I totally agree — it would be great if all students learned about the major world religions. I don’t have the inside scoop, but I’d be a bit surprised if Texas public schools don’t already include that.
That said, teaching about religion is one thing. Starting the day with “Let us pray”? That’s a different ballgame — and, in my view, a firm no-go for any public school. On Fri, 27 Jun 2025 at 08:21, Russell Standish <[email protected]> wrote: > On Fri, Jun 27, 2025 at 07:31:53AM +0200, Pieter Steenekamp wrote: > > > > Now, here’s where it gets interesting. If we’re all chipping in tax > money for > > public education, then yes — I’m 100% on board with keeping religion out > of > > public schools. That’s not only a fair deal, I would be horrified if any > > religion were included. > > > > I have a dissenting opinion on this. I believe all students should > learn about all the major religions, including having a passing > knowledge of the contents of the Bible, the Koran, and a notion of the > special traditions etc of each one - eg the importance of confession > to Catholics, the importance of Shabat to Jews and Muslims, etc. In > todays world, you come across all these sorts of people, and having an > understanding of where they come from helps a lot. > > After all, the Bible is probably the most important work of fiction in > the English language, followed closely by the complete works of > Shakespeare. > > When my son went to school here in Australia, there was a smorgasbord > of about 3-4 varieties of Christianity and Judaism (no Islam, from > what I recall), and Non-religion, where you just got to read books in > the library. We sent him to the latter of course, but if there'd been > a proper comparitive religion course, that would have been my choice. > > > But if my neighbour is still paying her taxes like the rest of us, and > on top > > of that has to fork out again to send her kids to a private Christian > school — > > that's also just not right. A voucher system, to me, seems like a fair > > compromise. It respects both freedom of choice and fairness of > contribution. > > Maybe it’s not a perfect solution, but it does stop us from > double-charging > > parents for believing something different. > > > > For me, diversity of opinions and freedom to choose your religion is a > very > > good and positive thing. > > > > On Fri, 27 Jun 2025 at 02:33, Santafe <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > > > On Jun 27, 2025, at 7:31, Marcus Daniels <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > > Dave writes: > > > > < My 'mysticism', like my hallucinogenic experience, is nothing > more > > than a source of what I consider to be "real" data and a supply > of > > fascinating questions—never answers. > > > > > Not clear why something that supposedly cannot be captured by > mere > > language keeps getting pitched as a real and intersubjective > thing via > > language. > > > > > > I am much less bothered by this _in principle_, since I generally > hold the > > two premises: > > > > 1. Language is a collection of signals _within_ a system, that are > part of > > coordinating states among people; it doesn’t follow that language > should > > “contain” or “capture” anything that works as a model “of” the > system, in > > the way I would want formalism to have a mappability to phenomena in > > anything I consider science. Often language-in-general will have > some > > mutual information with something closer to a model, but that is > partly > > luck and not uniform. Languages that do have those mappable > qualities tend > > to be more bespoke, because they were under heavy pressure to do > that job, > > which is somewhat different from the background social/material > criteria > > for the great majority of language (though scientific language and > sense > > can both, I would argue, be seen to grow out of their counterparts > that > > have some presence in the broader bulk of language and commonsense); > and > > > > 2. The term “reality” is a problem in general. It is still too > close to > > its origins in the hand-me-down umbrella term from common usage, > which gets > > it accepted and used with a fluency that belies its evasive and > indefinite > > character. I would put it, in most instances of usage, in the > category I > > call “placeholder terms”. They enable the rest of discourse to > proceed, > > because something is needed in those slots, but that doesn’t mean > they > > necessarily carry very good meanings on their own. To the extent > that > > “reality” has a central tendency of meaning, it seems (to me) to be > around > > the notion of “since we are always trying to economize on attention, > which > > things are safest to turn your back on, in the expectation that they > will > > still be there and not bite you in the meantime?” > > > > So for a language-term to be suggesting that it is trying to > coordinate a > > state, with some somewhat reflexive situation-statement acknowleding > that > > it does not have a model of the state, together with the state > itself’s > > being so loosely handled that it is not clear when the people really > are > > coordinated or how they would decide on that, I can certainly see > this kind > > of pattern as an ordinary occurrence. Even if some > intersubjectivity would > > be reasonable to expect, in view of our vast overlapping constitution > > shared by all being people, primates, mammals, and so on. > > > > I do like the idea that this is just a version of the normal > confusion, for > > things not understood very well (like, quite badly), and that one > could > > find ways to do better. > > > > Eric > > > > > > .- .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- --- - . .-. ... / .- .-. . / .-- .-. --- -. > --. / > > ... --- -- . / .- .-. . / ..- ... . ..-. ..- .-.. > > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > > Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom > https:// > > bit.ly/virtualfriam > > to (un)subscribe > http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > > archives: 5/2017 thru present https://redfish.com/pipermail/ > > friam_redfish.com/ > > 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ > > > > > .- .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- --- - . .-. ... / .- .-. . / .-- .-. --- -. --. > / ... --- -- . / .- .-. . / ..- ... . ..-. ..- .-.. > > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > > Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom > https://bit.ly/virtualfriam > > to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > > archives: 5/2017 thru present > https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ > > 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ > > > -- > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Dr Russell Standish Phone 0425 253119 (mobile) > Principal, High Performance Coders [email protected] > http://www.hpcoders.com.au > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > .- .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- --- - . .-. ... / .- .-. . / .-- .-. --- -. --. / > ... --- -- . / .- .-. . / ..- ... . ..-. ..- .-.. > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom > https://bit.ly/virtualfriam > to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > archives: 5/2017 thru present > https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ > 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ >
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