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Oct. 18th, 2011
So, the subject of God came up at dinner, as I made an offhand comment about the Cub Scouts' oath getting my inner atheist's back up. Conversation came around to asking Page if he believed in God, and he said, "Yeah." We, being good UUs, questioned him, asking what God meant to him. He gave the all-purpose Christian answers. Being UUs, we wondered at this, seeing as God rarely features in our conversation, or certainly not the Judeo-Christian origin myth. And 1st grade is a little young for the UU RE curriculum to be getting into other religions' beliefs. So we asked him where he learned about it.
"At school," says he.
"Oh?" says we. "When?"
"During language arts."
"Oh?" we repeat.
"Yeah, but the teacher keeps all the God papers there."
*blinks*
By now you all know I'm a pretty devout theist. I have serious tantrums where dogma is concerned (even UU dogma), but I do believe in God. I also believe, very strongly, in the separation of church and state, especially in this nutso religious-freak country. I also believe in tolerance. Just because I have a thing against religion does not mean that religion is bad, and everyone is entitled to their beliefs, including in school (as long as they are presented as OPINIONS, not fact or sponsored evangelism).
HOWEVER.
What is this course? Why are the "papers" not getting sent home? If the course was a Bible story, well, you know, that's fine. The Bible is full of wonderful (and terrible) stories. But... why the secrecy? An introduction to the origin stories of all religions would be an awesome curriculum in my opinion, but, erm, I don't think Allah was mentioned. Or Shiva. Or the turtle. And I know for certain that the Flying Spaghetti Monster was not mentioned, as Page hadn't heard of it when Geoff brought it up tonight.
So... My inner arch-atheist-conspiracy-theorizing-nutso is roiling right now. My rational self is calm and collected, seeing as the conversation with Page went in a direction we liked (we were supportive and calm throughout). It upset me to tell him not to talk about his beliefs about God to his friends, however, but, well, I can just see how well it would go over for one of his friends to go home and say at dinner, "Look, Ma, I'm eating God! nomnomnom"
(Page announced that God was everything. I did not say it to him, even though that's what I believe. And it certainly wasn't me who took the conversation to the logical extremes it went to!)
But... well... what's going on?
"At school," says he.
"Oh?" says we. "When?"
"During language arts."
"Oh?" we repeat.
"Yeah, but the teacher keeps all the God papers there."
*blinks*
By now you all know I'm a pretty devout theist. I have serious tantrums where dogma is concerned (even UU dogma), but I do believe in God. I also believe, very strongly, in the separation of church and state, especially in this nutso religious-freak country. I also believe in tolerance. Just because I have a thing against religion does not mean that religion is bad, and everyone is entitled to their beliefs, including in school (as long as they are presented as OPINIONS, not fact or sponsored evangelism).
HOWEVER.
What is this course? Why are the "papers" not getting sent home? If the course was a Bible story, well, you know, that's fine. The Bible is full of wonderful (and terrible) stories. But... why the secrecy? An introduction to the origin stories of all religions would be an awesome curriculum in my opinion, but, erm, I don't think Allah was mentioned. Or Shiva. Or the turtle. And I know for certain that the Flying Spaghetti Monster was not mentioned, as Page hadn't heard of it when Geoff brought it up tonight.
So... My inner arch-atheist-conspiracy-theorizing-nutso is roiling right now. My rational self is calm and collected, seeing as the conversation with Page went in a direction we liked (we were supportive and calm throughout). It upset me to tell him not to talk about his beliefs about God to his friends, however, but, well, I can just see how well it would go over for one of his friends to go home and say at dinner, "Look, Ma, I'm eating God! nomnomnom"
(Page announced that God was everything. I did not say it to him, even though that's what I believe. And it certainly wasn't me who took the conversation to the logical extremes it went to!)
But... well... what's going on?
