Claudia Stanny asks: >Has Western society really evolved that much from religious barbarism?
I note that the examples Claudia provides come from the United States, which is hardly the sole representative of Western society (for starters, it is totally unrepresentative as far as the importance of religious belief is concerned in comparison with Western Europe). Reluctant as I am to get involved in this kind of discussion (which can go on interminably), I hardly think that what Claudia describes is evidence of widespread religious barbarism in the US compared with, say, some Christian practices towards heretics some centuries ago. Nor does it remotely compare with, for instance, the widespread acceptance in Muslim countries (and often in law) that the punishment for apostasy is death. For example, here is Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, Head of the International Union of Muslim Scholars (welcomed, with many protesting, by then Mayor Ken Livingstone to London in 2004 as a "progressive figure" in Islam): "All Muslim jurists agree that the apostate is to be punished. However, they differ regarding the punishment itself. The majority of them go for killing; meaning that an apostate is to be sentenced to death." http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?cid=1119503547222&pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaEAskTheScholar When the official or widely-held position in Western societies is that defectors from Christianity should be physically punished, possible by death, I'll consider accepting the equivalence suggested by Claudia. More on this in relation to the UK: "The Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain was launched in the Houses of Parliament on June 21, 2007. The unique organisation was established by ‘apostates’ to break the taboo that comes with renouncing Islam and religion, particularly given that it is punishable by death in many countries…" http://www.ex-muslim.org.uk/eng/pressreleases/press-pages/121298-AnnualReport.html Allen Esterson Former lecturer, Science Department Southwark College, London allenester...@compuserve.com http://www.esterson.org --------------------------------------- From: Claudia Stanny <csta...@uwf.edu> Subject: Re: They Too Died That Day Date: Sun, 12 Sep 2010 20:45:04 -0500 Has Western society really evolved that much from religious barbarism? My perceptions might be distorted a bit . . . I live in a region where churches were bombed in the 1960s because it was "too soon" after the turmoil of the Civil War to consider sitting next to a person of color on a bus or to use the same drinking fountain, much less allow them to vote. I saw evidence of the persistence of this attitude in the 1970s, where some communities still maintained separate seating in the balcony of movie theaters for African Americans. More recently, the youth minister of a local fundamentalist Christian church detonated a bomb in a medical clinic on Christmas morning as his "gift to Jesus." A decade later another fundamentalist Christian minister purchased a small sliver of land adjoining a clinic and set up a system of ladders and scaffolding along the privacy fence, where he would perch with a bullhorn and harass physicians, staff, and clients. This circus continued for a couple of years. He was defended in the community because he owned the property and had a right to do with it at he pleased. (Sound familiar?) His actions finally came to an end when he brought a shotgun and murdered a physician and his escort as they arrived at the clinic one morning. Every weekend of every summer I must endure the shouted "ministry" of ministers-in-training from the local Christian college, who stand on street corners and use their Bibles to direct their tirades threatening all who pass with hell fire and damnation. Closed windows, blasting AC, and Bach at full volume on the CD fail to muffle the noise. I can't imagine what a woman in a head scarf must endure from this crowd. But they do have a right to speak. The same right that protects my speech in this e-mail, which some might find objectionable and would like to silence. Then we have the mere criminals; tax cheats who wrap themselves in some weird interpretation of Biblical verse that they claim grants them permission to pay their employees in cash and not pay Social Security or income taxes on wages. (Actual local case, now convicted.) My fears of religious terrorism are much closer to home. None of these terrorists worships in a mosque. Claudia Stanny -----Original Message----- From: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) digest <tips@fsulist.frostburg.edu> To: tips digest recipients <tips@fsulist.frostburg.edu> Sent: Mon, Sep 13, 2010 6:00 am Subject: tips digest: September 12, 2010 Subject: tips digest: September 12, 2010 From: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) digest" <tips@fsulist.frostburg.edu> Reply-To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <tips@fsulist.frostburg.edu> Date: Mon, 13 Sep 2010 01:00:00 -0400 TIPS Digest for Sunday, September 12, 2010. 1. Re: Autistic Girl Expresses Profound Intelligence 2. RE: They Too Died That Day 3. They Too Died That Day 4. A modest proposal 5. Re: A modest proposal 6. Re: They Too Died That Day 7. Re: They Too Died That Day 8. social psych activity 9. Re: They Too Died That Day --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: allenester...@compuserve.com To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13076.897dfc4f20f0edf00528e4c6f4ad2c5b&n=T&l=tips&o=4759 or send a blank email to leave-4759-13076.897dfc4f20f0edf00528e4c6f4ad2...