--- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: <snip> > And what was it I said, exactly? Well, I suggested > that some TMers (the ones who like to think of > themselves and their ilk as somehow "special") > preferred to buy into the *obvious* propaganda > intent of Bob Roth's quote about "religious > minorities" and believe that the Lynch grant failed > because of a major "hit" from fundamentalist Christians.
Couple of additional points here. First, it wasn't just Roth who suggested that the opposition was based on the religious beliefs of the protesters. >From the Marin Independent Journal (via Rick Ross): "[Carol] Ramsey [principal of Terra Linda] said that, aside from a few opponents, most parents either supported the program or were open-minded. But the *deep-seated beliefs held by critics* threatened to overshadow what she set out to accomplish." [emphasis mine] http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm139.html Second, the various newspaper articles about the controversy have all characterized the objections as being primarily to TM's purported religious nature. This is not typical of the charges former, now anti-, TMers, make, *unless* they themselves have joined a religion that finds the promotion of other religious beliefs a threat. The single reported objection that did *not* have to do exclusively with the supposed religious nature of TM was that it was a "cult" (this from the woman who "rushed the stage," Susan Crittenden, a former TM teacher). This is more typical of the charges made by former TMers who have not since joined an "exclusivist" religion, along with charges about negative side effects from the practice. According to giman03, at least a few of those opposed, in addition to Crittenden and herself, were former TMers whose objections were not religiously based. But at least as reported in the newspapers, it was those objections to TM's purported religious nature that were the most prominent. This, along with the participation of the fundie legal group, suggests to me that Roth's comment about a "tiny religious minority" was not propaganda but rather a reflection of what he was aware of (whether accurate or not) about the source of the protests. Finally, Barry writes: > I think it's the same phenomenon going on here. > From Gina's firsthand report, it seems that the > impetus that eventually caused the grant to be > withdrawn came from *two people*, both ex-TMers. > One spoke up in a meeting, the other wrote a > letter. In addition to the many other errors in this paragraph that have already been noted, we don't know whether giman03's letter to the school board and the newspaper was ever actually published. She says only that it was "cc'd around." So what influence it may have had and on whom is not at all clear. It's entirely possible that someone forwarded it to PJI, but that would have been *after* the meeting and thus well after PJI had made the lawsuit threat that resulted in Lynch's withdrawal of funding. (It's a thoughtful, nicely balanced, pretty objective letter, IMHO.) To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
