Handing Out Bibles to Students

Somerville said:

What is "absolute truth" other than math?

Why doesn't the US make the top 20 in educational achievement? The answer ain't so simple as "more local control!"

Why does the US have the highest teen pregnancy rate of OECD states? Although that rate is improving [/FONT]

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It has nothing to do with the curriculum or teachers... The US doesn't make the Top 20 because of issues beyond the teachers control.

Manc Skipper said:

Theism is belief in a God. A-Theism is lack of a belief in a God. I don't have a belief in a God. I am an atheist. You believe in one God, therefore you are a theist. You do not have a belief in the other 2000-plus Gods, therefore in respect of those Gods, you too are an atheist. What's hard about that?

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In respect to those other gods you're an infidel, not an atheist, because atheist means you don't believe in any god at all.

An infidel is someone who doesn't believe in your (true) religion, not in any other one.

Jerry said:

Right, "no Muslims can give a non-Muslim a Qu'ran" is a school of thought.

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So you were in fact wrong again.....just admit...your absolute statement was a lie.

To many of those have shot at me and my buddies for me to ever trust one again. They want Armageddon, and they're going to get it. It's only a matter of time before Mecca disppears in a fireball.

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Many Imans shot at you???? Maybe you don't know what that word means.

Bodhisattva said:

I live in New Zealand now... but each year these Christian guys come to the school and at assembly they hand out Bibles to every student. I will talk to our principal today about it for the first time because the issue pisses me off. When my kids get into high school I will also let the Christian guys know how I feel about it. What are your thoughts?

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Fight fire with fire: go stand side by side with those gideons and hand out copies of Dawkins' The God Delusion to the kids.

Cable said:

Wouldn't it just be easier to allow me the benefit of understanding atheism for it's actual definition, since I've claimed it as just that?
I have no problem saying I believe all other gods are false gods, but that doesn't mean I think those who might believe in them are atheists. They clearly are not atheists.

One day I will learn to ignore trolls.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQFKtI6gn9Y

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On the days when I have a bit of time to participate in these message board discussions, I find myself giving myself recalling and repeating, sometimes out loud: "I will not feed the trolls, argue with idiots, or waste my time engaging in other exercises in futility." It helps. But alas, I also backslide.

The problem on too many of these threads is that the topic is reasonable and interesting, but the trolls, idiots, and other exercises of futility will not discuss it or any reasonable arguments made. They will miss the point, mischaracterize it, or utilize every logical fallacy or derail tool on the list to prevent any discussion of the topic.

I have to wonder if it isn't deliberate?

But my opinion remains. If the schools are going to allow other organizations to distribute promotional or education material to school kids, then, given the long history of the Bible as literature as promoted in the American culture, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the Gideons giving a Bible to school kids who want them. To me that is reasonable while to the anti-religious, anti-Christian fanatics, it is an abomination. But hopefully such people will instruct their children to not accept something so 'evil' as a Bible.

I swear this nation has gone absolutely screwball in making political correctness the religion of the people--one that they expect government and society to rigidly recognize, embrace as the law of the land, and enforce--and that is far more sinister, dangerous, and destructive than any religious group handing out Bibles to school kids.

Somerville said:

What is "absolute truth" other than math?

Why doesn't the US make the top 20 in educational achievement? The answer ain't so simple as "more local control!"

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Asian-American students are some of the best in the world. White-American students are beating most European students. African-American students are beating the performance of African students.

Why does the US have the highest teen pregnancy rate of OECD states? Although that rate is improving [/FONT]

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US White Teen Pregnancy Rate in 2003 = 27.4 per 1,000 women aged 15-19
German Teen Pregnancy Rate in 2003 = 18.8 per 1,000 women aged 15-19
French Teen Pregnancy Rate in 2002 = 25.7 per 1,000 women aged 15-19
Canadian Teen Pregnancy Rate in 2002 = 33.9 per 1,000 women aged 15-19
Iceland had a Teen BIRTH rate in 2003 of 16.7 per 1,000 women aged 15-19.

You say that the US has a teen pregnancy problem. No, it doesn't. Canada and Iceland have higher white teen pregnancy rates than the US and we essentially matched France. The American problem isn't with teen pregnancy, it's with our black and Hispanic populations.

US Black Teen Pregnancy Rate in 2003 = 63.7 per 1,000 women aged 15-19
US Hispanic Teen Pregnancy Rate in 2003 = 78.4 per 1,000 women aged 15-19

Sababa said:

Many Imans shot at you???? Maybe you don't know what that word means.

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Considering that he is in the Army... maybe he does know.

phildozer9121 said:

The school shouldn't be creating instances where that happens, especially when it has nothing to do with public education. I get it's a different place, but that doesn't mean OP shouldn't go in and voice his opinion to ask them to stop. Another hypothetical, a group comes into your kid's school and distributes the communist manifesto to everyone and asserts that it's what your kid should believe. I have to think you would have something to say about that, as would I.

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You know, I AM a Christian and a capitalist and I happen to have a copy of the Communist Manifesto in my library. Learning is never a bad thing, even if it's only to learn about what the opposition thinks.

Bodhisattva said:

I live in New Zealand now... but each year these Christian guys come to the school and at assembly they hand out Bibles to every student. I will talk to our principal today about it for the first time because the issue pisses me off. When my kids get into high school I will also let the Christian guys know how I feel about it. What are your thoughts?

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Mostly I don't really care. I guess if you allow one, you'd have to allow all if it's a public school. But a bible can't really do any harm. Less it's thrown.