@fsulist.frostburg.edu Attached Message From: Allen Esterson <allenester...@compuserve.com> Subject: Re: Autistic Girl Expresses Profound Intelligence Date: Sun, 12 Sep 2010 03:15:05 -0400 (EDT) Don Allen wrote: >I just stumbled onto a video that apparently shows a young >woman with autism who is able to communicate at a very >high level despite severe autism. The link is here: >http://www.fark.com/cgi/vidplayer.pl?IDLink=5612400 >[...] Do any of you have more information which would either >support or refute what was presented in the clip. Obviously independent information would be needed on this case before it can be taken at face value. One point: The video shows passages typed by Carly apparently at the age of fourteen with perfect grammar and spelling. I don't know what the situation is in the States, but in the UK this would be relatively uncommon in a fourteen-year-old nowadays, let alone for someone who hadn't written a sentence before she was eleven. Of course that does not show the claims are not authentic, but it goes without saying that the case would need to independently investigated before any conclusions can be drawn. Allen Esterson Former lecturer, Science Department Southwark College, London allenester...@compuserve.com http://www.esterson.org ------------------------ From: don allen <dap...@shaw.ca> Subject: Autistic Girl Expresses Profound Intelligence Date: Sat, 11 Sep 2010 15:07:03 -0700 Hi All- I just stumbled onto a video that apparently shows a young woman with autism who is able to communicate at a very high level despite severe autism. The link is here: http://www.fark.com/cgi/vidplayer.pl?IDLink=5612400 I tend to be quite sceptical about such reports and since this involves John Stossel I am more sceptical than usual so I am looking for some more information. This doesn't (at least from the video clip) appear to involve facilitated communication, but it does make some strong claims which would require some independent verification. Do any of you have more information which would either support or refute what was presented in the clip. Thanks in advance, -Don. Don Allen Retired professor Langara College Attached Message From: Jim Clark <j.cl...@uwinnipeg.ca> Subject: RE: They Too Died That Day Date: Sun, 12 Sep 2010 02:40:20 -0500 Hi At risk of being called racist and/or an islamaphobe, I thought Kristof's article and others like it might be naive in so readily declaring concerns about Islam to be irrational. Does irrational fear or prejudice really explain the reactions against Islam in so many parts of the world and in so much of the population in some countries? Prejudice and fear can of course be widespread, but I suspect something else is operating in many or at least some cases, namely concerns about the spread of Islam (or at least radical or extreme forms) that might have some validity? Here, for example, is a story nominally about threats to bomb a store in Afghanistan if it did not stop playing music. Although those threats apparently were the work of the Taliban, what caught my eye was the last few paragraphs reproduced below. http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2010/09/03/taliban-tries-to-stop-the-music-in-afghanistan-again.html "President Hamid Karzai is under pressure from the Ulema Council of Afghanistan, the religious body composed of the clerics and preachers from across the country. They see the implementation of Sharia (Islamic law) as a way to stop the growing insurgency in the country. They seek bans on some programs run on some private TV channels, and during an intense parliamentary debate this year, many members called the non-Afghan serials aired on these channels un-Islamic. Early in August, more than 300 members of the council called on Karzai to revive Islamic punishments such stoning, amputation and execution for various crimes. Islamic clerics have deep influence in the traditionally conservative Afghan society and has played a substantial role in backing * and ousting * of past regimes." That is, there is a substantial and powerful group of clerics, presumably speaking on behalf of their religion, who want to introduce practices that I suspect many of us would find abhorrent. It does not appear to be simply some radical minority. Are we to believe that when these clerics emigrate to other countries, they all lose these values or that clerics with these values never emigrate or try to exert their influence abroad? A recent Pew survey also showed widespread support among Pakistan respondents for harsh punishments of offenders, suggesting it is not simply the clerics who hold these views. See http://pewglobal.org/2010/07/29/concern-about-extremist-threat-slips-in-pakistan/ For example, 76% of respondents endorsed the death penalty for people who leave Islam. Again can we assume that such beliefs are left behind when people emigrate to other nations? Certainly there have been examples of other traditional practices being imported (e.g., honour killings, genital cutting). And consider the concerns about the Koran-burning in Florida. The Minister threatens to burn some books, and people express concern about his actions because of the expected / threatened reaction among some (many?) Muslims, which is ... to kill Christians? http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100909/ap_on_re_as/quran_burning_reaction Would not a more appropriate response be to burn Bibles or at worst perhaps punish the people who committed the offense? And