Homeschooling? (Read 1986 times)

druids do it in the woods!

But the truth is, I love the exchange of ideas. I love the arguments. I love to see the passion, the life, that people show on behalf of their beliefs. That's what I love, and it's why I do what I do.

 Nicely said.  I find that those who have truly thought about their beliefs (and not just adopted them superficially) are those most likely to be willing to engage in such serious discussion--regardless of their beliefs. It too rarely happens in our cable-TV-talk-show-sound-bite society.  We scream instead of discussing. 

Getting back to the topic a few pages ago....

Many religions have some version of these beliefs:

• God is far more powerful than any individual.
• God exists everywhere; god is both within all of us and outside of us.
• God makes us what we are (I am the product of god, without god, I am nothing).
• In return for god’s gifts, we are obligated to adhere to god’s rules.
• God has laid out the way we should live.
• If we violate the wishes of god, we risk being punished or cast out.
• Those who do not adhere to ways of god cannot be trusted.

However, if you substitute the word “society” for “god” these all make perfect sense.  In part, religion is a way for the people of a culture to promote their values by embodying them in some external (often supernatural) authority that gives the ideas more power.  (The tale of ten commandments in stone is much more impressive than, "Hey, I came up with a top 10 list!) As the French sociologist (and son of a long line of rabbis) Emile Durkheim put it, “The idea of society is the soul of religion.”

So it makes a lot of sense to study religious teachings; they personify the values of a society. (Or the ideas of its ruling class if you want to bring Marx into it; that whole “divine right of kings” thing was very useful for some folks for a very long time.)  I would hope that home schooling (see there’s a link to this thread!) would include some study of these various beliefs, especially the world’s major religious traditions and the role they’ve played—good and bad—in various societies.  Sadly, religious education--including my own as a child--typically involves indoctrination, rather than the exploration of the diverse traditions that exist.

One lesson to learn form such study, in my opinion, is that as long as societies were relatively homogenous and relatively isolated from each other, fierce belief in the Truth of one’s religion was plausible.  But in a globalized society with diverse populations of highly divergent beliefs, the acceptance of religious pluralism—including forms of non-belief—is really the only practical route to a reasonably peaceful future.  That’s the strength of the U.S. model—freedom of religion without imposing a state religion.  (No, we are not a "Christian nation.") Believe what you will, but don’t use the political system to impose those beliefs on others.

Wrong.  Fittest is the defined as: the winner of the race.

 

Oh, wait.  Wrong thread.

Check the PRs in the logs for your mating strategy.

I think a few beers with Jeff (as long as he was buying) would be interesting!

and challenging, for most of us!

nah...some of us actually have some work to do...after all, I want to be a good steward of my time and give an honest day's labor for my pittance honest days wages...that is why Jeff has to buy the beer...

it really isn't my place, nor would I want to, judge your strength or weakness.  I would encourage research and contemplation so you could arrive at a definitive answer one way or another.

Look, I'm animating the dead.