The Mortal Dangers of Education
By grandpa_lash
@grandpa_lash (5225)
Australia
October 6, 2011 12:27am CST
An analysis of fundamentalism in US Christian churches came up with some very interesting conclusions. One area they looked at was the role od modern education in the minds of fundamentalists. What they found was that:
1. Any kind of learning beyond the literacy needed to read the Bible is frowned upon, and educated members who show intellectual interests or ambitions are watched with considerable suspicion.
2. There is a somewhat general impression that to be a good and pious minister, theological education is not necessary, and that an intellectual pastor is deficient in piety.
3. Academic theology endangers the authority of the Bible. Biblical criticism throws shadows on God as the author of the Bible and questions the affirmations of the sacred text. It is considered a profane exercise to subject the Scriptures to any scientific study or to use the tools provided by the applied sciences to the analysis of the Bible.
Similar teachings can be found in fundamentlait Islam and Judaism as well, in fact in any religion that has extensive Scriptural writings.
The research points to a pattern of instruction that tends to minimise critical thinking and to limit students’ exposure to diverse materials and perspectives. ….. Students are not taught to think critically, to formulate significant questions, or to explore alternative answers. If they have a question about the reading, they are told to find the answers within the pre-packaged texts. Additional reference books are carefully monitored and often censored.
Is it any wonder then that secular humanists, atheists, agnostics, and even liberal Christians view these extreme groups and their ideas as dangerous?
Lash
5 people like this
11 responses
@6precious102 (4043)
• United States
6 Oct 11
This is funny because it's exactly what I've heard that secular schools are doing regarding anything religious. Religious thought is an enemy to anything secular and secular thought is an enemy to anything religious. It's the pot calling the kettle black.
@1hopefulman (45111)
• Canada
7 Oct 11
I agree with you! If the secular education system is very narrow in what they teach, is it any wonder that sincere Christians are cautious of their indoctrinations.
@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
7 Oct 11
My understanding is that compulsory Bible Studies have been made optional, and perhaps taken out of the school curriculum on the grounds that it is something best left to parents and pastors. If you're talking about Creationism, then good riddance to it. School is about gaining an education, not a ludicrous religious belief system.
NOTE WELL: I am not saying that all religious education is ludicrous, just these fundamentalist fantasies.
Lash
@6precious102 (4043)
• United States
14 Oct 11
Sorry it took so long to get back to you.
As far back as I know, religious doctrine was never taught in public school. There are some schools that teach Bible as literature. There are some schools that have Bible clubs. When I was in school, I was taught neither evolution nor creation. It was as if the world, as we know it, has always been. Maybe the school board just didn't want to deal with the controversy.
@MandaLee (3804)
• United States
6 Oct 11
Hi Lash,
I am a Christian and a product of the public school system. My education came from many sources. I think getting information from various sources helps to develop and improve one's critical thinking skills. I never viewed new ideas as being dangerous but as a tool for developing and expanding the mind that God gave me.
1 person likes this
@1hopefulman (45111)
• Canada
7 Oct 11
I agree! There is more than one way to get a good education. So because one avoids certain schools doesn't make it a bad choice. It is good to use sound judgment in all things.
@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
7 Oct 11
Actually, hopeful, I don't think you do agree with what Manda has said, because what she said supports my argument that variety and critical thinking are crucial to a real education.
Lash
@1hopefulman (45111)
• Canada
7 Oct 11
I actually also agree with you when you say that "variety and critical thinking are crucial to a real education." I apologize for misunderstanding the intend of this discussion. Sorry!
@barehugs (8973)
• Canada
7 Oct 11
I'm a spiritual person who believes in God, but not religion. I see religion as a scam( scam - a fraudulent business scheme, a swindle.) Religion has scammed the poorest, and most ignorant people on earth for at least 1500 years, and has stolen untold Billions, so much, that no one alive today can even estimate its value, to say nothing of the hundreds of millions murdered for Power and Money, in the name of God over that same period.
1 person likes this
@p1kef1sh (45681)
•
6 Oct 11
Curiously, and I am thinking specifically Christianity, there seems to have been little progress in thinking by some US churches since the time of Christ. of course many of them deny evolution espousing the creation theory and as such it is very easy to take a literal view of both the content of the Bible and its supporting liturgy. Voluntarily backing yourself into a corner strikes me as a dangerous practice and is it any wonder that we get groups like the Westboro Baptist Church peddling their brand of vitriol as God's commentary on modern life. Despite working deep in the heart of the Church of England, I take the view that what matters is the love and support of all peoples. I pointed out to a priest yesterday that I know many non-christians that live lives more akin to the teachings of Christ. Equally I know more folk that spend every given opportunity on their knees in prayer and praise that do not. I was recently interviewed, or more accurately asked to make a statement about what I do and my view on spirituality in the Church today for a Christian website (it's on Youtube if you want to view it) and I hope that I made the point that in an increasingly secular world there is still a vast amount of goodness. That has to be a good thing. Regrettably some churches are sufficiently myopic to only see the world through their addled eyes and the results are as you describe.