past history from Rushdie on suggests that in fact the concerns about a violent reaction are warranted. Perhaps even more relevant would be the deaths that resulted in 2005 from reports (perhaps erroneous?) that the Koran had been mistreated at Gitmo. Should we assume that such reactions by some Muslims are nothing out of the ordinary and say nothing about the intense feelings that the religion engenders in at least some of its adherents, and arguably moreso than seems the case in other religions? Do such passionate reactions exist solely in native countries? It is worth noting perhaps that concern about extreme forms of Islam is found even in Muslim countries, some of which have adopted policies similar to those decried in European countries. Syria is one example: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/19/syria-bans-face-covering_n_651222.html Certainly it would seem strange to say that people in a Muslim country are prejudiced against Islam or are Islamaphobic? Although clearly concerns about becoming less secular get conflated with concerns about loss of power. Finally, it is worth noting that our own religious histories in the West included some pretty unsavory practices (burning people at the stake, anyone?). How we evolved beyond that is presumably in part a psychological question about the evolution of societies? One common factor is that western nations do tend to put less emphasis on religion. This is true even of the USA, although it is more religious than other developed countries. Here is data from the Pew surveys on the importance of religion in various countries. http://pewglobal.org/files/pdf/167.pdf A number of countries on the list are predominantly Muslim and have a high percentage of respondents saying that religion is very important to them. Even nominally-secular Turkey has a somewhat higher percentage (65%) than the USA (59%), which is much higher than other developed countries (e.g., Canada at 30%, France at 11%). Is it safe to assume that a similar evolution will occur in other religions; that is, that religious passions will become less intense and less influential in people's lives? In tracking down some of these sites, I came across a recent Pew survey on religion in Africa at: http://pewforum.org/executive-summary-islam-and-christianity-in-sub-saharan-africa.aspx It has an updated table on importance of religion to peoples around the world, and is largely consistent with earlier survey. Africa as a whole is a highly religious continent (e.g., 72% of Christians and 92% of Muslims pray once a day). Africa is a balance of Muslim (primarily in North) and Christian adherents, and they asked some interesting questions relevant here. Christians more often saw Muslims as violent than reverse. 60% of Christians endorsed law based on Bible and 63% of Muslims favored Sharia law. 19% of Christians and 29% of Muslims state that violence against civilians is often or sometimes justified in defense of religion. On most questions, there was much variability across countries in responses. All in all I do think that it would be a cop-out for psychologists to characterize what is happening around the world in overly simplistic terms like prejudice or islamaphobia, not that these have no rôle to play in matters. If we just think in our own nations, perhaps especially the USA, how difficult it has been to resolve conflicts that implicate deeply held values and beliefs (e.g., abortion), we might better appreciate the complexity of what is happening as Islam spreads to largely secular nations due to immigration to developed countries, or comes face-to-face with other religions, as in parts of Africa. Take care Jim (sent with some trepidation!) James M. Clark Professor of Psychology 204-786-9757 204-774-4134 Fax j.cl...@uwinnipeg.ca >>> "Helweg-Larsen, Marie" <helw...@dickinson.edu> 11-Sep-10 3:31:49 AM >>> It seems that there are lots of lessons/topics for a psychologist to discuss in class with respect to the current 'islamaphobia'. Of course such a discussion could be structured around social psychological work on prejudice and discrimination but also emotions in general. This author suggests that fear and not prejudice is the cause of opposition to the Not-at-Ground-Zero Mosque. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/opinion/05kristof.html?src=me&ref=general Marie **************************************************** Marie Helweg-Larsen, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Psychology Danish Institute for Study Abroad (DIS), +45 2065 1360 Dickinson College (on leave 2010/2011) http://users.dickinson.edu/~helwegm/index.html **************************************************** -----Original Message----- From: Mike Palij [mailto:m...@nyu.edu] Sent: Friday, September 10, 2010 15:08 To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Cc: Mike Palij Subject: [tips] They Too Died That Day An article in the NY Times focuses on one family that deals with their grief over the loss of a father and husband in the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center. How they have dealth with the attack and the aftermath should give us and, if we share with our students, pause. See: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/10/nyregion/10muslim.html?_r=1&th=&emc=th&pagewanted=all The fact that the family is Muslim would be incidental except for the recent madness manifesting itself in U.S. religious and political circles. I wonder what critical thinking lessons psychologists will teach about this madness? -Mike Palij New York University m...