Jim wrote:
> While I'm a classic misinterpreter (always good when you're a
> psychotherapist), then how do we RESPOND to that argument with
> a better one? How do others tend to respond to the general
> public when asked "Why is there so much violence in the school?"
How about with: "Perhaps because there is so much violence in our media."
> > Therefore the idea that more religion in the schools would prevent
> > violence is clearly wrong.
>
> Clearly wrong? It's funny how we can't prove or disprove anything
> about human behavior. Except when it comes to religion. All
> of a sudden people seem to get pretty darn dogmatic...
Er, Jim . . .
Dogma is an integral part OF religion--why should only the religious be
permitted to adhere to dogmatic positions?
It isn't dogmatic to argue that claims to the effect that school violence
would be reduced or eliminated by the presence of "God in the schools" is
clearly contradicted by the evidence that even in institutions where "God"
is the _focus_, violence still occurs.
> > The logic of that is crystalline to me.
>
> Not to me -- there are far too many religious institutions dominated by
> healthy religious behavior that are seriously lacking in
> violent conflicts.
And there are plenty of schools where the most violent behavior occurring
is school yard play.
> I don't see any shootings in private schools (and yes, I know
> it can and unfortunately probably will happen if it hasn't
> already). How do you explain that?
Gee, I can't think of a single way to do so, Jim. After all, poverty
level minority kids attend expensive private schools at the same rate that
affluent white ones do, don't they?
BTW, not to burst your bubble too loudly, but not all private schools are
religious in nature--according to your arguments there SHOULD be shootings
in the ones that are not. Yet there are no more acts of violence in
secular private schools than there are in religious ones (probably far
less if we count the MANY cases of child molestation in "Christian" school
settings and the use of corporal punishment in many "Christian" schools as
"violence in the schools"). Thus, from any rational and objective
perspective, the presence or absence of religious training or orientation
in the schools does NOT have any direct correlation to the existence of
violence in them. You're a scientist--apply the rigors of science to the
claim that "inviting God into the schools" will eliminate (or
substantially reduce) school violence and you'll rather quickly see that
the claim simply has no evidence to support it.
Rick
--
Rick Adams
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
"... and the only measure of your worth and your deeds will be the love
you leave behind when you're gone. --Fred Small, Everything Possible "