1 person likes this
@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
7 Oct 11
It's always been my belief that one doesn't have to be religious or even believe in God to be a good, ethical, compassionate person. It is only the inflexibility of fundamentalist thought, brought on it would seem by fear of change, that carries this myopia to its extremes.
Lash
@JenInTN (27514)
• United States
6 Oct 11
It is scary how something that is supposed to be based on one idea can be twisted and changed into something entirely different. I think that goes for most institutions where there is something for the super class to gain from. They don't want people to think or question either...that might threaten their standing.
1 person likes this
@1hopefulman (45111)
• Canada
7 Oct 11
The Bible itself is full of questions. Questions was one of the methods Jesus used in teaching. God and Jesus love questions.
@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
7 Oct 11
God and Jesus may well love questions (if indeed they exist), but fundamentalists don't - you are supposed to accept the party line without question and certainly without criticism.
Lash
@WakeUpKitty (8691)
• Netherlands
6 Oct 11
Not only extreme groups and their ideas are viewed as dangerous.
Every group is dangerous. Even the way we teach kids to think (at school for example) is dangerous.
The way we thing, can analyze is not the same everywhere on the world.
With an native african person it's hard to have a good discussion. No matter if he is educated or not. He never learned to think the way we think.
Mostly they are only able to answer on short questions. As soon as you start giving an example of what you mean they don't know your question anymore.
I agree with you that there is a big lack of thinking critically or to formulate (thanks to all the (school) tests we have which are mostly multiple choice. Intelligent people have frequently problems with those test because not only 1 answer is the right one if you could explain why they choose that answer. There is no room for people who think different because we all are drilled to think in the same direction. No matter if it's religion, culture, habit or the kind of society you live in. What worries me the most is that there is teached a lot exept for how to survive in the outside world, how to find different solutions to the same problem, how to be creative and productive and how to be critical (not believing everything you hear, see and learn).
1 person likes this
@Pose123 (21635)
• Canada
9 Oct 11
Hi Lash, I agree and I do think that any form of fundamentalism is dangerous. The religion doesn't matter, it can be Islam, Christianity or some other belief, it is still dangerous and should must never be given more power than they already have. We have seen in the history of Christianity, just how terrible it can be when such people are given power. Blessings.
@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
9 Oct 11
We could even look at the pronouncements of Republican/Capitalist economists and rightfully cry, "Fundamantalists!!!!!"
Lash
@sharra1 (6340)
• Australia
6 Oct 11
They certainly seem dangerous to me. If such people were to gain power we would go back centuries. I have read the bible several times and I have never once seen it as the word of any God, more a history of a particular time. I have no idea why anyone would want to make it some sort of absolute truth.
@Hatley (163772)
• Garden Grove, California
7 Oct 11
hi grandpa lash in other words do not think for yourself do not
get a good education. oh these people and their ideas are indeed
dangerous. I am a christian but not a fundamentalist at all'
and never will be. God gave me a brain and I have used it allWe
my life and it tells me these people are dangerous really dangerous
we should use our brains and question things we do not understand
until we get the right answers."Science is o ur friend not our enemy and I will never think otherwis.
@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
7 Oct 11
Yes, it is the danger to rational scientific thought as well as to liberal social ideas that bothers me most about these fundamentalists.
Lash
@1hopefulman (45111)
• Canada
7 Oct 11
"When I think back
On all the crap I learned in high school
It's a wonder
I can think at all
And though my lack of education
Hasn't hurt me none
I can read the writing on the wall" Song by Paul Simon
Apparently Steve Jobs was a college drop out.
The educations systems leave much to be desired. Maybe that is why many Christians don't go further than a couple of years of college.
I attended one year of university and dropped out as I felt I could manage without it. And so I have!
Apparently Jesus was criticized for not attending the education systems of the religious leaders in his day.
@1hopefulman (45111)
• Canada
7 Oct 11
I'm not against education. I think we should all get the best education possible. The best education may not necessarily be found in schools and universities. We can also be educated by talking to people and reading and doing things. We taught our children to read even before they went to any school. Parents can also do much to educate and teach their children to think for themselves.
@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
7 Oct 11
And the relevance of this anti-education polemic is.....?
Lash