@nyu.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: helw...@dickinson.edu. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13234.b0e864a6eccfc779c8119f5a4468797f&n=T&l=tips&o=4705 or send a blank email to leave-4705-13234.b0e864a6eccfc779c8119f5a44687...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: j.cl...@uwinnipeg.ca. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13251.645f86b5cec4da0a56ffea7a891720c9&n=T&l=tips&o=4731 or send a blank email to leave-4731-13251.645f86b5cec4da0a56ffea7a89172...@fsulist.frostburg.edu Attached Message From: michael sylvester <msylves...@copper.net> Subject: They Too Died That Day Date: Sun, 12 Sep 2010 12:24:31 -0100 Jim: I concur with you. I personally will pass on Islam.I can not find any justification for Africans or African-Americans to join Islam.Of course I could make similar modified arguments for christianity.But from what I know of Islam (I stand corrected) there is lots of condoning of justification of slavery in the Koran (or is it Quran).Moslem leaders in the Sudan have engaged in genocide against the Christian and indigenous Africans in the Sudan and other parts of Africa.Despite Islam's claim that it was a black (Bilal) who first called the faithful to prayer,I have reports from many ex-pats who worked in Saudi Arabia,the UAE,and other middle eastern counties that Arab moslems really discriminate against the African moslems. Are there tipsters who can share some light of Arab Moslem-Dark African moslem race relations? It is true that Malcolm X had a conversion when he hajjed to Mecca but I suspect this was more ceremonial. I am content to remain an infidel. ( To be continued) Michael "omnicentric" Sylvester,PhD Daytona Beach,Florida Attached Message From: Christopher D. Green <chri...@yorku.ca> Subject: A modest proposal Date: Sun, 12 Sep 2010 10:26:41 -0400 And so begin the news stories about the new and exotic ways to cheatthat students are now dreaming up. http://www.parentcentral.ca/parent/education/backtoschool/article/859760--student-cheaters-have-plenty-of-tricks-up-their-sleeves There is, of course, a perfectly simple way to stop almost all cheatingimmediately: stop giving grades. If a student gets nothing fromthe thousands of dollars s/he spends on college education other thanthe development and improvement of his/her own ideas, then there is noincentive left to pretend that these changes are more extensive thanthey really are. (By the way, not giving grades also solves mostproblems related to students not attending class, not paying sufficientattention in class, not participating in class discussions, notcompleting assignments, not complete assignments on time, not beingpresent for tests due to illness (or "illness"), etc.) The entire pointof school becomes actually learning something, not acquiring a codethat (fallibly) indicates that you have learned something (which is thesource of all these various problems). Of course, many people will immediately respond to this proposal with"practical" questions like, "Do you really want a physician treatingyou or an engineer building a bridge you cross every day who hasn'tbeen shown (via course grades) to have acquired the skills necessary todo his or her work?" I have two answers to such questions: (1) I'mtalking about education here and don't really care much about whatprofessional training does (as long as the physicians and engineersknow what they are doing). (2) If I did care more about professionaltraining, I would say that this problem can be resolved pretty wellcompletely by simply having aspiring professionals write (and pass)licensing examinations, which most of them do anyway. There is no realneed to have a grade associated with each and every course they take.That is an enormous waste of time and energy. (For those of you with abusiness bend: no grades is much more efficient!) "But what about employers? How will they know whether students havelearned the skills they need their employees to have?" To which Irespond: Why should we be subsidizing employers' applicant screeningprocedures? If an employer wants to discover what his/her applicantsknow about a particular field of interest, that employer can pay tohave an appropriate examination developed and scored him-/herself. The real reason we have grades (though we have nearly forgotten), is sothat one school can communicate efficiently with another school (e.g.,a graduate school) what a student's performance has been like. Timewas, we actually knew our students, and there weren't so many of themthat professors couldn't write in longhand their impressions of astudent's performance. Eventually that process got reduced to a singlealphabetic character. Naturally, I do not want to return to writing outletters longhand for every single student who passes under my watch.But, I think that the costs associated with reducing learning to grades(not just cheating, but a whole raft of burdensome and mostly pointlesscourses administration duties) now far outweigh the benefits that thesystem may have once bestowed. Anyone have a solution to this problem? Chris -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada 416-736-2100 ex. 66164 chri...@yorku.ca http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ ========================== Attached Message From: Jim Clark <j.cl...