In California

[!Xx+-Rational-+xX!]

Are you calling me a fairy, towel-brain???

No, you must live in England or something! Australia doesn't exist I just want evidence! Kangaroos have just as much evidence as fairies they are the same thing! You may think you live in this magical land called Australia but you must live somewhere else this place doesn't exist in reality!

 

[Zep]

No, you must live in England or something! Australia doesn't exist I just want evidence! Kangaroos have just as much evidence as fairies they are the same thing! You may think you live in this magical land called Australia but you must live somewhere else this place doesn't exist in reality!

Your hat is too tight again.

 

[!Xx+-Rational-+xX!]

Your hat is too tight again.

Maybe it's New Zealand! Don't worry we will figure out where you live! We can only hope that the natural laws of the universe will lead you to realizing that this magical land doesn't exist!

 

[Zep]

Maybe it's New Zealand! Don't worry we will figure out where you live! We can only hope that the natural laws of the universe will lead you to realizing that this magical land doesn't exist!

Yep indeedy. Your hat needs checking.

 

[!Xx+-Rational-+xX!]

Is this what the mystical kangaroo told you!? Are you ready to tell us where you really live!?

 

[evildave]

Re: Re: In California

I happen to like the Bible, but forget that.

Gobs and gobs and gobs of literature, great literature, allude to the Bible, assume a knowledge of the Bible, or deserve to be compared to the Bible. It's the most important book in existence, from a literary standpoint.

...

As usual, people are unable to disassociate their feelings from common sense. As an English major and someone who reads 5 books a week, coherency in the Bible is beyond useful on a literary level.

-Elliot

True, but how many "great works of literature" should be purchased by the state and distributed free every single year to every student? Sounds a bit like state funded religion to me.

(Ahh! The California Bible people have a website!)

Awfully skimpy on the details in my opinion.

This stinks of a publicity stunt to blame their repeated failure to pass this idiocy into law on "certain people". A bit like that Judge down south with his big rock in the court lobby.

You know, there are a LOT of texts that are very important to lots of people.

If they should receive the bible, then every student should receive a free bound hardcopy of anything they want from the http://www.sacred-texts.com website. Maybe the section on "Sacred Sexuality" would interest 'em.

 

[Zep]

Is this what the mystical kangaroo told you!? Are you ready to tell us where you really live!?

Your eyes look crossed and bleary. Is that a permanent thing or have you been self-medicating again?

 

[!Xx+-Rational-+xX!]

Your eyes look crossed and bleary. Is that a permanent thing or have you been self-medicating again?

Where is your evidence for Australia!? We can get you help and possibly bring you back in touch with the real world!

 

[Checkmite]

I don't see this working. Not on account of the schools or cirriculum, but because their will either be: 1) some embryo fundy holier-than-these-heathens evangelist (or perhaps a group of them) who will constantly try to inject religion into the discussion, either of his (their) own accord or as per instructions from Interest Group X, and will complain if the teacher, staff, or other students object; or, conversely, 2) there will be some rebellious I'm-an-atheist-because-my-friends-are-and-my-parents-aren't dweeb who'll try to impress his friends, or try to piss people off "just because I want to", who'll say "look at fallacy X, how can any idiot believe this crap". Either way, the "literature" discussion will become a religious one, and the bible sessions will become untenable.

 

[LW]

It might do some kids good to read about the incest, wife-swapping, whoring, and common debauchery the patriarchs loved to do.

Ezekiel 23.

I think Ezekiel 23:19-20 is actually a messianic prophecy, though they garbled up the gender of the pronouns. [It mentions "youth" and "Egypt", a clear reference to Matthew 2:13-15, much clearer than the casting of lots of Psalm 22.]

 

[aerosolben]

Re: Re: Re: In California

True, but how many "great works of literature" should be purchased by the state and distributed free every single year to every student? Sounds a bit like state funded religion to me.

Well, let's see:

Dracula
Moby Dick
Ethan Frome
Animal Farm
Great Expectations

among many others (at least at the public school I attended).

I have no problem with the Bible being studied as an influential piece of literature (which it undoubtably is). However, I think it should be studied in the junior and seniors years of high school, and probably only in advanced English classes (esp. relating to history of Western literature); the book is clearly controversial, and should be studied by students mature and intelligent enough to look at it objectively.

