Thursday, November 22, 2007

The Jesus story: comparisons between religions

I don't know what the maker of this movie said to get it taken down so many times. It's been up now since June, so I guess that's been taken care of.

It would be better without the intro entirely.

This is something that every child should hear in school. It concerns literature, history, science, and religion. Unfortunately most schoolchildren have no idea what different religions believe in, and many have only half a clue about what they consider to be their own religion.

Before anybody gets upset, I'll explain with two examples, from opposite ends of what I'd call the Fervency spectrum, both illustrating how ignorance, while not being particularly blissful, can certainly be self-perpetuating.

Example 1: A class is learning about the ancient Egyptians, and the students get very upset to hear the details of what the ancient Egyptians believed in and how it guided their lives, because the Egyptians were wrong. There is only one God, and we should not even read about such things.

Example 2: Two Muslim students are accosted by a class of nominally Christian students who demand that they explain and justify their religion. On questioning, it turns out that none of the "Christian" students have a clear understanding the beliefs and practices of the religions they claim to be their own. The most outspoken of the group, in fact, has never received any religious instruction nor even set foot in a church.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Forgot all about this blog, but I'm BAACK!

Texas math books wrought with errors


AUSTIN, Texas, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Reviewers have found 109,263 errors in sample copies of math textbooks to be used next fall in Texas.

One second-grade math book, for example, has 4 plus 7 equaling 10, the San Antonio Express-News reported Friday.

Texas is clearly leading the way. Government-mandated mediocrity. Seriously, the article says that the errors will be ironed out before the books are in the hands of the students. Do the errors also get fixed for states where there is no Central Committee to run a massive study and demand that they are fixed?

Humor


Did you know that the sooner you start your kids drinking cola, the better they fit in? Laboratory tests show... Classic poster