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#19396 02/20/01 03:24 PM
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Bridget--prayers to who? to which flavor/version of god? Jesus or jehovah or buddha? or one of the hindu gods?

my kids when to school with christians, jews, budist, and hindus. to which version of god should they pray to?

If you want to pray in school, fine, but don't expect me to support "school prayer". If parent want "school prayer" go to a private religious school. School prayer is a slippery slope. And yes i know that there is "Prayer" in some political institutions-- but that is Adults-- kids have enough pressure.

How would you feel about school prayer if the majority of student/teachers in your school district where muslims, and you said prayers from the Koran? -- If your kids where forced to start the day praying to a Hindu god-- does than sit okay with you? but somehow, its okay to force muslims and hindus to pray to jesus, right?

I do think, and most public schools shy away from this, is starting in 5th or 6th grade (10 to 12 years olds) a course on comparative religions. Let kid learn about the idea of religion, and why it continues to exist, and why one single religion is not taught in school. they learn about other "cultures" in social studies, but religion is a big part of culture, and almost never covered.

Let them learn too, about all the evil done in the name of religion-- Pick any one and you can find evil done in religions name. many "christian" churches supported slavery, and "jim crow" in US-- just as bad as catholic church "Spanish inquisition"-- or Hindu caste system. Religions might have done more good than evil, but there is no one "perfect" religion-- and not all the world agrees that there is even one god-- so until then, no school prayer!


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You asked, so here you are, a real trivia thread. It is about communication but not necessarily verbal.

My daughter was given “The Little Book of Text Messages” as a present. I was a bit sniffy about it at first, having avoided then for years but ended up in stitches. Here’s few extracts:

Messages from:
(_8^(I) Homer Simpson
@@@@:-) Marge Simpson
IIII8^)X Cat in the Hat
((:=)X Charlie Chaplin

I also now understand a few more emoticons:
:-( boo hoo
:-I hmmm
:-O oops
(-: I am left handed
:-& I feel tongue tied
:-S My last message didn’t make sense (could be useful!)
:-o zz z z Z Z I am bored (not possible here)
O :-) I am an angel

:-)<////> message about/from some one wearing a bad tie
<<<<(:-) message from a hat salesman

I promise not to carry on!



#19398 02/20/01 03:55 PM
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Bridget--prayers to who? to which flavor/version of god? Jesus or jehovah or buddha? or one of the hindu gods?

jo anticipated your argument, in her post above:
 "Yes, I know the argument about not
having an established church, some schools here
break and everyone heads off in different directions to
pray to the divine being (if, any) of their choice, it
really isn't seen as a big issue



i'm not suggesting that all students be forced to pray to a particular god; merely that those that wish to do so are afforded that opportunity, even if their parents do not have the means to send them to private schools. as for the argument that muslims, jews and other children would be ostracized for praying in a different manner, i would submit that religious intolerance is a learned trait, not an inborn one, and that the implementation of school prayer would go further toward encouraging attitudes of religious tolerance than the absence of same.




#19399 02/20/01 04:02 PM
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>>the implementation of school prayer would go further toward encouraging attitudes of religious
tolerance than the absence of same. [emphasis added]

better make that "could"; it all depends on the teachers, administration and (ultimately) the parents.


#19400 02/20/01 04:31 PM
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>the implementation of school prayer

I'm not too interested in getting bogged down in the argument, I'm sure that we could fill up pages and pages and still not find a resolution, matters of belief rarely do. I'm more interested in the differences between cultures.

I suspect that it hasn't been an issue in the UK to any great extent is that
a) We have never been offered the choice of removing it (certainly in recent times) so what passes for "religion" in most schools is rather tame moral stuff that most people can subscribed to. A catholic priest told a friend (true, but maybe a little out on a limb) that she would be better to sent her child out of the Catholic system as the doctrine was so far watered down for schools as to be almost unrecognisible. There are a high proportion of non-Catholics and (mainly) Muslems who choose the Catholic schools because of their better results and (supposedly) higher standards of behaviour. Church of England schools are full to the brim for the same reason.
b) We are much more hypocritical about religion. I suspect that people are more honest about the subject in the US. Anyone is Church of England or Church of Scotland by default and that seems to worry very few people. The only time most of my friends seem to "get religion" is when there is competition for a good school. Outside Northern Ireland and the West of Scotland there is a high degree of religious tolerance and a low level of interest in the subject.


#19401 02/20/01 04:51 PM
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>>Through out the US, there is still major opposition to sex education

> I'm amazed.

Oh, yes, sex education is quite taboo. As far as I can remember the only
time my mother has ever mentioned birth control to me is just after
my wedding! I'm sure she firmly believes that I had never .. well, um.. you
know.. until I was married despite the fact that my husband and I lived
together 2 years before we were married.


#19402 02/20/01 04:54 PM
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somewhere along this thread, the messages (for me, at least) suddenly lost their format, and i have to use the scroll bar to read the 20-plus-inch lines.

is it happening to everyone? any idea why? tsuwm, resident technical expert??


#19403 02/20/01 05:30 PM
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I was wondering the same thing... there are no long links, which are the usual cause.


#19404 02/20/01 05:56 PM
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I figured it was maybe something buried in a cut'n'paste in bridget96's post - after all, bringing God into the conversation requires a broad mind


#19405 02/20/01 08:00 PM
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>after all, bringing God into the conversation

It is definitely a sign from above. I think we should call in Father Steve. I just knew that there was a problem with non-word based threads .... aaaaagh

[Edit] = Maybe we're wrong, perhpas Anu has just decided to go out in cinemascope!

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