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marfknox
SFN Die Hard
USA
3739 Posts |
 Posted - 04/09/2006 : 16:09:15
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An interesting story from my local area: quote:
A popular community program aimed at guiding children toward successful, responsible lives has been called into question by some of the young people it was designed to help. A group of Central Bucks East High School students take exception to two of the 40 Developmental Assets that their school district and other community groups have embraced as tools to “raise successful young people.”
Those teenagers, members of a newly formed group known as the CB East Atheist Freethinkers Club, say the assets may be well-intentioned but alienate the non-religious as well as homosexuals.
Read the whole story: http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/113-04092006-638847.html
I'm especially impressed with how diplomatic (opposed to reactionary) this group of teens is being, and I'm also surprised at how fair the article reporting about them is. Nobody seems to be over-reacting or flatly polarizing the issue. Instead these issues are being brought up for public discussion. How refreshing.
I wrote the journalist a letter of appreciate and the editor a letter showing my support of these teens and their mission.
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"Too much certainty and clarity could lead to cruel intolerance" -Karen Armstrong
Check out my art store: http://www.marfknox.etsy.com
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Edited by - marfknox on 04/09/2006 16:10:37
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JohnOAS
SFN Regular
Australia
800 Posts |
Posted - 04/09/2006 : 18:15:48 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by marfknox
An interesting story from my local area:
...
I wrote the journalist a letter of appreciate and the editor a letter showing my support of these teens and their mission.
Good article Marf.
I'm not sure I see the point of explicitly including reference to the gays/lesbians, treating them differently (when inappropriate) is a big part of the problem IMHO.
Good to see some intelligent discussion either way. |
John's just this guy, you know. |
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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard
USA
3834 Posts |
Posted - 04/10/2006 : 00:35:45 [Permalink]
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| It's good to see people standing up to the assumption we are all in a religious community. Especially today. |
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marfknox
SFN Die Hard
USA
3739 Posts |
Posted - 04/11/2006 : 17:39:58 [Permalink]
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beskeptical wrote: quote:
It's good to see people standing up to the assumption we are all in a religious community.
Yes. Or the assumption that we all should be in a religious community, and not being in one is some kind of lapse of character or mis-prioritizing of values. |
"Too much certainty and clarity could lead to cruel intolerance" -Karen Armstrong
Check out my art store: http://www.marfknox.etsy.com
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 04/11/2006 : 18:14:55 [Permalink]
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Glad you pointed this one out, Marf. I am shocked and scandalized by the lack of screaming and ranting on both sides of the issue. What's to happen to America if this kind of interaction goes on? A plunge back into the bad old days of functioning democracy?
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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JohnOAS
SFN Regular
Australia
800 Posts |
Posted - 04/11/2006 : 18:19:20 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by marfknox
quote:
Originally posted by beskeptical
It's good to see people standing up to the assumption we are all in a religious community.
Yes. Or the assumption that we all should be in a religious community, and not being in one is some kind of lapse of character or mis-prioritizing of values.
A little off topic, but this reminds me, I recently submitted a character reference for friends looking to adopt a child. One of the questions was:
"In what social, cultural, church, community and sporting activities do you know that the applicants participate?"
In my reply, I mentioned various sporting and other activities, not mentioning explicitly that my friends are not churchgoers or members of any cult religion that I'm aware of.
Of course, I would have liked to say that I think it's a point greatly in their favour that they don't belong to any particular religious group, but as I know that statistically there a quite high chance of someone involved in the review process who is that way inclined, I opted not to. I'm all for making a stand about my own beliefs and principles, but not at the expense of good friends.
I wonder how long it will be, if ever, before believing stuff "just because", and feeling compelled to inflict ones psychoses onto people too young to defend themselves against it, is not seen as a "good thing"?
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John's just this guy, you know. |
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marfknox
SFN Die Hard
USA
3739 Posts |
Posted - 04/11/2006 : 19:22:27 [Permalink]
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Halfmooner wrote: quote:
Glad you pointed this one out, Marf. I am shocked and scandalized by the lack of screaming and ranting on both sides of the issue. What's to happen to America if this kind of interaction goes on? A plunge back into the bad old days of functioning democracy?
That's only because it is an article from a little local community paper. If Bill O'Reilly got his hands on this story you can sure as hell bet there'd be screams and rants. Meanwhile, the actual people involved would sit in their living rooms watching FoxNews with perplexed looks and wondering if they had fallen into some sort of parallel universe. |
"Too much certainty and clarity could lead to cruel intolerance" -Karen Armstrong
Check out my art store: http://www.marfknox.etsy.com
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