This:
Schools are dropping the Holocaust from history lessons to avoid offending Muslim pupils, a Government backed study has revealed.
...is precisely equivalent to this:
Brian Alters, director of the Evolution Education Research Centre at McGill University, says the problem stems from a general de-emphasizing of evolution in our classrooms – from curriculum that barely mentions it, to teachers who avoid a topic they fear will be controversial with students or parents.
"If you know you are going to get a lot of flak, there are ways to dance around it," says Alters, in Toronto recently to speak on the issue.
And I deplore both trends. I have absolutely zero sympathy for the folks in Quebec demanding that women remove their veils to vote; I am also against feeding Christians to Lions, generally speaking, although I like Lions far better and there's always more Christians...
However, accommodation should end at the doors of the Science and History class. These places are where children learn the common ground of our Culture, upon which all of our further arguments and disagreements are tested and settled.
Put them aside and Chaos follows.
we could swap Liberals for Christians but then the lion lovers would accuse us of animal cruelty.
ReplyDeleteUntil I read your stub it never occurred to me knowledge of the Holocaust and knowledge of evolution were parallels. That memorial in London for all those murdered natural historians makes sense to me now.
ReplyDeleteI have a cousin in Dundee who's studying paleontology. I remember when he started there was a real fear amongst his immediate family that he would be inviting violence upon himself. Fortunately nothing's happened yet.
"I have absolutely zero sympathy for the folks in Quebec demanding that women remove their veils to vote"
ReplyDeleteHow about drivers licences, passports, heath cards, mug shots, student id cards, work place id cards?
"I am also against feeding Christians to Lions, generally speaking, although I like Lions far better and there's always more Christians..."
ReplyDeleteMr. Murphy, still rebelling from a strict Catholic upbringing, likes to pick Christian holidays to act out his anxieties online when he should really be doing so before a shrink.
Anon 4:42,
ReplyDeleteSorry, never was a Catholic. Although they do seem to rebel rather hard. Whereas Protestants just seem to drift away from their religion.
What are all the SDA minions and Dominionists doing here? Shouldn't they be in Church or tithing, or something?
ReplyDeleteI was wondering where the filthy parrot had gotten to.
ReplyDeleteYou know, not all Christians are like the SDA trolls. In fact, I would say that Christ would be horrified by some of the comments posted their - particularly since Christ was from the
ReplyDeletemiddle east Himself. These are people who use their religion to justify their hate, and somehow I do not think Christ would approve.
Anyway, for some of us Christians, this faith is about loving your fellow man, treating them all equally no matter their gender, race, sexual preference or even religion. It is about caring for the less fortunate, rather than treating them like they deserve to be poor.
It has always been my belief that true Christian principles have more in common with an idealistic form of socialism than they do with present day conservatism.
It was those stupid corrupt power hungry illegitimate children siring Popes who ruined Catholicism, and Oliver Cromwell who ruined Protestantism. Some of us prefer to ignore all that crap and just believe that somewhere out there a benevolent deity is watching over us (watching us destroy the beautiful world She gave us).
Anyhoo, I certainly agree that lapsed Catholics are far more stridently anti-religious than Protestants - maybe that is because we Protestants are permitted to have our "hippy religion" and still be considered one of the faithful. Thank God for those hippies!
"Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteGood analogy. One side denies a factual historical event when millions of people were killed.
You equate them with different people who simply don't believe in a specific scientific theory.
With all due respect, you're an idiot. A blind, hateful idiot.
3:33 PM"
Dear Anon, why should anyone take this "due respect" you offer when you're calling them blind, hateful idiots? Especially when there's nothing blind or hateful about this comparison: that of truth versus myth. It is actually very insightful to be able to compare the Holocaust argument (because denying it is akin to denying the scientific or observational basis for evolution) to those who would ignore scientific fact in favour of the creation (or any other religious) myth. Maybe Creationists should focus less on arguing about creationism and more on the important tenets of their faiths: that of kindness, understanding, compassion, love for your neighbour, and so on. Excellent comparison, BigCity. You'd like this article by Evan Long: http://www.metaball.ca/2007/ball_Apr-07/0407_01.html
To clarify, it is the THEORY of evolution, not the FACT of evolution. It may be very, very, very close to explaining things, but as we have seen so many times before, scientific knowledge improves and updates these theories all the time.
ReplyDeleteDon't attempt to tell us what kind of political party Jesus would belong to. His word was how to live YOUR life, not how to impose your views on others. If you wish to behave as a socialist - sharing your own wealth voluntarily, housing and feeding the poor in your own home - by all means go ahead, lead by example. He also taught us to respect the family, respect life, honour the Lord, etc., all of which 'socialists' seem to spit upon in their normal activities.
How many churches are out there doing these philanthropic duties, which you call 'socialist qualities'? Feeding the poor and homeless, sending money clothes supplies to 3rd world countries, sending missionaries to work in those countries, etc. Socialists merely want to supplant the church - who works by the people for the people - with their own brand of power to tell everybody else what to do.
Socialism is a failed ideology, espoused by the weak and lazy to 'share' in the success created by the hard work and intelligence of others. If you 'socialists' are so eager for your utopia, travel abroad to some socialist countries, or better yet, emigrate to one; they're always looking for new suckers to loot.
When did the wingbats stop using the term "commie-pinko" and decide that "socialist" would be more compelling?
ReplyDeleteI don't have the heart to tell them that they sound just as retarded as ever.
There are many moderate christians who would side with bigcitylib on this one, except for the part about the lions of course. ;)
ReplyDeleteIt is a sad thing that the literalist "christians", certainly the minority among Christians in Canada, get so much of the press. I don't know that there is a groundswell of support for teaching creationism in school in Canada, though this is a concern in some parts of the United States.
There is no excuse for not teaching about the Holocaust in school. And there, even the hard right christian fundamentalists in the United States, who recently are aligning themselves with Israeli militancy, would also agree. There are allies to found in defending the necessity of teaching the lessons of the Holocaust in school. You just might not be able to agree with them on all other issues.
TG - I think our little Anon friend was responding to my point that true Christian principles are more in line with idealized socialism than with conservatism. He missed the "idealized" part though.
ReplyDeleteThe funniest part of his post was when he said Christianity was about how to live your own life and not how to impose your views on others - because fundamentalist Christians do not do that, right? Because PMSH never says "god bless Canada", right?
Right
I like the way that Christian called people suckers and told them to get the hell out of his country.
ReplyDeleteGosh...what a wonderful message on this, a most holy of days. BCL's comment section became almost like a chapel with the expression of that lovely sentiment.
We are truly blessed.
There's a big difference between 'impose' and what Christian missionaries or fundamentalists do. Spreading the word of God, and telling people about Jesus is a far cry from 'impose'. Read a bit more carefully next time.
ReplyDeleteSure anon - and you can perhaps tell me how my post suggested that I impose my way of thinking on others.
ReplyDeletegayle, are you serious?! IMPOSE is the M.O. of socialism. What is not PROHIBITED is made MANDATORY! So you're saying all this politically-correct, multi-culti, pro-everything social justice bullshit HASN'T been forced down our throats for the last 30 years? Get real.
ReplyDeleteAnon 2:13,
ReplyDeleteI'm curious, what has multi-culturalism "forced" you to do?