Political Correctness & the Stifling of Political Debate

And that is exactly one of the things that should be taught in a religious studies class. The whole point is not to get people to accept other religions, but to understand the people that practice them versus the people that abuse them.
 
taeric said:
And that is exactly one of the things that should be taught in a religious studies class. The whole point is not to get people to accept other religions, but to understand the people that practice them versus the people that abuse them.
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Yeah, because everybody's fundie mammy and pappy is going to agree on where the line between practice and abuse is.
 
Hell, I can't even get a group of supposedly smart people on a forum to agree that education is a good thing. :fly:
 
itburnswhenipee said:
Yeah, because everybody's fundie mammy and pappy is going to agree on where the line between practice and abuse is.
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I attended religious classes at least 2 times a week in my school, it was compulsory. We were, however, taught the theory behind all of the major religions. It doesn't take the best student to realize some people are going to be religious nutcases and some aren't.

Besides, I couldn't see that being successful. Leaving something like that up to the interpretation of a teacher?
 
taeric said:
Hell, I can't even get a group of supposedly smart people on a forum to agree that education is a good thing. :fly:
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I honestly couldn't see a secular school telling everyone to make their own minds up on religion. Of course there's going to be bias. Not that a class would inspire me to change religion in the first place, or even entertain the idea.
 
Galen said:
I attended religious classes at least 2 times a week in my school, it was compulsory. We were, however, taught the theory behind all of the major religions. It doesn't take the best student to realize some people are going to be religious nutcases and some aren't.

Besides, I couldn't see that being successful. Leaving something like that up to the interpretation of a teacher?
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I'm not entirely sure which point you are supporting there. :)

I'm not saying that it should even present all the theories. Rather, a class such as this could be well served by simply presenting the facts of each religion. A simple bullet list of faiths, who follows them, what following them means, etc. That would be amazingly useful. I mean, do you even know what the dominant religion in China is? What about Africa?

This would, for example, not require the reading of any religious texts; eliminating a lot of the hoop-la surrounding that.
 
taeric said:
I'm not entirely sure which point you are supporting there. :)

I'm not saying that it should even present all the theories. Rather, a class such as this could be well served by simply presenting the facts of each religion. A simple bullet list of faiths, who follows them, what following them means, etc. That would be amazingly useful. I mean, do you even know what the dominant religion in China is? What about Africa?

This would, for example, not require the reading of any religious texts; eliminating a lot of the hoop-la surrounding that.
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That would start sheep to thinking for themselves, and no government funded school is going to promote that no matter where it is.


edit - or am I too cynical and jaded for my own good?
 
taeric said:
I'm not entirely sure which point you are supporting there. :)

I'm not saying that it should even present all the theories. Rather, a class such as this could be well served by simply presenting the facts of each religion. A simple bullet list of faiths, who follows them, what following them means, etc. That would be amazingly useful. I mean, do you even know what the dominant religion in China is? What about Africa?

This would, for example, not require the reading of any religious texts; eliminating a lot of the hoop-la surrounding that.
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My school taught the core belief and values of most religions, but other than that all emphasis was placed on Catholocism.
I'd say I'm well enough versed on religions to comment on them. I'm not a practicing catholic by any means, but it's ethics and values act as a guide for me. Can't say my education in Religion would inspire me to find out anymore about other religions. They're followers are usually as barmy as one another, Americans especially. They view religion as a competition :rolleyes:

Anyway, I won't be replying again tonight as it's 1am and I have to get up early. :p
 
Galen said:
My school taught the core belief and values of most religions, but other than that all emphasis was placed on Catholocism.
I'd say I'm well enough versed on religions to comment on them. I'm not a practicing catholic by any means, but it's ethics and values act as a guide for me. Can't say my education in Religion would inspire me to find out anymore about other religions. They're followers are usually as barmy as one another, Americans especially. They view religion as a competition :rolleyes:

Anyway, I won't be replying again tonight as it's 1am and I have to get up early. :p
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Really all I would be aiming for is anything to battle the whole "muslims are evil" attitude that is highly prevalent in society now. And sooner or later, we are going to have to come to terms with Chinese beliefs. By all predictions I've seen, they are going to slaughter us in a worldwide economy in about a decade.
 
taeric said:
Really all I would be aiming for is anything to battle the whole "muslims are evil" attitude that is highly prevalent in society now. And sooner or later, we are going to have to come to terms with Chinese beliefs. By all predictions I've seen, they are going to slaughter us in a worldwide economy in about a decade.
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I'm not so sure about that. They've got the drive and the people, but have you seen what they're doing to themselves to sustain their double digit economic growth? There's going to be a big crash in China someday. BIG. Now, will they overtake the US as world leaders before that happens? Could be. Will we have to show a little more respect to them before it happens? Most definately. Will they be able to pick themselves up and keep going after my predicted crash? Maybe, but there would have to be some attitude change and change isn't really something that seems to come quick over there.
 
theacoustician said:
I'm not so sure about that. They've got the drive and the people, but have you seen what they're doing to themselves to sustain their double digit economic growth? There's going to be a big crash in China someday. BIG. Now, will they overtake the US as world leaders before that happens? Could be. Will we have to show a little more respect to them before it happens? Most definately. Will they be able to pick themselves up and keep going after my predicted crash? Maybe, but there would have to be some attitude change and change isn't really something that seems to come quick over there.
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There will be a big crash there, certainly. There will also be a big crash here. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if someday the crashes are linked. All I was getting at was your point about us having to show them a little more respect.

Though, I suppose I do see them having a larger impact on our economy than we can sustain at first. Things are going to have to change considerably in the next few decades. Whether we want them to or not. As much as most of the "educated" masses would like to have a world economy, it is going to have a heavy impact on jobs here in the states.
 
taeric said:
Really all I would be aiming for is anything to battle the whole "muslims are evil" attitude that is highly prevalent in society now. And sooner or later, we are going to have to come to terms with Chinese beliefs. By all predictions I've seen, they are going to slaughter us in a worldwide economy in about a decade.
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I somehow don't think China is all it's cracked up to be. No outside auditors, accountants etc. It was easy for the Soviet Union to say the same thing 30 years back and we never believed it, why should we now?

Besides, most people are fooled that liberty will come alongside prosperity like it did in the West. I don't think China will ever see that day.
 
I agree with Galen. China can say what they want, and the only people who really know what's going on over there are the members of the Ministry of the Interior. Hong Kong is probably their only real powerhouse economy, and it's not exactly the equivalent of California.
 
China is going to be a force to be reckoned with because of how many bloody people there are over there. And it isn't just them saying so, they are buying goods that the rest of the world produces. This isn't some communism versus the rest of the world thing, this is a billion people embracing capitalism.
 
taeric said:
China is going to be a force to be reckoned with because of how many bloody people there are over there. And it isn't just them saying so, they are buying goods that the rest of the world produces. This isn't some communism versus the rest of the world thing, this is a billion people embracing capitalism.
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A billion people embracing capitalism? I doubt it. A few ex-commies who've bought up privatised companies embracing capitalism. Likely.


Here's a good article. Force to be reckoned with, maybe, but it was the West who put them there, and they can take it away.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,7369,1588595,00.html
 
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