Abbott thinks reading the Bible should be compulsory in schools (2 Viewers)

[SylviaB]

lol that book is fail. Especially when you consider he attempts to condemn religion as dogmatic while simultaneously being guilty of that himself.

Erm, no.

 

[JonathanM]

and the god delusion by richard dawkins

Good book, but I know so many idiot atheists (yeah, they exist en masse) who treat it as a bible in itself.

 

[TacoTerrorist]

^ True.

 

[ilikebeeef]

lol that book is fail.

More fail than the Bible?

 

[Slidey]

I was more thinking in a "IT'S A BIG BLOODY UNIVERSE" kind of way.

You have no idea how big (admittedly nor do I). The known universe (the universe we can either observe or speculate about, which is insanely insanely big) appears to be smaller than a pin-prick in the ENTIRE universe, based on density of galaxy clusters at the edge of our observational range.

A lot of our cosmology and physics could be wrong just because of that fact - we might well be trying to turn a single data point into a trend line, so to speak.

 

[Templar]

lol that book is fail. Especially when you consider he attempts to condemn religion as dogmatic while simultaneously being guilty of that himself.

No, given that Dawkins' arguments are based on logical and rational reasoning and science, while religion by nature is dogmatic, as the followers state that it is something not to be disputed.

If the Christianity is taught in the context of the historic origins of Australia and the western world, there is a minimal level of harm provided it is mentioned only when necessary (there is no need to read the entire bible to understand the crusades). There is no need to go into detail about the bible.

Why should we agree with any part of it without scientific evidence, escpecially given various parts of the bible has been proven untrue? Even the moral and ethical views that may be presented is not unique to the bible, given it cannot explain why it is all peace in predominantly Christian parts of the world and war and crimes everywhere else.

And finally, if a rival religion has a holy book with its own indisputable texts and values, what says which holy book is the truth, if any is true at all?

 

[Name_Taken]

I think greater emphasis on religious teaching should occur within schools however it should be aimed at teaching students (preferably primary school age) about different religions and cultures (of which Christianity is one), as a means to promote cultural acceptance in society.

Classes should be structured more like HSIE classes and not be excerises of religious indoctrination.

 

[kelly tully]

Ok but this guy called Lactantius said...
God values devotion, faith and love, and an act of force contradicts exactly what He most requires; in fact, it diminishes the deity in whose name persecution is effected. Belief imposed from the outside is meaningless to God, who places greater value on conviction from within.

So take your Bible and your stupid fucking bullshit excuse for a cult and fuck off. You're not winning any favours with your pretend tooth fairy by pushing your bullshit on the rest of humanity.

 

[Name_Taken]

Ok but this guy called Lactantius said...
God values devotion, faith and love, and an act of force contradicts exactly what He most requires; in fact, it diminishes the deity in whose name persecution is effected. Belief imposed from the outside is meaningless to God, who places greater value on conviction from within.

So take your Bible and your stupid fucking bullshit excuse for a cult and fuck off. You're not winning any favours with your pretend tooth fairy by pushing your bullshit on the rest of humanity.

That quote relates to the meaningfulness of a person's faith who has had it forced upon them. By teaching about the Bible within schools, Abbott is hardly forcing anyone to accept Christ.

I imagine his aims are to foster a greater understanding of the faith among children and an appreciation of its moral values in this increasinly moraly degernating society, for which he should be praised.

Either way, society has much to gain from teaching the young about Christian faith, as well as those of other cultures, if nothing else to encourage cultural acceptance, something that bigots such as yourself could also learn.

 

[kelly tully]

That quote relates to the meaningfulness of a person's faith who has had it forced upon them. By teaching about the Bible within schools, Abbott is hardly forcing anyone to accept Christ.

I imagine his aims are to foster a greater understanding of the faith among children and an appreciation of its moral values in this increasinly moraly degernating society, for which he should be praised.

Either way, society has much to gain from teaching the young about Christian faith, as well as those of other cultures, if nothing else to encourage cultural acceptance, something that bigots such as yourself could also learn.

No, I disagree.

Forcing children to read the Bible in schools is dumb and should not be allowed. Public schools do not have a responsibility to teach appreciation of faith or to instill a set of morals - this is to be done by the teaching.

Forcing children to read the Bible is the same as having someone come to my house and give me a pamphlet on their bullshit religion. Either way, it's coercion and brainwashing and religion has no place in schools.

So my quote still applies. In this instance, the children should have a right to decide for themselves which religious texts they want to read; even if it's purely for curiosity.

