Back to Blogging: “Wizard” fired from teaching gig in Florida.

Well, term is done, the conference I organize is finished for the year, and I’M ON STUDY LEAVE UNTIL SEPT 2009!

So, in between gardening, fishing and stuff like that (and working on the book I’m supposed to write on myth in the biblical prophetic literature), I can do a bit of blogging.

And since SHUFFL likes to take religious fuckwits to task, there is no time like now to get back to our roots:

From the Holy Harry Potter file…

From Pharyngula, a link to a Tampa news source story over the firing of a teacher FOR DOING MAGIC TRICKS!

That’s right, substitute teacher Jim Piculas got fired from Rusche Middle School in Land ‘OLakes for a 30 second magic trick (he made a toothpick appear and reappear) after someone complained that he was practicing “wizardry”, although school officials also say he wasn’t following lesson plans.

Well, alright. If there were reasonable grounds for terminating his temporary employment, fine. But if that was the case, then why the hell bring up “wizardry” accusations? It makes a mockery of any serious objections the school may have had with Mr. Piculas. How can you even begin to defend yourself against complaints that really do strike at the questions of whether you are doing a good job when you have to also address an accusation so bizarre and so stupid it probably does not matter if you can successfully refute the objections to your performance?

Sadly, the article does not give a lot of information about who made the accusation or other details. Still, who the hell in the school system would take such accusations seriously? If the complaint originated from a student, the stupid twerp should be made to apologize to the instructor. Even if a parent complained, so what? When are schools supposed to be projections of parents’ own paranoias and/or religious bullshit? Schools should have the right to tell parents to grow up. If the objection came from the school itself, then Florida really does have problems!

Dr. Jim’s Poison Word Processor Strikes Again!

This time in the Edmonton Journal, on Monday, March 24. In a complete inversion to my usual strategy of writing in response to a letter or article by a dipwit, I wrote to build on an op ed piece with which I agreed totally. So, my word processor isn’t really poisonous all the time. Just when I need it to be. I’m a sneaky bugger.

So, Scott Rowed wrote a piece enitled “Gov’t surrendered choice to religious schools: Our kids need to be integrated, not separated,” on March 15. Basically, the title is pretty descriptive of the contents and I blogged about it here. But, to repeat myself:

Scott argues that the fundamentalist schools in the province are now poised to receive full funding from the Alberta government due to advantageous loopholes that also allow them to discriminate on religious grounds in their hiring practices. I won’t summarize the whole article here, but it is well worth reading in its entirety. He discusses examples from Canmore, Ft. McMurray and other places. A few choice excerpts:

The history of religious schools in Alberta is not one of open debate. These decisions have been made behind closed doors between government officials and religious leaders — no public participation welcome. The most recent example was a secret document uncovered by the media in December 2007, showing that the government planned to increase funding for private religious schools…

Parents who believe that the first cowboy saddled up a triceratops have more choice as their children can attend either a faith school or a public school. On the other hand, Christians who accept evolution, non-believers, and followers of other faiths can enrol their children only in a public school. Every teaching position in a Christian school means one more fundamentalist teacher, and another teacher is out of a job…

When the Catholic school started up in Canmore in 2001, they had to share Lawrence Grassi Middle School with the public school board. The Catholic board tried to build a wall in the school and a fence in the playground to stop their children from mixing with the public school kids. Only the diligence of public school officials stopped this.

The article as a whole is very well worth reading.

From our email exchanges, I learned that Scott has received a lot of rather negative feedback from the Journal’s readership (his email address was included in the article. But this is what I had to say in my letter:

I agree with Rowed on religious schools, but more may be said. Rather than continue to divide our education system on sectarian lines in the name of “choice” and “diversity,” we should realize that when it comes to the pluralism at the heart of modern society we really have no choice. We either learn to get along with a set of shared values and an ability to share common institutions, or risk part of society sliding into self-absorbed and potentially xenophobic enclaves.

A common school system can play a great role in ensuring the brighter of those two alternatives.

That being said, a “world religions” class should be mandatory for all public high school students. It is imperative that students become aware of the primary beliefs, values, customs and histories of the main religious traditions that have shaped our world.

It must be noted, however, that teaching about different religions does not mean preaching any one religion as the ultimate truth.

The need to intelligently engage the role of religions in our pluralistic world should outweigh any reluctance we have, given the difficulty and expense of the task. Our school system must not shy away or pass the issue off onto schools dominated by one religious worldview or another.

No hate mail for me yet, but you never know.

Now, back to my old tricks and to formulate a response to another dipwit: “U.S. athiests may have no rights at all” Ah,the Lethbridge Herald, gotta love it.

