in the slightest.
I’m a humanist. That’s really rather parallel to christianity, with all the bad bits stripped out.
Besides, anyone defending creationism on schools should first have to apologise for the vicissitudes of the various religgious institutions such as the catholoholic church before taking a stand. You can’t all pretend priests weren’t buggering choirboys.
Jesus, but you also reminded me of Pol Pot’s little assault on ‘intellectuals’.
And then you get those finger-wagging Christians saying, “See, if it wasn’t for Christianity, you wouldn’t have those values!” Sigh.
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… which segues into the oft-repeated discussion around the coincidence of ancient pagan festivals and christian celebrations.
Wag away, fellas! Wag away!
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I loved Vicar of Dibley… Also, didn’t realize that Father Ted was not a BBC show.
There are still struggles here over prayer in school, so I feel ya. I think the best argument for very secular schools is not that the religious should be ostracized, but that we live in a heterogeneous society and there is no reason to not make public spaces secular in nature.
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Some of us don’t want to be forced to follow your faith, that’s all. A secular society doesn’t mean everyone is an atheist, it means that public spaces are for the benefit of all, not just one group.
I think one can be an atheist and respect others, but there are plenty of religious who spend a fair amount of time insulting atheists and people of other faiths. So, be careful there, Mr. Pot.
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Identical school experience, so my kids are at the local community school.
And doing fantastically. I’m so pleased.
What I got in an Indiana public school was brief mention of peoples’ religions skimmed over quickly in middle-school social studies. There was little discussion of the nature of their beliefs, how their religions related to others of their era/locale, and certainly no talk of contemporary religions’ issuance from older faiths. This would’ve been around the turn of the millenium.
I imagine it’s quite different in more (philosophically) liberalized areas of the country…
There’s a big clue in your little passive-aggressive reminder about who has the majority. “PSSST… I don’t want to sound threatening, but there are more of us than there are of you, so you might wanna shut your mouth if you know what’s good for ya…”
Though I’m sure that’s not what you meant - I mean, who ever heard of a religion persecuting a minority…?
Religion tends to regard even the mere asking of questions as deeply insulting. The last thing you need is some twerp reminding you of how doubtful are your beliefs. It must be a full time job to keep such doubts at bay without these jumped-up little “questioning” type of folks stirring everything up all the time.
Everyone is entitled to their belief. You can believe that a ghost impregnated a virgin to give birth to itself so it could sacrifice itself (to itself) to save us from being punished (by itself) for the crime of being descended from a woman who ate the wrong type of fruit because a talking snake told her it would make her smart.
I’m not going to stop you. Go nuts (figure of speech).
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