Hi David gave the following links, one of which is to a passage from his friendly note to atheists book. I read it a few years ago and have also used David's intro text a number of times. As this is not an appropriate forum for a complex discussion about god, I'll just offer two comments relevant to teaching that arise from David's links.
1. When we teach critical thinking skills (David's "how do you know"), are we to teach that there are some topics / beliefs that are sacred and are not to be challenged in the same manner, such as a belief in god? Very few people, I suspect, would claim beliefs, about god or otherwise, without some basis for the belief. Do those bases stand up to the kind of scrutiny that we apply to claims about human behaviour and experience? 2. When students ask questions like "why are we here," "what is the purpose of life," and the like, are we to say that these are questions that are perhaps even meaningless and certainly have no answer, or that there are other "ways of knowing" that do provide meaningful (i.e., valid?) answers to these questions, or do we evade such questions and just offer that "we do not address these questions in psychology"? I hope this isn't too off topic! Take care Jim James M. Clark Professor & Chair of Psychology [email protected] Room 4L41A 204-786-9757 204-774-4134 Fax Dept of Psychology, U of Winnipeg 515 Portage Ave, Winnipeg, MB R3B 0R4 CANADA >>> David Myers <[email protected]> 10-Jan-13 9:30 PM >>> If anyone is interested, my perspective on psychological science and religion is available here <http://www.davidmyers.org/Brix?pageID=13> and here <http://www.davidmyers.org/davidmyers/assets/Assumptions.pdf>. --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=22824 or send a blank email to leave-22824-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
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