Scott Rowed Exposes the Wedge Strategy of Alberta Faith Schools

Scott Rowed, leading figure of the nascent Alberta Center for Inquiry and tireless champion of secular schools in the province has published a brilliant op-ed piece in the Edmonton Journal today.
In “Gov’t surrendered choice to religious schools” Scott argues that the fundamentalist schools in the province are now poised to receive full funding from the Alberta government due to advantageous loopholes that also allow them to discriminate on religious grounds in their hiring practices. I won’t summarize the whole article here, but it is well worth reading in its entirety. He discusses examples from Canmore, Ft. McMurray and other places. A few choice excerpts:

The history of religious schools in Alberta is not one of open debate. These decisions have been made behind closed doors between government officials and religious leaders — no public participation welcome. The most recent example was a secret document uncovered by the media in December 2007, showing that the government planned to increase funding for private religious schools…

Parents who believe that the first cowboy saddled up a triceratops have more choice as their children can attend either a faith school or a public school. On the other hand, Christians who accept evolution, non-believers, and followers of other faiths can enrol their children only in a public school. Every teaching position in a Christian school means one more fundamentalist teacher, and another teacher is out of a job…

When the Catholic school started up in Canmore in 2001, they had to share Lawrence Grassi Middle School with the public school board. The Catholic board tried to build a wall in the school and a fence in the playground to stop their children from mixing with the public school kids. Only the diligence of public school officials stopped this.

It is a great bit, and hats off to the Edmonton Journal for publishing it!

Oh, you can read the whole thing here: “Gov’t surrendered choice to religious schools” or here: “Gov’t surrendered choice to religious schools“, so there’s no excuse not to.

The Centre for Inquiry is an international group that promotes critical thought, teaching of science and the promotion of secular values. They also have a discussion forum. The Alberta chapter does not have its own site yet, but the University of Alberta Atheists and Agnostics group is affiliated with them.

I have had a number of email exchanges with Scott, and exchanged a few digital epistles with Justin Trottier, CFI Ontario’s executive director.

At our atheists’ meeting on Sunday, I’m going to suggest that if we make a formal organization, we affiliate ourselves with CFI, and see if we can get a series of film-screening, lectures, etc. going on around town and at the university.

No doubt there will be letters in response to Scott’s article!

My Students Need This–yeah, right.

Required reading for all of my classes in the future. From the blurb:

ENCLOSED:

Survival Kit for the University of Humanism

Glitzy brochures and slick websites that promote many of our universities don’t divulge the all-encompassing secular worldview that slashes God from every equation and consumes ill-prepared students. But collegians today will face many of the:

1. 67% of professors who approve of homosexuality;
2. 84% who condone abortion;
3. 65% who embrace socialist and communist ideals.

The results of four years’ exposure to these teachers are staggering. Recent research reveals that 91% of students from evangelical churches no longer believe in absolute moral truth. Even the Southern Baptist Convention found that 88% of young people from SBC homes slip away from the faith before they graduate from college.

Jeepers Willikers! Damn Liberals who make religious folks think!!!!! How dare they!

Most students say they did not learn enough Bible content growing up to enable them to make biblical life decisions, let alone defend a Christian worldview in the face of vicious opposition. This book provides worldview expert and best-selling author Brannon Howse’s briefing notes to prepare you for the worldview battle that takes place at the university of humanism-whichever one you attend. You will be ready to contend and not bend on topics like:

1. Why evil and injustice do not negate the reality of a good God;
2. Why the Bible can be trusted;
3. Why Darwinian evolution is a lie;
4. The liberal myth of “separation of church and state”;
5. The authenticity of Jesus’ resurrection;
6. What the fossil record really reveals;
7. The myth of global warming;
8. How dramatically crime would increase if guns were outlawed;
9. And more!

  A single book will refute all the philosophizing of centuries of thinking of theodicy! No need to read any of that other stuff! It can prove that all your biology teachers are liars! Your history profs too! And don’t get me started on the climate scientists. The book can prove the unprovable, that some dead guy didn’t stay dead 2000 years ago. Holy Jebus B. Gobley! If this book’s premises were true, then why doesn’t the author just advocate the faithful to avoid college altogether?

If a few years at a university doesn’t make you question your assumptions about the world you haven’t learned anything.

He broke my irony meter! Pope condemns climate change prophets.

Well, now we know the truth.  See the Daily Mail Article.

Pope Benedict XVI has launched a surprise attack on climate change prophets of doom, warning them that any solutions to global warming must be based on firm evidence and not on dubious ideology.

The leader of more than a billion Roman Catholics suggested that fears over man-made emissions melting the ice caps and causing a wave of unprecedented disasters were nothing more than scare-mongering.

The German-born Pontiff said that while some concerns may be valid it was vital that the international community based its policies on science rather than the dogma of the environmentalist movement.  

So, the God’s anointed leader on Earth who believes in “original sin”, virgin births, that God needs a human sacrifice of himself in order to forgive people of offenses they cannot help but commit, says to follow science rather than dogma. Jeez, where did they get this guy from? 

