Interesting you should touch on the "comfortable issue." I was just thinking about this earlier today and how this is one variable we haven't touched on this discussion.
The great liberal commandment: "Thou shalt not make another person uncomfortable." That's B.S. There is no guarantee, not in the constitution, not in nature, not in the normal course of human interaction that you will always feel comfortable. Education, by its very nature, is discomforting. One of the most ridiculous things I've read about recently is schools banning that age-old school yard game, dodge ball. They ban it because, gosh darn it, some kids just aren't good at it. Well, I wasn't the best athlete in elementary school and was often picked last for teams. And while I couldn't dodge the ball very well, I sure could throw it (learning to throw was a skill my dad taught me early, thankfully). It was always a great feeling of accomplishment when I threw the ball and hit one of the kids who were among those who teased me. It was a legal and unchallengeable chance for revenge. Furthermore, many of the greatest Americans, politicians and business leaders, were kids who were not the toughest in school, or the most skilled. They were nerds, often. Yet, being teased, being made uncomfortable, made them stronger, and they often by passed the "cool" kids by the time they became adults. In uncomfort, sometimes life's greatest lessons are learned. Instead of teaching kids that nobody has a right to make them feel uncomfortable, we need to teach them that they need to grow a thicker skin. Because religion makes someone uncomfortable is a very poor reason to keep religion out of schools. Religion is one of the most fundamental aspects of life. It informs our entire history. Much of our classic literature is nearly unintelligible without an understanding of Western religious traditions. Instead of teaching children that religion is something evil and should be left unsaid, pushed into a corner and dismissed as irrelevant, maybe we should teach them about tolerance and acceptance of religious belief. That's probably the best reason, because all of the legal and constitutional ones, for making sure some accommodations are made for religion on our school grounds. H. -----Original Message----- From: Nick McClure [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2002 6:59 PM To: CF-Community Subject: RE: Church and State >That is why there are churches too. But the students don't go to the same church, they do go to the same school. > > A teacher can use their room for a group, like the drama club and that > > doesn't bother you, but if it is a religious club, you just > > happen to want > > to study in that room. > >What? This is a flawed argument. Religion is highly volatile. You totally >missed my point in the email. I don't think I missed your point. You think that groups should be allowed to use the school so long as they are not limited to people of a certain religion. But then you said "But my point is that I may want to go there to study or whatever." So you are saying that groups who only allow people of a certain religion to join don't keep you from studying. But others don't? Also the school provides facilities made specifically for students to study, it is mandated to be quite, and there are ample research tools to use. >No big deal. Not a Christian argument anyway, it is a religious one. >Religion should be kept out of public areas payed for by all of our tax >dollars from people from all denominations (and no denominations). I do not >want anyone, anywhere, to be made to feel uncomfortable by people practicing >there faith in a public area, for whatever reason and whatever faith. It >seems simple enough to just use a church for this. Groups use school facilities all the time. The private catholic school plays basketball against the public school in school facilities. Is there anything wrong with this? So what you are saying, Religious groups can't use park facilities, schools, community centers, or the like if they show up as a group? The people pay taxes just like the rest of us, why keep them from using their facilities? So for churches that don't have any open lawn want to hold a picnic at the local park and they call to reserve a shelter, they should be denied? That seems like they are being denied the right to assemble. I am sick of the idea that people should go out of there way to make you comfortable. So what. If you aren't comfortable seeing a Moslem stop and pray when the time comes, even if he just happens to be walking down the street, then that is your problem, not mine or anybody else's. You seeing that makes you that uncomfortable, then get a grip, we are a divers society, we should be glad people do that and are not ridiculed. To hide things like this takes away from one of the great abilities of this country. We are different, many cultures, many people, living their lives in peace, nobody feeling out of place. If we could open our eyes, and see that just because this person pray at dusk, this person prays at dawn, and this person doesn't pray, that we are still people, and we can be friends, and we can respect each other. Differences of faith or opinion should not keep people from being comfortable. If you are uncomfortable seeing people go about their lives, then stay at home and close the blinds. While you have the right to go about your lives, the rest of us have the right to go about ours. We should not out of our way to hide our differences, we should go out of our way to celebrate them. I don't care about Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell, If you have read what I said in many other posts, I am not a Christian, I am an agnostic. If you would look beyond your general dislike for people with faith, you would see that they are people too. If one person would allow one group access, but not another, then that is wrong, as matter of fact it is illegal. If you read the first Amendment to the Constitution it states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." This to me says that any law passed that has any thing to do with religion is unconstitutional. It also states that people have the right to assemble so long as they don't cause any trouble. You can't deny a group use of public facilities because it might cause a problem. This would be like arresting somebody for just saying hello to a prostitute. You can't do it. There must first be a crime, then deal with it. If you feel a problem might occur, make the group pay for additional security. That is what the KKK does when they get on the court house steps in cities around the country. They preach hate, they want to cause violence and hatred, and they scream it from the most public place of all. ______________________________________________________________________ Get the mailserver that powers this list at http://www.coolfusion.com Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists
