Comments on: Blogging the Social Studies Debate IV

By: Humilated by the celebrated ignorance in Texas.

Humilated by the celebrated ignorance in Texas. — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 15:33:51 +0000

> Now lets take a look at the results of anti-religious ideology

> Cummunism (Athiest) “There is no God”, “Religion is the opiate of the masses”, many choices to choose from…
> Mao’s Communist China –PRC– 1928-1987 76.7 Million people
> The Soviet Gulag State 62 Million people
> Nazi Germany’s Genocide 21 Million people

Nazi Germany’s genocide? It is laughable to say it was anti-reglious, who were the targets of the genocide? “mine is right and yours is wrong and different” is not the same as ‘anti’. Either you have a very cynical agenda or you are incredibly under-educated. Your incorrect spelling does say bit about you.

China? I suggest you learn some history. China has a long history of foreign intervention that impacted its society and its established non-Christian religions. It is a (greatly) more intense version of why our constitution forbids any state religion. http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/45466.htm

Soviet Gulag? You have to ask why did the Russian revolution actually occur, how did these people rise to power? Who sanctioned what and why.

BTW – did it not take until 1992 before the Vatican decided it was time to acknowledge that the earth (and other planets) do orbit the sun?

Just think of the damage if just a handful of people bought into this type of anti-history, anti-reality, BS

By: marc johnson

marc johnson — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 03:01:31 +0000

And you claim to be concerned over education Bawhb
“Religions have caused most of the problems in this world” what an utterly uniformed statement.

It is a statistical fact that indeed it is the total absence of religion that has caused most of the problems of this world.

Let’s just take one example. State sanctioned murder or Religious wars. Scholars will cite the Crusades, The Spanish Inquisition and the Salem which hunts are at the top of this list.

Crusades 58,000 — 133,000 lives
Inquisition 32,000 lives
Salem Which hunt 30,000 to 100,000 lives

If we take the high end numbers we’re looking at 265,000. Just over a quarter million. So, tell ya what. Lets error on the side of extreme caution and make this number a full 1 million.

No lets take a look at the results of anti-religious ideology

Cummunism (Athiest) “There is no God”, “Religion is the opiate of the masses”, many choices to choose from…
Mao’s Communist China –PRC– 1928-1987 76.7 Million people
The Soviet Gulag State 62 Million people
Nazi Germany’s Genocide 21 Million people

The above numbers are not causalities of war but of straight up state sponsored murder.
http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills

And then we have:
Abortion in this country alone since 1973 — 35 Million people

So 160 million from those three godless anti-religious “governments” alone. Not to mention the 2+ million from the killing fields of Cambodia under the communist Khmer Rouge.

So 160 Million + 35 Million unborn children murdered in this country by such a disgusting Newspeak term of “choice” puts anit-religion, atheism right around the 200 million mark. And that was just in the last century alone.

So, still think that religion is the cause of most of mankind’s problems.

By: The Bawhb

The Bawhb — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 22:08:09 +0000

The Religious Right, is SO wrong !

Texas Board of Education (considering Texas education standards) re-writing history for their own benefit, is nothing but to promote THEIR ideals.

As long as we do our work honestly and not hurt others, what does it matter if we believe in some invisible superman in the sky, who happens to have such a fragile ego so as to condemn people for not believing in him, no matter how good they might be?
Doing the best I can do in all endeavors , not hurting our fellow human beings , being the stewards of this planet, that’s my religion.
Religions have caused most of the problems in this world; I prefer not to be involved with them.

By: kittyreporter

kittyreporter — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 22:24:26 +0000

Parents need to check their children’s history books to make sure important historical facts about the Constitution have not disappeared. It seems many candidates during this election season across the country (Sharon Angle, Christine O’Donnell, Glen Urquhart and more) do not think separation of church and state is a part of the Constitution. This kind of revisionist history is a danger to democracy. Historians across the country need to speak out and take action to protect children and teens from sanitized perverted versions of history.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 21:32:54 +0000

the primary point is that they have removed the teaching of the fundamental principles of what makes us Americans.

