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Plyss
Skeptic Friend
Netherlands
231 Posts |
 Posted - 05/15/2005 : 13:47:41
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When reading these boards one is prone to the impression that the USA has a monopoly on religious crackpottery. Not so.
Every october for the last fifty years a national "Kinderboekenweek" ("Week of children's books") was held in the Netherlands. This Kinderboekenweek tries to promote the reading of books among children. Typically children's books are offered at reduced prices and for every childrens book you purchase during this week you get an additional free book that is written specifically for this occasion.
One would think this effort would have the support of every person in the country. One would, however, be wrong.
Meet "Bijbel en Onderwijs" (Bible and Education), an organisation dedicated to quote:
Translation by Plyss
...integrat[ing] a christian worldview with education and childcare. This worldview is based on the Bible and on the person Jesus Christ.
Now what would be their problem with getting children to read? Let's find out.
quote:
During the last ten years the week of children's books has often seen a theme that clashed with the fundamentals of Christian education.
Golly, that sounds bad! I wonder what those shocking themes were! Good thing we can find out using the internet!
Going back from 2004 to 1995 they were:
2004 "Music"
2003 "Deep in the forest" dealing with forests and fairytales
2002 "Aye aye captain" about anything nautical
2001 "Wednesday afternoon" about hobbies (in the Netherlands most primary
schools have the wednesday afternoon off to let children pursue other interests)
2000 "Book heroes" (The dutch theme doesn't translate well, this is the most
accurate i could get)
1999 "From @pentaler to monkey's cage", stories related to school.
1998 "From rime to rap" about verses, songs and poetry
1997 "The timemachine", stories on history.
1996 "Witches cauldron" on mythology.
1995 "Animals"
Yowzah! I can imagine one would want to shield ones children from such
controversial topics! Heck, they might learn something about history or the natural world!
But it gets worse.
The theme for 2005 is (drumroll) "Magic". And for this reason "Bible and Education" has sent an open letter to parents.
quote:
To all parents with children attending primary education
Why do you send your child to school?
Because it's the law, of course!
Ouch. I don't have any children, but if i did, i'd send them to school to get an education. To get them to learn how to interact with other people and to learn about the world around them. To learn to read and to write and to do calculus. And, not unimportantly, to differentiate between fact and fiction. Definately not because if i don't a cop will come knocking on my door. To be honest, they do mention the desire for an education as secundary points though. One would get the impression that B&E doesn't have a very firm grasp on reality. This impression is quickly reinforced in the rest of the letter.
Because Bible and Education is afraid . And you should be too. Because a new school is about to be opened in the Netherlands.
quote:
It may sounds strange, but a new school is opening in the Netherlands. As if there weren't enough already, one would say. But this is a very special current within the dutch education system. In this new form of education children are taught to break the rules.
Worse, they will be doing hazardous things and will be playing with their own lives and that of others.
What, they're gonna play cops and robbers using live ammo or something?
quote:
What will children learn in this new school? Children will use magic, that is, learn to use paranormal forces. They can learn to use their paranormal forces to get good grades or to influence teachers. But there is more...it is known these forces can be used to bend spoons at a distance and to stop watches. But with these forces some people can summon energyfields -like lightning- and send them whereever they want. Paranormal forces can also be used to put a curse on someone and to manipulate life.
Oh god no, not bend spoons or stop watches! Run for the hills! Energyfields like lightning? Manipulate life? What the heck does that mean? Only B&E knows. But how does one learn these skills? Why, by reading fiction of course! You can apparently learn this from reading fiction of Roald Dahl, Tolkien, Rowling or Tonke Dragt.
quote:
All these books dealing with witchcraft, sorcery and the occult will by placed into schools. They will be read from, taught from, and applied to practice.
Bah, i read lots of that, and i never learned to summon energy-fields. The bastards, holding out on me like that :(
The letter ends with the warning that parents and educators are giving their children to the Devil and with a call to keep your kids away from school as soon as it "becomes a magic acadamy". The only impression that is left upon the reader though is that you should send your children to school. Even if only for the sole reason that a decent education will prevent them from being gullible, paranoid, narrow-minded scarecrows.
