In case you haven’t been keeping up with the latest attempt to interject Christianity and conservative ideals into the classroom, the Texas School board approved a new and “improved” Social Studies text including:
Moses influenced the Founding Fathers to create a government based on the laws he, oops God created.
Slavery wasn’t really the cause of the Civil War; it was States Rights after all.
Students are encouraged to question the legitimacy of the Establishment Clause separating government from religion
Slide creationism in by introducing the idea that it is compatible with evolution.
Downplaying Jeffersonion ideals based on the Enlightenment (the claim that Jefferson’s ideas weren’t relevant is spurious BTW)
Here’s just a few, and these were pushed by Don McLeroy, an ardent conservative Christian, dentist and member of the Board. With so few textbook publishers around today, many States purchase the books and use them in their classrooms, thus spreading the conservative agenda Nationwide. Some States are refusing to adopt these Conservatively tainted books and the NEA is also opposing their use. This has been an on-going controversy since 2010 when it was first proposed. This isn’t education; it’s indoctrination. http://www.nea.org/home/39060.htm
Cap’t Jack
In case you haven't been keeping up with the latest attempt to interject Christianity and conservative ideals into the classroom, the Texas School board approved a new and "improved" Social Studies text including:
1. Moses influenced the Founding Fathers to create a government based on the laws he, oops God created.
2. Slavery wasn't really the cause of the Civil War; it was States Rights after all.
3. Students are encouraged to question the legitimacy of the Establishment Clause separating government from religion
4. Slide creationism in by introducing the idea that it is compatible with evolution.
5. Downplaying Jeffersonion ideals based on the Enlightenment (the claim that Jefferson's ideas weren't relevant is spurious BTW)
Here's just a few, and these were pushed by Don McLeroy, an ardent conservative Christian, dentist and member of the Board. With so few textbook publishers around today, many States purchase the books and use them in their classrooms, thus spreading the conservative agenda Nationwide. Some States are refusing to adopt these Conservatively tainted books and the NEA is also opposing their use. This has been an on-going controversy since 2010 when it was first proposed. This isn't education; it's indoctrination.
http://www.nea.org/home/39060.htm
Cap't Jack
The absolutist mind in action is a truly frightening thing. Particularly when it's convinced itself it understands God's will and that everyone else can go to hell.
Daddy of this move (former college cheerleader) is creepy in more ways then one.
“Sometimes it boggles my mind the kind of power we have," McLeroy recently boasted.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOBnmObTMbk
Here's an ABC story from 2011
I saw that story and yes, he’s even creepier in person. Hmm, God is perfect and perfection won’t allow for imperfection, e.g. Bending the facts or outright falsification to justify a particular philosophy, so God spoke to me when I read about this (in the late 70’s BTW, this crap’s been going on for that long, including attempts at book banning I mentioned earlier, like four years ago) and actually told me how pissed he was at these Cretans (he really used that word!) and that all skeptics should fight to prevent this garbage from entering the minds of his children on pain of eternal damnation, by that he explained: we will be made to spend eternity at Liberty University, OMG. Damn all revisionist History, and pseudoscience while we’re at it.
Cap’t Jack
I saw that story and yes, he's even creepier in person. Hmm, God is perfect and perfection won't allow for imperfection, e.g. Bending the facts or outright falsification to justify a particular philosophy, so God spoke to me when I read about this (in the late 70's BTW, this crap's been going on for that long, including attempts at book banning I mentioned earlier, like four years ago) and actually told me how pissed he was at these Cretans (he really used that word!) and that all skeptics should fight to prevent this garbage from entering the minds of his children on pain of eternal damnation, by that he explained: we will be made to spend eternity at Liberty University, OMG. Damn all revisionist History, and pseudoscience while we're at it.
Cap't Jack
God speaks to me regularly, too. He says he doesn't exist.
Lois
God speaks to me regularly, too. He says he doesn’t exist.
Sorry but I gotta call oxymoron on that one Lois!