 

[Name_Taken]

No, I disagree.

Forcing children to read the Bible in schools is dumb and should not be allowed. Public schools do not have a responsibility to teach appreciation of faith or to instill a set of morals - this is to be done by the teaching.

Forcing children to read the Bible is the same as having someone come to my house and give me a pamphlet on their bullshit religion. Either way, it's coercion and brainwashing and religion has no place in schools.

So my quote still applies. In this instance, the children should have a right to decide for themselves which religious texts they want to read; even if it's purely for curiosity.

As currently they do not have that responsibility, and that is the issue being debated herein.

The proposed initiative by Mr. Abbott is that they should be given that repsonsibility. Schools already have the broad reponsibility to educate the youth, teaching them how to be successful and valued members of society. It is only logical therfore that the public school system educate children in regards to morality, basic morals being much more fundamental for society to function than subjects such as maths or science.

I agree that forcing children to take up a religious faith is inappropriate in a public school, however teaching them about the different cultures and beliefs that exist in our society can only at the very least encourage tolerance and acceptance of different cultures.

I havn't suggested that children be tought Christrian morals specifically or brought up with a bias towards Christian beliefs. I fail to see how being educated about a religion (not being taught the religion itself) is a form of coersion or brainwashing, espeically if the viewpoints of multiple cultures and beliefs are taught.

 

[kelly tully]

As currently they do not have that responsibility, and that is the issue being debated herein.

The proposed initiative by Mr. Abbott is that they should be given that repsonsibility. Schools already have the broad reponsibility to educate the youth, teaching them how to be successful and valued members of society. It is only logical therfore that the public school system educate children in regards to morality, basic morals being much more fundamental for society to function than subjects such as maths or science.

I agree that forcing children to take up a religious faith is inappropriate in a public school, however teaching them about the different cultures and beliefs that exist in our society can only at the very least encourage tolerance and acceptance of different cultures.

I havn't suggested that children be tought Christrian morals specifically or brought up with a bias towards Christian beliefs. I fail to see how being educated about a religion (not being taught the religion itself) is a form of coersion or brainwashing, espeically if the viewpoints of multiple cultures and beliefs are taught.

They don't need to be taught about other faiths or beliefs at school.

These are faiths and beliefs okay, they're irrelevent to a childs learning.

School is for learning literacy, numeracy and some other useless skills that we'll never need.
It is not for unqualified morons (i.e. teachers) to regurgitate some watered down bullshit developed by the B.O.S. to children.

 

[0bs3n3]

They don't need to be taught about other faiths or beliefs at school.

These are faiths and beliefs okay, they're irrelevent to a childs learning.

School is for learning literacy, numeracy and some other useless skills that we'll never need.
It is not for unqualified morons (i.e. teachers) to regurgitate some watered down bullshit developed by the B.O.S. to children.

Literacy and numeracy are the bare basics. If you don't learn anything else at school I sure hope you learnt these two.

 

[Riet]

umm kelly tully didn't go to a normal school. She had a baby at age 12 and went to the School of Life - Hard Knox Grammar.

 

[kelly tully]

Literacy and numeracy are the bare basics. If you don't learn anything else at school I sure hope you learnt these two.

Be quiet HSC 2010.

 

[BlackDragon]

I haven't heard much about this and know that Tony Abbott would probably want the Christian text imbued into the syllabus as fact and theology; but the fact is that we should be teaching our children about the bible and many other texts and perspectives in a secular way. Where all perspectives and the ideas that support them are given equal opportunity and scrutiny. It is not good to teach any one perspective whether that be particularly religious or not. We should be teaching the ability to understand all the different perspectives.

 

[Rosalily]

i don't think that students should be forced to read the bible specifically. but i do think that a compulsory religion class running to year nine or something might be valuable as long as it places equal focus on all religions. religion and beliefs systems have an increbible ability to shape the way we think and how we interact with each other. religious conflict has started wars and leads to great suffering so if this gives students a little bit more perspective and understanding in regards to the beliefs of others i don't see how it can be a bad thing.

 

[kelly tully]

I had compulsory R.E introduced in high school (at a public school)

I got kicked out and banned. It was amazing.

 

[0bs3n3]

I had compulsory R.E introduced in high school (at a public school)

I got kicked out and banned. It was amazing.

Rebel! You showed dem dere religious folk!

 

[dan2452]

tony = fuckwit

what ever happened to a multicultural australia?