The only real "indoctrination" part of the article is the mention of the cost of distributing the Bible to every K-12 student. If that is the plan of the petition, then I say no; there is no need for any book, however important, to be studied every year, and that smacks of trying to instill religious belief.

 

[Zep]

Where is your evidence for Australia!? We can get you help and possibly bring you back in touch with the real world!

Like you, you mean, flattie?

 

[Checkmite]

Because the King James Version is an English translation, that makes the bible a "work of Western Literature" - to say nothing of whether it was a "great" work or not? I'm not so sure. That would be like saying an English translation of the Bagavad Gita is a great work of Western Literature...it's not. The bible is unequivocally a work of Classical Literature. This is important.

 

[!Xx+-Rational-+xX!]

Like you, you mean, flattie?

Evidence!? The believers want you to think Australia exists but they are more deluded then the planet x fanatics! This may be harder then I thought with you because they have brain washed you!

 

[Zep]

Evidence!? The believers want you to think Australia exists but they are more deluded then the planet x fanatics! This may be harder then I thought with you because they have brain washed you!

Is there actually room for a brain in your flat head, mate?

 

[elliotfc]

But if you want to understand these would it not be better to study it in the language it was written in (Ok my course does not have anything to do with the humanities).

But you're asking for an improbability/impossibility. You'd teach kids aramaic/greek at the expense of what? Similar to reading translations of Oedipus or Beowulf, it's LITERATURE that is the point, and not linguistics.

-Elliot

 

[elliotfc]

Re: Re: Re: In California

True, but how many "great works of literature" should be purchased by the state and distributed free every single year to every student? Sounds a bit like state funded religion to me.

No, only if you teach it AS religion. You could teach the Bible as high/low comedy if you want.

Again, if it is taught as literature that would de-emphasize the religion/truth/history part of it.

This stinks of a publicity stunt to blame their repeated failure to pass this idiocy into law on "certain people". A bit like that Judge down south with his big rock in the court lobby.

No doubt. All I can say is as a FAN of the Bible I hope this gets shot down. Doesn't feel right.

You know, there are a LOT of texts that are very important to lots of people.

Exactly. Especially the Bible, it has been important to hundreds of taught and celebrated writers, from Tolstoy to Shakespeare to Faulkner.

If they should receive the bible, then every student should receive a free bound hardcopy of anything they want from the http://www.sacred-texts.com website. Maybe the section on "Sacred Sexuality" would interest 'em.

Surely none of those texts have a commensurate impact of world literature, or, the world literature that is taught in American schools.

-Elliot

 

[elliotfc]

I don't see this working. Not on account of the schools or cirriculum, but because their will either be: 1) some embryo fundy holier-than-these-heathens evangelist (or perhaps a group of them) who will constantly try to inject religion into the discussion, either of his (their) own accord or as per instructions from Interest Group X, and will complain if the teacher, staff, or other students object; or, conversely, 2) there will be some rebellious I'm-an-atheist-because-my-friends-are-and-my-parents-aren't dweeb who'll try to impress his friends, or try to piss people off "just because I want to", who'll say "look at fallacy X, how can any idiot believe this crap". Either way, the "literature" discussion will become a religious one, and the bible sessions will become untenable.

You're probably right, which is why I would be against this.

Most people are just immature, especially in public school environments. If only it weren't so...but it is.

-Elliot

 

[elliotfc]

Re: Re: Re: Re: In California

The only real "indoctrination" part of the article is the mention of the cost of distributing the Bible to every K-12 student. If that is the plan of the petition, then I say no; there is no need for any book, however important, to be studied every year, and that smacks of trying to instill religious belief.

I think that many organizations across the country distribute KJVs for free...but that wouldn't look good I guess.

Bibles aren't that expensive anyhow...no copyright fees. They are thick, but I see KJVs selling under $10 all the time; they could be had for $5 a pop in bulk I'm sure.

-Elliot

 

[!Xx+-Rational-+xX!]

Is there actually room for a brain in your flat head, mate?

Your memories of mystical kangaroos are only false memories you poor deluded quack!