Cap't Jack
It was intended to be outrageous. Since all messages claimed to be from "god" or any being who is not a living human able to communicate is imaginary, I, too, can imagine I hear a voice that tells me god does not exist. I'm willing to concede that it isn't god but Bertrand Russell or Albert Einstein talking to me. ;)
Lois
It was intended to be outrageous. Since all messages claimed to be from “god" or any being who is not a living human able to communicate is imaginary, I, too, can imagine I hear a voice that tells me god does not exist. I’m willing to concede that it isn’t god but Bertrand Russell or Albert Einstein talking to me.
I'm going to go with Christophet Hitchens! :)
Cap't Jack
It was intended to be outrageous. Since all messages claimed to be from “god" or any being who is not a living human able to communicate is imaginary, I, too, can imagine I hear a voice that tells me god does not exist. I’m willing to concede that it isn’t god but Bertrand Russell or Albert Einstein talking to me.
I'm going to go with Christophet Hitchens! :)
Cap't Jack
Yes, now that you mention it, it DOES sound like him!
Lois
It was intended to be outrageous. Since all messages claimed to be from “god" or any being who is not a living human able to communicate is imaginary, I, too, can imagine I hear a voice that tells me god does not exist. I’m willing to concede that it isn’t god but Bertrand Russell or Albert Einstein talking to me.
I'm going to go with Christophet Hitchens! :)
Cap't Jack
Yes, now that you mention it, it DOES sound like him!
Lois
Or maybe it's just a composite of all the information you have taken in, in your lifetime, combined with better than average critical thinking skills.
In case you haven't been keeping up with the latest attempt to interject Christianity and conservative ideals into the classroom, the Texas School board approved a new and "improved" Social Studies text including:
1. Moses influenced the Founding Fathers to create a government based on the laws he, oops God created.
2. Slavery wasn't really the cause of the Civil War; it was States Rights after all.
3. Students are encouraged to question the legitimacy of the Establishment Clause separating government from religion
4. Slide creationism in by introducing the idea that it is compatible with evolution.
5. Downplaying Jeffersonion ideals based on the Enlightenment (the claim that Jefferson's ideas weren't relevant is spurious BTW)
Here's just a few, and these were pushed by Don McLeroy, an ardent conservative Christian, dentist and member of the Board. With so few textbook publishers around today, many States purchase the books and use them in their classrooms, thus spreading the conservative agenda Nationwide. Some States are refusing to adopt these Conservatively tainted books and the NEA is also opposing their use. This has been an on-going controversy since 2010 when it was first proposed. This isn't education; it's indoctrination.
http://www.nea.org/home/39060.htm
Cap't Jack
The absolutist mind in action is a truly frightening thing. Particularly when it's convinced itself it understands God's will and that everyone else can go to hell.
Daddy of this move (former college cheerleader) is creepy in more ways then one.
“Sometimes it boggles my mind the kind of power we have," McLeroy recently boasted.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOBnmObTMbk
Here's an ABC story from 2011
An irony is that those of religious ilk, who are not satisfied with freely following their particular religion, but who also want their particular religion to govern, will, at some point be subject to the possibility of governance by some other religion.
An irony is that those of religious ilk, who are not satisfied with freely following their particular religion, but who also want their particular religion to govern, will, at some point be subject to the possibility of governance by some other religion.
Every time I point that out to radical Christians they look at me with a blank stare. Not only has that thought never occurred to them, their brains do not have room for it. They simply cannot fathom any other religion in charge of our country.
An irony is that those of religious ilk, who are not satisfied with freely following their particular religion, but who also want their particular religion to govern, will, at some point be subject to the possibility of governance by some other religion.
Every time I point that out to radical Christians they look at me with a blank state. Not only has that thought never occurred to them, their brains do not have room for it. They simply cannot fathom any other religion in charge of our country.
Then they must also be oblivious to the issues that our founding fathers struggled with, in coming up with the doctrine of separation of church and state.
It’s even worse, Tim. They deny reality. In their world the Founding Fathers established a Christian nation, the Treaty of Tripoli doesn’t count, and their god will destroy any nation that does not support Israel.
Edit: I forgot to add they believe socialism inevitibly leads to communism.
The pity is that I am not the CEO of any large text book publishing company. I would put together text books with the best information on each subject, according to the experts in that field, and publish it. If Texas didn’t want to buy those text books, I’d simply say, “Too bad, then you can do without”. I probably wouldn’t be in business for long.
