Separation of Church and State

Post Reply New Topic

This is what irritates me about the Religious Right - they're always going on about how prayer in school is "illegal". Only school-led prayer is illegal, but students are perfectly free to pray on their own as long as they do so in a non-disruptive manner.

I know of many schools that have a "See You At The Pole" event organized by Christian students, and it's perfectly legal as long as participation is voluntary and not compulsory. Yet I'm always hearing stories about how religious conservative parents protest schools allowing Gay-Straight Alliance clubs to form, or allowing students to form a "Day of Silence" event. If they expect us to tolerate their students organizing Christian-related clubs and events, then they should expect to show some tolerance for non-Christians/LGBT students and their right to form clubs/events for their respective interests.

I will tell you this just once - since if you have a smidge of intellectual honesty you know it anyway.

I have known MANY intolerant people who were not Christian, many who were not of anything we might call a religion, many who were atheist and, yes, antitheist. Should you doubt, you may check out my brother.

I have known MANY tolerant people who were Christian, not a few of other religions, as well as some irreligious and atheist [though I have not knowingly met an antitheist tolerant toward religion, for logical reasons].

An intolerance programmed person will be so wherever he is and whatever he aligns himself with.

A tolerance inclined person likewise.

You may, if you wish, maintain that an intolerant Christian would doubt the Christian standing of a tolerant Christian - that happens.

But if you have truly never met a tolerant CXhristian, you must rarely have left the house. Maybe you just never recognized them? Or they never mentioned they were Christian?

Tolerance is not really the issue here. The issue here is sloth: Parents not doing their jobs. They send their children to government schools as a convenience for themselves ... and then they dare to complain about the environment there or about how someone else does that.

Having both homeschooled and outsourced Number One Son, having been publicly and privately schooled, may I say:

outsourcing your child's education is not in all cases a convenience

in some places the barriers raised against homeschooling are too high for some parents

even with scholarship help, private school is out of reach for many, even if a good option exists in the vicinity

As for the public schools - teaching at the U I had to deal with the output. LOTS of remedial work installing stuff that in my day in some cases was grade school, not high school.

It's all a certain group of people who want to enforce their will upon everyone elses. It's not so much doing the right thing for their children, but pushing their beliefs upon everyone else.

If you want to pray in school, fine. However, if you don't want to pray in school - you shouldn't have to. Those that do can keep to themselves and do their thing, while not being a distraction or trying to push their beliefs upon others.

Sand: A

But it's precisely because they are Christian that they are so intolerant.

Sand: B

Of course there are tolerant Christians. I never said all Christians are intolerant.

A true and consistent Emersonian, Sand is.

"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day."

[quote="Philologos"]Sand: A

But it's precisely because they are Christian that they are so intolerant.

Sand: B

Of course there are tolerant Christians. I never said all Christians are intolerant.

A true and consistent Emersonian, Sand is.

"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day."[/quote

My statements were not at all inconsistent. They do require a bit of thought which may be difficult for some.