[In a comment section about Bibles being handed out in a school]
10/06/2008 04:53:02 PM
I am so glad to hear this. Often this is the only way a child would receive a Bible and I think it should continue.
54 comments
Meh, the secularist in me can't quite get angry at this yet. If the churches are funding the bible hand-outs with their OWN money, and aren't doing anything to stop other religions distributing their material, or forcing the bibles into kids' hands, then this system might actually work. Maybe the priests can set up a small booth/altar at lunch, it might even be a good meeting place...
Of course, to be fair, the Muslims should then be allowed to set up a mosque-ette, the Hindus a mini-shrine, the Pastafarians a mock-up pirate ship, etc. And if they can't put up with all of them, then none of them can fly. That should keep things nice and secular, eh?
Then again, if government money is going into this, or if it's the teachers handing out books, forcing the children to take them, or if any number of any other things that probably will go wrong do, then we have reason to be angry...
If the child hasn't received a Bible from immediate family members, don't you think that that was a deliberate action on the part of the parents, and that you shouldn't feel obliged to interfere in other people's current religious beliefs, or lack thereof? Especially within the confines of a public school? No, of course not...it doesn't matter what the parents want, it's all about forcing everyone to believe what you do. Is that about the size of it?
[In a comment section about enemas being handed out in a school]
10/12/2008 00:03:30
I am so glad to hear this. Often this is the only way a child would receive an enema and I think it should continue.
werewolf wrote:
"I agree. The pages in any bible are usually soft, strong and highly absorbent. In these tough economic times, they are particularly useful."
Are you kidding? All of the Bibles I have seen use thin, cheap paper. It is due to the books having so many damn pages.
Am finding it hard to know what's wrong with freedom of speech.....give kids access to every text and the ability to think critically.
Some non-fundies' desire to stop access to texts is downright fundie!
Freedom Bound, the issue is not freedom of speech. The issue is the (possible) use of government means to distribute literature pertaining to only one religion, which would itself be a violation of the first amendment. If any religion is free to distribute in this manner, and it is not being in some way underwritten by the government, then I don't really have any specific objections to it.
If students of a different religion had the option to get an alternative religious text, and atheists the cash equivalent of a bible or perhaps a nice physics textbook, I'd have no problem with this - but, somehow, I rather think you would. Call it a hunch.
Well, at least the school is promoting the reading of fiction. I wonder if they had to do a book report? "In this book, a lot of really ridiculous things happened. Some guy was made out of dirt, then the world flooded, a woman turned into a big pile of salt, and a sea split. Then a guy named Jesus shows up, does a lot of magic tricks, then dies. THE END."
i live in belgium, in my school, a techie college, where about 95% is atheist, they were handing out new testaments, my friend accepted one and we started making corrections, did you know nearly the entire first page is wrong? it states jesus's family line starting with king david, all the way to josef... who had nothing to do with it cause mary got pregnant without "playing" first.
Anyone for setting up a booth to promote recycling, specifically paper, right next to the people handing these out? At least a huge amount of these freebies wouldn't be a complete waste from being thrown in the trash and it could promote a sound environmental practice. :)
Funny thing. When I was in school, the Church of Scotland tried this. We promptly had a 'bible fight' in the playground and pelted each other with them.
In a way, it's the perfect metaphor...
You can find the Bible at most libraries.
Along with Norse, Hindu, Japanese mythology, and Qurans.
Wow, this is the local newspaper of my city in North Carolina. Even though I know this is part of the bible belt, it's scary they're so close and so numerous around me.
I'm not surprised though. I used to read this exact newspaper in high school, and the editorials usually had some fundie going on about Jeebus and such. Bibles HAVE been handed out in my old high school, (PCHS in that paper), that had funny comics in them, with such annoying fundie memes such as "Harry Potter teaches witchcraft and is of the devil", "Homosexuals are as militant and evil as Neo-Nazis", "Evolution is a lie and is racist", "God can cure druggies", and "Atheism causes kids to shoot up high schools like the one you're in now".
Scary stuff they're allowed to peddle in schools. The back of this teenager bible even had the school laws explaining that bibles like these can be handed out, regardless of anyone elses feelings about it.
While I think it's good for children to learn as much as they can about as many religions as they can, I must object to the repeated handing out of Bibles in schools.
By the time I graduated I had at least 2 dozen of those little Gideon Bibles in my closet, taking up space. I never used them, because I had other, more complete Bibles. But for years, I was afraid to throw them out, because they were Bibles.
I finally ended up giving them all to Goodwill. After all, there may be people who want to read the Bible and cannot afford one.
Once at a thrift shop I bought a Bible, printed in German, that was obviously very, very old. When I got home with it and examined it more closely I decide to toss it out. Some guy named Luther had scribbled marginal notes throughout the book.
Let me tell you those free bibles that were handed out back when I was in High School (the people doing it were out on the public sidewalk, so they didn't get permission) were wonderfully useful. I knew kids who used them for everything from pressing leaves to paperweights, and kids who hollowed them out to hide their weed stash or flask, or condoms they didn't want their parents finding.
Because really, who searches a bible?
Anyone who was actually going to read it already had one.
I have no problem with this. - If they want to hand out bibles, why not? it's not as if one has to take them, right? ... When I was in high school some people came in our class to hand out bibles... - I looked at them, saw it were not even full bibles but only New Testaments and gave mine back to the woman who had given it to me saying: "sorry, but maybe you should give it to somebody who appricates it."
She did not look where happy but she also did not force me to take that book.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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