Should Sunday Schools teach philosophy and logic, not bible?
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As a child - before I was mentally complete (chuckle) - I went to sunday school and youth camp where I learned jesus was coming to get me with a flame thrower when I died. This had a serious impact on my baby freewill and I was pretty keen to do whatever I could to avoid being burned in a 40 gallon drum of petrol by the godman who loved me so much he died for me.
Now I'm older I confess my brain is still not complete but I think I understand freewill well enough to know that I was coerced into christianity under threat long before I was in a position to make a rational judgment about faith in supernatural things. So - in pursuit of delivering the freewill the bible insists we all have, should sunday schools teach our children to think in a manner that allows them to exercise the freewill the bible alleges stands to condemn us?
"Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination." Max Planck
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Yes they should, and no they won't.
The whole point of religious indoctrination is to get you to stop thinking.
-- I feel so much better since I stopped trying to believe.
-- I feel so much better since I stopped trying to believe.
"We are entitled to our own opinions. We're not entitled to our own facts"- Al Franken
"If death isn't sweet oblivion, I will be severely disappointed" - Ruth M.
i think the schools should teach this and that there shouldn't be such a waste of time as "sunday school" period.
our schools are woefully inept at teaching critical thinking, the history of human thought, the histories of philosophy and religion, etc, and this is part of the reason why they are so gullible when it comes to being taken in by religion. i think children should be given simple critical thinking exercises from at least 1st grade, and later given at least a couple semesters of a general course in the history of human thought by the time they are juniors and seniors.
of course, when you realize that most of the parents, teachers, school administrators, and state politicians are religious, it's easy to see that this will never happen.
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson
I couldn't agree more. Kids are smarter than we give them credit. They can be taught critical thought at a young age. Problem is, it then becomes harder to program them through indoctorination.
Churches are going to do what helps the church, and we have that whole separation thingy in the Constitution, so we aren't going to stop them from brainwashing the kids.
Dolt:"Evolution is just a theory."
Me:"Yes, so is light and gravity. Pardon me while I flash this strobe while dropping a bowling ball on your head. This shouldn't bother you; after all, these are just theories."
like your sig
Sad part is, the conversation was real.
Dolt:"Evolution is just a theory."
Me:"Yes, so is light and gravity. Pardon me while I flash this strobe while dropping a bowling ball on your head. This shouldn't bother you; after all, these are just theories."
i hope that wasnt a friend you were speaking to
wat as his response
Can you fail Sunday "School"? I just want to know.
Yes... you can... not that i would know anything about that...
What Would Kharn Do?
I think the answer would be born out if you were not scooped up to safety by jesus during the rapture. No scoop to safety equals failure at sunday school. On a more personal note when my dad passed away I inherited a book won by my grandfather (and namesake) in the year 1911. Grandad had won an award from "His friend the sunday school teacher" (I forget the bloke's name) for "asking the most questions in sunday school". Needless to say, the answers to my grandad's questions failed to convince him. He was what my preacher father later described as "a devout rationalist".
"Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination." Max Planck
i got some kind of bad mark once for not learning my "memory verse" for the week. my mom got mad at me; i think because she thought she was supposed to, because god knows she can't quote any of the bible.
i was 5 years-old and i can remember wanting to scream at the teacher, "but i don't even know what the fucking verse means!"
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson
Beings who deserve worship don't demand it. Beings who demand worship don't deserve it.