Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Toto · 09-02-2002, 01:39 PM

<a href="http://www.sunspot.net/bal-te.md.laramie23aug23.story?coll=bal%2Dhome%2Dheadl ines" target="_blank">UM draws fire for requiring reading of play on gay man</a>

Quote:

"The bringing of The Laramie Project to campus sounds for all the world as if the university is attempting to impose an orthodoxy of belief in favor of homosexuality, coercing students to accept one particular side of a hotly contested political and, indeed, religious subject," said Stephen M. Crampton, chief counsel for the American Family Association, based in Tupelo, Miss.

(snip)

The distribution of the play comes on the heels of a nationwide debate over UNC's assignment of Approaching the Qur'an: The Early Revelations by Haverford College Professor Michael A. Sells to this fall's 3,500 freshmen.

The Family Policy Network, based in Virginia, unsuccessfully sued to block the required reading, calling the assignment an unconstitutional religious indoctrination by a public university.

Yesterday, members of the same groups that challenged the UNC assignment expressed outrage at Maryland's selection of The Laramie Project.

"This is pure homosexual propaganda, plain and simple," said Joe Glover, president of the Family Policy Network, a socially conservative advocacy group. "It's the typical liberal mindset: I will force-feed students my view, give them no other data on the subject, and masquerade as someone who engages in free inquiry and free discussion."

case · 09-02-2002, 02:39 PM

You know, if I had a dime for everytime the AFA decided that it needed to crusade for something, I could buy Bill Gates. Last year, at IPFW (Indiana Purdue University at Fort Wayne), a senior drama student decided to put on "Corpus Christi" for his final project. Man, you'd have thought they declared International Gay Day the national holiday or something. About a year before that, they tried to shut down all the strip clubs in Fort Wayne. Next year, they'll probably decide to close public parks because people are having sex in them. And to think, didn't this group come from Indiana in the first place?

Buffman · 09-02-2002, 03:21 PM

And the "Holy Bible" isn't a one-sided indoctrination program? I have always wondered why people haven't attempted legal action against Christian fundamentalist organizations using the same arguments against the fundamentalists about their own "sacred" text. Talk about imposing Christian orthodoxy and coercion!

"It's the typical liberal mindset: I will force-feed students my view, give them no other data on the subject, and masquerade as someone who engages in free inquiry and free discussion."

Was that a Freudian slip? "I" will force-feed...

wade-w · 09-02-2002, 06:17 PM

Quote:

The play, which has been produced to rave reviews - and some protests - around the country, does not feature a Shepard figure and is instead based on townspeople's reactions to his death.

That doesn't sound like an endorsement of homosexuality to me. I can remember being assigned parts of the bible in literature classes when I went to a state university. Were was the AFA then? Why didn't they protest that as illegal religious indoctrination?

brighid · 09-03-2002, 09:40 AM

Aren�t these the same dumbfucks who complain that God has been taken out of school and creationism needs to be taught � oh, I see � religious indoctrination is OK when it�s THEIR religious indoctrination � hypocrites every last one of them.

Brighid

Krieger · 09-03-2002, 01:29 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by brighid:
Aren�t these the same dumbfucks who complain that God has been taken out of school and creationism needs to be taught

Yep, they're the same dumbfucks.

ManM · 09-04-2002, 06:28 AM

Brighid,

Quote:

Aren�t these the same dumbfucks who complain that God has been taken out of school and creationism needs to be taught � oh, I see � religious indoctrination is OK when it�s THEIR religious indoctrination � hypocrites every last one of them.

Should we indoctrinate children with naturalism and evolution?

bonduca · 09-04-2002, 06:37 AM

Should we indoctrinate them with homophobic propaganda?

brighid · 09-04-2002, 06:43 AM

Children should not be indoctrinated into any thought controlling dogma. However, I see no proof that natural and verifiable explanations of the natural world we live in, as provided by naturalism and the theories of evolution, as a tool of indoctrination in order to control the minds of men to believe ONLY is a specific way. The science behind evolution is constantly challenged and changed when credible evidence has shown something lacking. It is constantly refined, unlike the dogmatic, superstitious, unverifiable claims that creationists and certain religious people cling to like a drowning man does to a life preserver, although they aren�t drowning (except perhaps in their own ignorance.) And because our Constitution has specific rules that govern religious indoctrination in the public setting and because naturalism and evolution are not religious, I see no problem with providing credible methods of discerning how the natural world works and has evolved to children in public schools. Parochial schools address the needs of religious parents to control the type of scientific and religious knowledge they are exposed to.

Brighid

ManM · 09-04-2002, 07:08 AM

bonduca,

Quote:

Should we indoctrinate them with homophobic propaganda?

If homophobic propaganda is true, yes. If not, no.

brighid,
Summed up, we all want to indoctrinate children with what we think is right. On what grounds is this hypocrisy?

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09-02-2002, 02:39 PM	#2
case Regular Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Missouri Posts: 420	You know, if I had a dime for everytime the AFA decided that it needed to crusade for something, I could buy Bill Gates. Last year, at IPFW (Indiana Purdue University at Fort Wayne), a senior drama student decided to put on "Corpus Christi" for his final project. Man, you'd have thought they declared International Gay Day the national holiday or something. About a year before that, they tried to shut down all the strip clubs in Fort Wayne. Next year, they'll probably decide to close public parks because people are having sex in them. And to think, didn't this group come from Indiana in the first place?

09-02-2002, 03:21 PM	#3
Buffman Beloved Deceased Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: central Florida Posts: 3,546	And the "Holy Bible" isn't a one-sided indoctrination program? I have always wondered why people haven't attempted legal action against Christian fundamentalist organizations using the same arguments against the fundamentalists about their own "sacred" text. Talk about imposing Christian orthodoxy and coercion! "It's the typical liberal mindset: I will force-feed students my view, give them no other data on the subject, and masquerade as someone who engages in free inquiry and free discussion." Was that a Freudian slip? "I" will force-feed...

09-03-2002, 09:40 AM	#5
brighid Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: somewhere in the known Universe Posts: 6,993	Aren�t these the same dumbfucks who complain that God has been taken out of school and creationism needs to be taught � oh, I see � religious indoctrination is OK when it�s THEIR religious indoctrination � hypocrites every last one of them. Brighid

09-04-2002, 06:37 AM	#8
bonduca Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: . Posts: 1,653	Should we indoctrinate them with homophobic propaganda?

09-04-2002, 06:43 AM	#9
brighid Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: somewhere in the known Universe Posts: 6,993	Children should not be indoctrinated into any thought controlling dogma. However, I see no proof that natural and verifiable explanations of the natural world we live in, as provided by naturalism and the theories of evolution, as a tool of indoctrination in order to control the minds of men to believe ONLY is a specific way. The science behind evolution is constantly challenged and changed when credible evidence has shown something lacking. It is constantly refined, unlike the dogmatic, superstitious, unverifiable claims that creationists and certain religious people cling to like a drowning man does to a life preserver, although they aren�t drowning (except perhaps in their own ignorance.) And because our Constitution has specific rules that govern religious indoctrination in the public setting and because naturalism and evolution are not religious, I see no problem with providing credible methods of discerning how the natural world works and has evolved to children in public schools. Parochial schools address the needs of religious parents to control the type of scientific and religious knowledge they are exposed to. Brighid

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