TimB - 19 July 2015 05:35 AM
An irony is that those of religious ilk, who are not satisfied with freely following their particular religion, but who also want their particular religion to govern, will, at some point be subject to the possibility of governance by some other religion.
It's the same with "School Prayer". I asked an advocate of School Prayer if he would be OK with a Muslim teacher leading his children in Islamic prayers. He could only stare at me dumbfounded.
And this Texas dentist is the same guy who explains that the reason we can find dinosaur bones is because Noah had dinosaurs on the Ark with him.
TimB - 19 July 2015 05:35 AM
An irony is that those of religious ilk, who are not satisfied with freely following their particular religion, but who also want their particular religion to govern, will, at some point be subject to the possibility of governance by some other religion.
It's the same with "School Prayer". I asked an advocate of School Prayer if he would be OK with a Muslim teacher leading his children in Islamic prayers. He could only stare at me dumbfounded.
And this Texas dentist is the same guy who explains that the reason we can find dinosaur bones is because Noah had dinosaurs on the Ark with him.
Don't you know that in the Garden of Eden all the animals ate grass, fruits and vegetables, and some will tell you that the same applied on the ark. ;-)
I have also hears some people claim that there were no real dinosaurs, but that God put those fossils in the ground just so a scientist could dig them up and think the Earth was millions of years old when it was really only thousands of years old. I guess billions was just too high for them to count. :roll:
If you want to watch a show that's really amusing, try to find "Origins", locally we can get it on Cornerstone TV. Actually the science is really good, but they always end the show by saying that something this marvelous could not have happened by chance, and chance is their main criticism of evolution. :question:
I like your button, I had heard a different version many years ago.
Those who can, do.
Those who can't do, teach.
Those who can't teach, teach the teachers to teach.
Now I need to add another line,
Those who can't teach the teachers to teach, pass laws about teaching.
In the past the real problem is that the Texas State School board of Education would demand certain changes to the textbooks in all subjects, and these changes were then incorporated into the books sold across the nation and some of them were sold overseas. The good news is that textbook publishers are more able to economically customize text books for isolated markets, and the demands will not effect the books sold in the rest of the country.
An irony is that those of religious ilk, who are not satisfied with freely following their particular religion, but who also want their particular religion to govern, will, at some point be subject to the possibility of governance by some other religion.
Every time I point that out to radical Christians they look at me with a blank stare. Not only has that thought never occurred to them, their brains do not have room for it. They simply cannot fathom any other religion in charge of our country.
And the corrolary; The very rights and freedoms that allow you to make these outrageous claims about being the one true religion and the one that the Constitution is based on are the exact same freedoms that allow someone with an opposing viewpoint to make the very same claim. Your fundamentalist non-denominational church wouldn't exist without those freedoms. This gets a blank stare because they don't get the concept of being right. They think they are right based on a presupposition that you first believe the Bible, then you're right, not considering that they are only believing their pastor's version.
If only we had some method for figuring what is true. Hmm.
The pity is that I am not the CEO of any large text book publishing company. I would put together text books with the best information on each subject, according to the experts in that field, and publish it. If Texas didn't want to buy those text books, I'd simply say, "Too bad, then you can do without". I probably wouldn't be in business for long.
The thing is, lots of other states just take whatever Texas decides and buys the same books. They're a big buyer, so whatever books they choose will be cheaper, economy of scale. During the last go-round on this, I heard this is changing because online books and small orders are getting easier to do. Guess that isn't quite happening yet.
If only we had some method for figuring what is true. Hmm.
There is an old saying, "Seeing is Believing", the problem is that most people don't really see what is in front of them. They see what they want to see, or what they are told they will see. I really get frustrated when others can't see reality. Many years ago I did some oil painting, and to accurately represent a scene on canvas, I had to train myself to see what was there, or my picture wouldn't look like the scene or object I was painting. Once you learn to do that, it's a habit that sticks with you, but it's frustrating when others don't see the same thing. I was lucky in that my wife did a lot of proof reading in her work and she had to train herself to actually see what was printed, not what she expected. We can both see the world accurately because of our backgrounds.