@uwinnipeg.ca> Subject: Re: A modest proposal Date: Sun, 12 Sep 2010 09:40:23 -0500 Hi And here I thought that grades were to communicate to students how they are doing, and to communicate to other faculty whether students are prepared for higher study, as well as the purposes dismissed (I think too quickly) here. And I'm not too sure what to make of the phrase if students get "nothing from the thousands of dollars s/he spends on college education other than the development and improvement of his/her own ideas"? If the gains include the capacity to learn complex material on one's own, including material presented in text and various quantitative ways (figures, tables), to reason critically about complex issues, to organize a thoughtful communication in spoken and written form, to identify questions that need to be addressed in resolving some issue, and so on, I would not characterize them as "nothing but." I'd be interested to hear how Chris would go about vetting applications for graduate school based on his scheme? And how he would ensure that "cheating" was not possible (e.g., essays written by other than the applicant, unwarranted positive reviews, ...). Take care Jim James M. Clark Professor of Psychology 204-786-9757 204-774-4134 Fax j.cl...@uwinnipeg.ca >>> "Christopher D. Green" <chri...@yorku.ca> 12-Sep-10 9:26:41 AM >>> And so begin the news stories about the new and exotic ways to cheat that students are now dreaming up. http://www.parentcentral.ca/parent/education/backtoschool/article/859760--student-cheaters-have-plenty-of-tricks-up-their-sleeves There is, of course, a perfectly simple way to stop almost all cheating immediately: *stop giving grades*. If a student gets nothing from the thousands of dollars s/he spends on college education other than the development and improvement of his/her own ideas, then there is no incentive left to pretend that these changes are more extensive than they really are. (By the way, not giving grades also solves most problems related to students not attending class, not paying sufficient attention in class, not participating in class discussions, not completing assignments, not complete assignments on time, not being present for tests due to illness (or "illness"), etc.) The entire point of school becomes actually learning something, not acquiring a code that (fallibly) indicates that you have learned something (which is the source of all these various problems). Of course, many people will immediately respond to this proposal with "practical" questions like, "Do you really want a physician treating you or an engineer building a bridge you cross every day who hasn't been shown (via course grades) to have acquired the skills necessary to do his or her work?" I have two answers to such questions: (1) I'm talking about education here and don't really care much about what professional training does (as long as the physicians and engineers know what they are doing). (2) If I did care more about professional training, I would say that this problem can be resolved pretty well completely by simply having aspiring professionals write (and pass) licensing examinations, which most of them do anyway. There is no real need to have a grade associated with each and every course they take. That is an enormous waste of time and energy. (For those of you with a business bend: no grades is much more efficient!) "But what about employers? How will they know whether students have learned the skills they need their employees to have?" To which I respond: Why should we be subsidizing employers' applicant screening procedures? If an employer wants to discover what his/her applicants know about a particular field of interest, that employer can pay to have an appropriate examination developed and scored him-/herself. The real reason we have grades (though we have nearly forgotten), is so that one school can communicate efficiently with another school (e.g., a graduate school) what a student's performance has been like. Time was, we actually knew our students, and there weren't so many of them that professors couldn't write in longhand their impressions of a student's performance. Eventually that process got reduced to a single alphabetic character. Naturally, I do not want to return to writing out letters longhand for every single student who passes under my watch. But, I think that the costs associated with reducing learning to grades (not just cheating, but a whole raft of burdensome and mostly pointless courses administration duties) now far outweigh the benefits that the system may have once bestowed. Anyone have a solution to this problem? Chris -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada 416-736-2100 ex. 66164 chri...@yorku.ca http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ ========================== --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: j.cl...@uwinnipeg.ca. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13251.645f86b5cec4da0a56ffea7a891720c9&n=T&l=tips&o=4750 or send a blank email to leave-4750-13251.645f86b5cec4da0a56ffea7a89172...@fsulist.frostburg.edu Attached Message From: Michael Smith <tipsl...@gmail.com> Subject: Re: They Too Died That Day Date: Sun, 12 Sep 2010 09:51:44 -0500 Apparantly Hermann Goering claimed that it was very easy to control the public (and he should know)...just call a person unpatriotic. It still works today. Just call people who differ in opinion racist, or islamohphobic or homophobic, and there you go--you have control. I also think there could be much to worry about if a competing ideology isn't afraid to use violent coercion and can use democracy to vote in sympathetic leaders during its weak beginnings. The fact that there has not been a vehement condemnation of terrorism across the entire Muslim world and all of its leadership could be telling. Although, unlike James, I think the reason that Western society has 'evolved' beyond barbarism (at least institutionally) and enshrines human rights and freedoms is not in spite of Christianity, but a major part of that development is because of it. --Mike Attached Message From: Jim Clark <j.cl...