(All translations were made by me)
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tomk80
SFN Regular
Netherlands
1278 Posts |
 Posted - 05/15/2005 : 14:55:20 [Permalink]
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| I have no problems with most of the christians I run into in the Netherlands. However, every once in a while some christians produce dogs droppings like the one you mentioned. At that point, I almost thank God that christians aren't a majority voice in the Netherlands. |
Tom
`Contrariwise,' continued Tweedledee, `if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic.'
-Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Caroll- |
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Ricky
SFN Die Hard
USA
4907 Posts |
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 05/15/2005 : 20:41:01 [Permalink]
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quote:
Bah, i read lots of that, and i never learned to summon energy-fields.
Yeah. Same here. First sci-fi novel I ever read was "A Princess of Mars" by Edgar Rice Burroughs. I was 12. Damn if I could ever manage to send myself to Mars (John carter did it by staring at Mars for a while, and "poof!", he was suddenly there) and hang out with John Carter and Tars Tarkas. Where was this school when I wanted to get to Mars and kick some ass? damnit!
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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sweetmiracle
Skeptic Friend
USA
74 Posts |
Posted - 05/16/2005 : 11:29:19 [Permalink]
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I can think of many reasons why parents would choose not to send their childern to school, but if fear that their kids would learn to do things that are contrary to the laws of physics is one of them, then they are really too moronic to homeschool....
Oh, wait, most Christians DO believe that they can circumvent the laws of physics .. answered prayer, raptures, miracles, etc. What WAS I thinking?
Oh well, never mind..... |
Remarkable claims require remarkable proof.
-Carl Sagan |
| Edited by - sweetmiracle on 05/16/2005 11:33:00 |
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 05/16/2005 : 12:53:19 [Permalink]
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What about movies? I know that after The Empire Strkes Back and seeing Luke reach toward his lightsaber and call it to himself by using "the Force," I spent an embarrassing amount of time attempting the same thing with various household objects. Needless to say, nothing ever flew into my grasp. So much for magic forces, I thought. The Force remains firmly in the realm of movie magic.
But what's really at issue is what Ricky said. These people are unable to distinguish between fact and fiction, because they already believe this stuff exists. Magic? Demons? Supernatural powers? It's all real to them. They are unable to sweep away these novels as "only fiction" since they don't believe it is. A further disconnect from reality I find difficult to envision.
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"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
| Edited by - H. Humbert on 05/16/2005 12:53:48 |
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latsot
Skeptic Friend
United Kingdom
70 Posts |
Posted - 06/08/2005 : 14:10:58 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Plyss
When reading these boards one is prone to the impression that the USA has a monopoly on religious crackpottery. Not so.
Agreed. I live in North East England. We have a reputation for talking straight and being down to earth. Yet we also have at least two creationist schools funded by a local businessman. In the UK, most schools are funded by the state and have a set curriculum. Privately funded schools can to a much greater extent teach what they want. Apparently this includes creationism.
My point is this: NE england is *really* the last place i would expect to see this kind of lunacy, but is is apparently quite rampant. Arse. By the way, I've written numerous letters of complaint to these schools and their boards, but I have never once received a reply. Anyone else had better luck?
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Siberia
SFN Addict
Brazil
2322 Posts |
Posted - 06/09/2005 : 07:21:45 [Permalink]
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| After watching X-Men II, I really tried to teleport. Didn't work. |
"Why are you afraid of something you're not even sure exists?"
- The Kovenant, Via Negativa
"People who don't like their beliefs being laughed at shouldn't have such funny beliefs."
-- unknown
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 06/09/2005 : 08:45:10 [Permalink]
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I'm not sure, but I think that the first si-fi potboiler I ever read was something called: Retief's War. I have fond if vague, memories of it.
Historically, religion has been a component of every society, present and extant, for good or ill. But the world is changing rapidly, and I think that the various churches now feel that they are in danger of being left behind. Thus, they become yet more strident and aggressive. And all they really have to offer is the same thing they so vigorously object to: books of magic and myth; stories of heroic feats assisted by the mysterious.
Odd, is it not?
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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