Posts by Ben

@Jake

::sighs:: Why is it that the wingnuts (left and right) are so paranoid? Sad, really. I blame the education system. Or lack thereof, as the case may be. Ben, if you are young enough you still have time to grow a brain of your own, instead of parroting what you've been told to parrot. Not that I'm going to hold my breath, mind

I am paranoid and don't have a brain because I don't trust governments? I would suggest that you are perhaps a bit naive and are in fact the one who lacked a proper education in world history. Government at best is a necessary evil and has an alarming propensity to become the oppresor of the governed all in the name of providing for and protecting them. Examples like Republican Rome, revolutionary France, the Weimar republic, the Bolshevik revolution, and Communist china were all in the end corrupted because men are also in the end corruptable. If you fail to realize this then I am afraid it is you who lacks the perspective and wisdom of age (not that I actually was alive during the time of Ceasar but you get the point). As for my "paranoid" comment about being a hated Christian I can only suggest that you are likely oblivious to the commentary in the press and online that is decidedly and increasingly hostile towards my faith.

Your comment about me "parroting what I've been told" seems to in fact be a mantra in itself used to dismiss a person without actually refuting him. Congratulations on using the most frequently parroted ad hominem attack out there.

P.S. I particularily like the addition of the ::sigh:: part, nice arrogant dismissive twist on the ad hominem.

Missing the point

I believe the point here is not whether you feel that the teacher's views are correct or incorrect, it is whether or not it is appropriate to provide instruction on how the bible should be interpreted. Some Christians view genesis as allegory others take it literally. Unless this was a course on theology, statements on the legitimacy of either (or neither) of these positions was unwarranted.

I find it interesting that Mr. Bitterman (ironic name???) was quoted as saying "I'm just a little bit shocked myself that a college in good standing would back up students who insist that people who have been through college and have a master's degree, a couple actually, have to teach that there were such things as talking snakes or lose their job." Take note of how Mr. Bitterman has twisted the situation and also revealed a condecending attitude towards people of faith (pretty much the same as everybody who has posted comments on this article so far).

First, he was never required to teach that snakes can talk. He was never required to teach that genesis is true and literal. I doubt he was even required to discuss genesis at all. What he apparently is required not to do is to directly teach that the religion of some of his students is false. I use the word directly in order to draw a distinction between teaching topics that may conflict with positions of faith such as evolution or cosmology vs. outright instructing students that genesis is false. It is for the students to make the judgement on their faith, not the instructor.

Now onto his condescending attitude wherein he can't believe college educated people would have to teach that there are such things as talking snakes. No Christian believes that "post fall" snakes can talk. They do however believe that the world/universe was very different "pre fall" and that yes serpents could talk. If you believe in God as the author of all reality then the above is niether impossible nor inconsistant. Hence I can only surmise that Mr. Bitterman feels that nobody with a higher education could believe in God. He of course has a right to be ignorant or bigoted as a person but is and should be held to higher standards when acting as an instructor.

Were he teaching that the big bang was the creative act of God or believed that blacks were not mentally competent enough to be involved in higher education (not a Christian view so don't read into this analogy) he would have been thrown out of class with howls of protest by angry humanist/athiest mobs. Of course when he teaches that biblical creation is false and believes Christians aren't fit for higher education that apparently is a different story. In both cases we are dealing with theory or opinion, unfortunately for Christians, theirs is increasingly on the proscribed list.

Transatlantic divide

I don't quite know how we, being the West, got to the level of mindless hysteria we have attained but it is distressing to me. On the one hand I see fellow Americans denigrating our allies as spineless, amoral, and incompetent ingrates. On the other hand I see folks across the pond responding with equally mindless caricatures of Americans as idiotic, hateful, and gun crazy war mongers. If you inwardly smirked when reading either description and said to yourself “well aren’t they” then the rest of this posing is meant for you.

Our distrust and distain is breeding a transatlantic hatred. We now see a growing divide between nations and people that have a common cultural/political heritage and which will someday find they need each other more than we apparently realize. With that in mind, let us all please take a step back and ask if we are seeing others as they really are or if we are simply unable to let go of our oh so deliciously addictive indignation and rage.

Let us give our neighbor the benefit of the doubt, don’t assume he is acting from base motivations, and listen to what he is saying. If in the end we still disagree fine, at least our conclusions are not purely drawn from preconceived and ignorant notions but rather in hopefully reasoned and benevolent judgment.

People have died, are dying, and will continue to die over the issues that face us. We owe it to them to act with justice, wisdom, determination, and if necessary sacrifice instead of the childish emotional self indulgence we have hitherto displayed.

God bless (and if that phrase pisses you off read what I said again)