@uwinnipeg.ca> Subject: Re: They Too Died That Day Date: Sun, 12 Sep 2010 13:10:57 -0500 Hi James M. Clark Professor of Psychology 204-786-9757 204-774-4134 Fax j.cl...@uwinnipeg.ca >>> Michael Smith <tipsl...@gmail.com> 12-Sep-10 9:51:44 AM >>> ... Although, unlike James, I think the reason that Western society has 'evolved' beyond barbarism (at least institutionally) and enshrines human rights and freedoms is not in spite of Christianity, but a major part of that development is because of it. JC: I agree with Mike but I think that extracting what was good in Christianity (do unto others, caring for weak) and leaving behind (somewhat) what was questionable (an eye for an eye, burning heretics) may have depended on some loosening of religion's hold on people so that they did not feel compelled to following blindly its edicts. It would be interesting to know historically over what time period changes occurred in attitudes toward religion and its components (e.g., bible). When, for example, did people first start entertaining seriously the idea that the bible could be viewed as a figurative document rather than one to be taken literally? Not that the latter attitude isn't still present in some people and prevalent in some Christian nations. In the survey of Africans I mentioned previously, a majority of both Christians and Muslims tended to view their religious text as a literal document. I'll be teaching about the rôle of religion in enculturation in my culture and psych class in a few weeks. I've been increasing that material over the years (not much in the text), in part because religion is so central to people's lives in many parts of the world. It will be interesting to see if some of these current events are brought up by students, and if so, what they say. Take care Jim Attached Message From: Jim Matiya <jmat...@hotmail.com> Subject: social psych activity Date: Sun, 12 Sep 2010 17:14:24 -0500 Attached is a short video is based on Gerry's class activity. I used it in a Social Psych unit. I added one more direction, after the students were all facing the board, they turned around and were facing the class. Will person #4 turn with them? Watch their feet. It's a good lead-in to Allen Funt's Candid Camera snippet, conforming behavior in an elevator. Jim Matiya Visiting Instructor in Psychology Florida Gulf Coast University jmat...@fgcu.edu Using David Myers' texts for AP Psychology? Go to http://bcs.worthpublishers.com/cppsych/ High School Psychology and Advanced Psychology Graphic Organizers, Pacing Guides, and Daily Lesson Plans archived at www.Teaching-Point.net Contributor, for Karen Huffman's Psychology in Action, Video Guest Lecturettes John Wiley and Sons. Attached Message From: Claudia Stanny <csta...@uwf.edu> Subject: Re: They Too Died That Day Date: Sun, 12 Sep 2010 20:45:04 -0500 Has Western society really evolved that much from religious barbarism? My perceptions might be distorted a bit . . . I live in a region where churches were bombed in the 1960s because it was "too soon" after the turmoil of the Civil War to consider sitting next to a person of color on a bus or to use the same drinking fountain, much less allow them to vote. I saw evidence of the persistence of this attitude in the 1970s, where some communities still maintained separate seating in the balcony of movie theaters for African Americans. More recently, the youth minister of a local fundamentalist Christian church detonated a bomb in a medical clinic on Christmas morning as his "gift to Jesus." A decade later another fundamentalist Christian minister purchased a small sliver of land adjoining a clinic and set up a system of ladders and scaffolding along the privacy fence, where he would perch with a bullhorn and harass physicians, staff, and clients. This circus continued for a couple of years. He was defended in the community because he owned the property and had a right to do with it at he pleased. (Sound familiar?) His actions finally came to an end when he brought a shotgun and murdered a physician and his escort as they arrived at the clinic one morning. Every weekend of every summer I must endure the shouted "ministry" of ministers-in-training from the local Christian college, who stand on street corners and use their Bibles to direct their tirades threatening all who pass with hell fire and damnation. Closed windows, blasting AC, and Bach at full volume on the CD fail to muffle the noise. I can't imagine what a woman in a head scarf must endure from this crowd. But they do have a right to speak. The same right that protects my speech in this e-mail, which some might find objectionable and would like to silence. Then we have the mere criminals; tax cheats who wrap themselves in some weird interpretation of Biblical verse that they claim grants them permission to pay their employees in cash and not pay Social Security or income taxes on wages. (Actual local case, now convicted.) My fears of religious terrorism are much closer to home. None of these terrorists worships in a mosque. Claudia Stanny --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=4761 or send a blank email to leave-4761-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
