Thoughts and Prayers: The Religion Thread

I should consider that you might read something from me acknowleding that bigotry exists, and then turn it into me endorsing bigotry?

Once again, I don't want to see (your words) "bigotry introduced in schools." Any more than you do. I shouldn't have to explain that based on anything I said. Except that you went into that "When did you stop beating your wife?" routine.

Saying that none of us want any kid to be subject to bigotry or bullying doesn't change the actual world we live in. ... in which there is bigotry and hatred. Kids who are minorities are going to encounter it in their lives. That is the actual world we live in.

Minority kids are going to get that (your words) "chance for kids to learn" whether you like it or not. And it's going to likely be in a school hallway or on a playground, without an adult there to shield them. A lot of life skills are developed that way.

 

My "approach" = I don't want to see prayer in schools. My approach is also to accept that this is the country we live in. There are people pushing to introduce their religion (mostly Christianity) everywhere in our society. Welcome to the USA. 2) Given that that is our country, kids who are in any religious minority are going to learn how to deal with it somewhere.

My approach has been to point out reality.

You are so bothered by that reality that you are insisting that I endorse it. Which is ridiculous at this point, given that I did that dance with someone else.

 

Public school in the 1980s. I stood for a "moment of silence" every morning. I somehow managed to live with it. I'm screwed up to this day, but not because of that. Most days I used it to daydream about Christine Russo, in a fairly unChristian way. I'm not worse for the wear. Hopefully, neither is she.

 

Whether you accept it or not, more public schools than not do that moment of silence thing in this country to this day. It doesn't matter if you accept it. If you have a kid going to one of those schools, your kid stands through a moment of silence every day -- praying, not praying, picking his or her nose, or whatever.

My point was that I somehow managed to deal with the reality of a prayer in school just fine when I was a kid. Not, "my childhood experience means you should accept it."

 

I grew up Jewish. Most of my friends were Catholic or Protestant. The value or lack of value of my opinion has nothing to do with that.