By: Survey Magnet

Survey Magnet — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 14:08:14 +0000

We have an interesting debate going on this topic at the following link:

http://www.surveymagnet.com/2010/07/does-separation-of-church-and-state-really-exists/

Come join the discussion

By: Carol Buchanan

Carol Buchanan — Sun, 30 May 2010 21:53:28 +0000

I read Kathy Miller’s editorial in our newspaper and was both amused and irritated by her hypocrisy.
She rails against “promoting the personal and political agendas of elected state board members” when that is exactly what she is doing herself!
I was also annoyed by the letters from out of state, some of which were possibly based on what has been put forth by the national media, which has an agenda sympathetic with Ms Miller’s. For example, the claim that Thomas Jefferson is being removed from the cirriculum, which is patently untrue!
Some of the people leaving posts on this site have minimal knowledge of American History and of its Founders as their postings demonstrate. Perhaps they should research the textbooks they studied themselves by reading from original correspondence, etc..
I am very far from a religious zealot, but I reserve my highest scorn for the typical and repeated misleading recitation of “the separation of church and state,” which is always used to try and get rid of any mention of or respect for religion.
The spouters always omit the last part of the sentence about not allowing any bars to the free practice of religion, and they completely distort the meaning, which was to ensure that America had no national DENOMINATION of Christianity as they had in England.

The only way to study American History adequately is to expand it to a required two years in high school. Until then, the sad reality is that some things will always have to be omitted, and that may mean some references to minorities.
If teachers had more well prepared, more dilligent, and better behaved students, more subjects and more people could be covered. The standards and requirement for both behavior and knowledge has declined significantly in the last several decades.
Where is the parental respnsibility? Is it their job to only produce offspring and send them off completely unprepared and unsupported?
Kathy Miller’s organization should devote it’s time to improving the parental responsibility and involvement before it presumes to address textbooks.

By: Jim

Jim — Fri, 28 May 2010 02:17:37 +0000

Reading the draft, with ‘tracking’ edits is breathtaking.

http://best-pov.blogspot.com/2010/05/proposed-revisions-to-19-tac-chapter.html

By: Jackmo

Jackmo — Sun, 23 May 2010 15:28:02 +0000

And as to the teaching of American exceptionalism I might observe that if you have to teach it, it does not exist. America is exceptional, or has been historically, by virtue of its deeds, accomplishments, and attitudes. Lately, the luster has been tarnished, and Americans find themselves and their nation suffering a crisis of self-esteem. We are heavily in debt to China ( the only country in recent history who has threatened us with nuclear weapons), many of us are out of work, and we have no industry to speak of with over 65% of the GDP assigned to 6 multinational banks. There is good reason to feel bad. But merely extolling past virtues in the face of obvious failure can lead only to cynicism.

Emphasis on virtues of the free enterprise system might be useful as long as the teaching includes treatment of the consequences of unbridled greed – export of our manufacturing, our jobs, and investment capital for the enrichment of a handful of multinational corporations. The innovation and risk-taking that built America and a thriving economy still exist, but the innovators cannot get a loan to build their industry because the banks are investing in China, and the risk-taking is limited to casino gambling on Wall Street – though there is not much risk in betting on failure of investments structured to fail. This is the state of our free-enterprise system.

By: Jackmo

Jackmo — Sun, 23 May 2010 01:42:23 +0000

illuvatar11 : I think you need to crack a history book too – maybe one not endorsed by the Texas BOE. Of course, many of the founders were Christian of various denominations. But the Constitution itself, nor any supporting documents even mention “Christian.” Had you actually studied history you would know more about the philosophical foundations of our Republic. Some of the founders did favor a national church and greater formalization of religion in government — they were overruled in no small part because they could not agree on which church. They decided it best to simply guarantee religious freedom and leave it at that. Why is it that religious zealots seem to require institutionalization of their worship in order to feel comfortable praying? Jesus observed in the Pharisees a significant weakness in that they required an audience for their elaborate prayer. A drive down any street past the large number of houses of worship is evidence that we are a nation of faiths — many of them. I am of a Christian faith myself and though I greatly admire Jesus and his teachings, I don’t like his fan clubs.