facepalm of the day

[somerfrost]

Originally Posted by Danzig

'obediance brings about his blessings'
whatever
as a poster i saw the other day said, the people who wrote the bible didn't know where the sun went at night, but we are supposed to believe and follow all that they wrote?

I have no argument with any of the world's "major" religions, especially those believing in a supreme being (witchcraft holds that all are paths to the divine). The problem is not in the belief system but in the blind acceptance of individual quotations often times themselves products of ignorance and superstition at the expense of the basic message. We don't stone folks to death in this country and decry other cultures for still doing so even though the bible can be read as commanding such action. Yet folks steadfastly hold to ancient beliefs of "morality" when it avoids acceptance of those different from self. Professionally I have dealt with many folks who exchanged an addiction to drugs or alcohol or sex for what can only be termed an addiction to fundamentalist religion. For them, they have merely exchanged one crutch for another and they are not alone. My point is that religion can be the cornerstone of one's life but it cannot be one's master demanding blind obedience at the expense of free will and thought.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by somerfrost

I have no argument with any of the world's "major" religions, especially those believing in a supreme being (witchcraft holds that all are paths to the divine). The problem is not in the belief system but in the blind acceptance of individual quotations often times themselves products of ignorance and superstition at the expense of the basic message. We don't stone folks to death in this country and decry other cultures for still doing so even though the bible can be read as commanding such action. Yet folks steadfastly hold to ancient beliefs of "morality" when it avoids acceptance of those different from self. Professionally I have dealt with many folks who exchanged an addiction to drugs or alcohol or sex for what can only be termed an addiction to fundamentalist religion. For them, they have merely exchanged one crutch for another and they are not alone. My point is that religion can be the cornerstone of one's life but it cannot be one's master demanding blind obedience at the expense of free will and thought.

again.
my cousin is one of those.
i like some of the messages in the bible, especially the ones about not throwing stones, not judging.
but, others think they're perfectly suited to doing just that. they also tend to ignore the part about 'whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers...'
too often people use religion as a tool to bludgeon others with. they use it to excuse violence, oppression, they use old teachings to deny people (typically these days women, back in the day it was the slaves here in this country) any education. centuries ago it was in europe, in the 1800's it was here, and currently it's mainly seen in islamic countries. hell, the phillipines, with rampant poverty and huge families, just recently legalized birth control-which the RCC fought tooth and nail.
it makes no sense to me.

[Danzig]

http://www.slate.com/articles/health...oards_and.html

'theories'

obviously the ouachita school superintendent doesn't know what that word means.

[dellinger63]

Originally Posted by Danzig

http://www.slate.com/articles/health...oards_and.html

'theories'

obviously the ouachita school superintendent doesn't know what that word means.

Nor do you.

Theory
def.
A supposition or a system of ideas intended to explain something.

Supposition
synonyms: belief, surmise, idea, notion, suspicion, conjecture, speculation, inference, theory, hypothesis, postulation, guess, feeling, hunch, assumption, presumption .

[dellinger63]

Here's one from Slate that makes the facepalm list.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_a...ast_lives.html

[somerfrost]

Not getting into semantics, the issue when this debate comes up is what is appropriate to teach in a science class and what is an invasion of religious doctrine into academia. I have no problem if a school wants to offer a class teaching the theory of creationism but I do have a huge problem when evolution is discarded in a science class in favor of a religious belief which by definition is not subject to scientific scrutiny. If one believes that the Christian god created all including mankind that's one's right but it is a religious BELIEF not science.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by somerfrost

Not getting into semantics, the issue when this debate comes up is what is appropriate to teach in a science class and what is an invasion of religious doctrine into academia. I have no problem if a school wants to offer a class teaching the theory of creationism but I do have a huge problem when evolution is discarded in a science class in favor of a religious belief which by definition is not subject to scientific scrutiny. If one believes that the Christian god created all including mankind that's one's right but it is a religious BELIEF not science.

creationism isn't a theory.
it kills me when they say 'teach facts' when in fact they don't want to teach facts.

the scotus ruled that they can't teach religion in science class, but some continue to try to find clever ways to get around that ruling.
and then we wonder why other countries are passing us in science. probably because we have too many school districts who don't understand what a scientific Theory is-so how can they teach what they don't understand? or what they deny, when evolution is as proven as something can be.
besides, evolution explains the diversity of life-not how it began. creationism isn't science, the bible isn't a science book. when someone says 'we didn't descend from no monkeys', they're right. but they don't know why they're right.
these school people are entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts. it's too bad they refuse to teach science in science. the law should be repealed.
this is one of the things i do have an issue with regarding religion. it's one thing to wish to go to church, to worship as you choose...but quite another to force your beliefs on an entire school full of other peoples children, and break the law in the process...and then they get angry when they get called out for it, because they think they're doing nothing wrong.

[dellinger63]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...x-tourism.html

WTF?