 Why the hell do non-Catholics pay any attention to this old fool and countries spend cash on diplomatic missions to the Vatican? If a billion people want to look to this guy for advice fine, but why regard him as anything other than an expert in his own religious traditions? Why the special treatment, special school boards for Catholic Kids, and so forth?

Dr. Jim’s Religious Studies Bloopers and Budding Geniuses

Here are some of the odd statements I gathered from students in my religious studies class and even the student newspaper from past years. Some of them, of course, are simply the result of a slip of the pen or keyboard, writing one word when obviously another one was meant. At times, however, it shows very much a lack of understanding.  I have also, of course, read many fine papers and excellent and insightful exam essays, but they are not so much fun. I still have had some moments of particular comic genius in papers and exams, and I’m giving a few examples below, too. 

OBVIOUS BLOOPERS (all of these are from the U of Lethbridge, except the first one)  

“The crusades started when King Arthur got mad at the Islams”  I haven’t actually met any Islams, and I haven’t a clue why a complete legend found them so offensive… 

“The Book of Malachi has an enigmatic aroma to it (as do most biblical texts)”  I found that books—even the Bible—tend to stink less if you don’t spill your lunch on them. 

“[The rabbis] wove these wirings [into the canon]”  Ah, the old electrical Talmud lights up the soul. 

“These purity laws enhance sexual satisfaction”   I did NOT let my students work in groups to determine this! 

“God created man and gave him to power to reason and question the world around him. Therefore, perhaps the reformation of the Jewish religion is one of divine inspiration”  That should about settle it, then. 

“At the same time, he does not want to offend the religiously devout of the land by ignoring a profit”     Another biblical studies student gets it just about right. 

Concerning a mezuzah: “It is used in a home as a sign of protection from God”  And they work well, too. 

“Hi. I am in Religion 1000 , and I was just going over my notes from Monday’s class. I have written down that in 587 bce, Babylon defeated Judah, and then after 538, Persia defeated Babylon and sent all the deportees back to Judah. That doesn’t make sense to me because in order for Persia to send the deportees back, they have to be deported first. Do I have the dates wrong, or am I just confused?” Yes. 

“However, we must be weary not to over exaggerate the level of empowerment amongst evangelical women”    If we were less weary, over exaggerating would be less wearying.

“It is fashionable for an Islamic nationalist leader to spew anti-Semitic rhetoric because Israel for decades have been oppressing fellow Muslims in Palestine.” Keith McLaughlin, “Iran’s abduction of British sailors a cry for respect”  Meliorist (Student Union Newspaper) Feb. 5, 2007    Now the conflict in the Middle East makes perfect sense. The Muslim don’t like the Muslims.

  For one Hebrew Bible class, I asked students to write a little description of how they would film the story of Jehu’s bloody rebellion (told in 2 Kings 9). They could not change the details of the biblical story: the assignment was an excercise in how interpreters can differ in reading the same text. I got a lot of great takes on the story, one great “WTF??” moment and one shameless appeal to the audience’s tastes.  

“Meanwhile, with rocks flying everywhere and bugs flying into every orifice, Jehu rides his chariot like a madman to Jezreel.” (RelS 3400, Hebrew Bible, Fall 2006).  Ok, I can see the rocks, but I do NOT want to see bugs flying into ANY orifice.  

“Both King Joram, played by an older Orlando Bloom, and King Ahaziah played by Tom Cruise (for reasons that would give audiences glee when he was shot) rushed out to meet Jehu”     Full marks.  

A Very Clever Clog

SUPER DUPER BONUS QUESTION  (Final exam,Hebrew Bible class, 2006) 
To which biblical book’s author would you most like to give the “Bunny” and why does he deserve it?

 

 

“I would give the bunny to the writer of Exodus or Deuteronomy. There is little reason to believe that this law-giving author, when confronted with a bunny with a pancake on its head would not stop the presses to add an entire chapter on how to prepare a bunny wearing such attire, whether or not the priests should speak to bunnies wearing pancakes on their heads and if the owner of the pancake is owed any compensation  from the bunny.”

     Full points! Even though bunnies are not kosher.

Lisburn blogger fights the good fight.

Oliver Benen (so much like god he doesn’t exist) at http://oliverbenen.wordpress.com/ has started a new blog by posting a few letters he has written to the local paper about plans to introduce ID in the schools in Lisburn, near Belfast, Northern Ireland.

He links to a newspaper article from Sept 20 “Row Brews over DUP call for schools to teach creationism” in the “Listburn Today”.

The article concludes with:

The Department of Education for Northern Ireland stressed the teaching of alternative theories to evolution is a matter for individual schools.
A spokesperson said: “The revised curriculum offers scope for schools to explore alternative theories to evolution, which could include creationism, if they so wish.
“It is, however, a matter for individual schools, taking account of the needs and wishes of their pupils, parents and governors, to decide if they want to include the teaching of alternative theories.”

Wow, it sounds like passing the buck to me! In Alberta, school boards can permit individual schools to include religious activities, prayers etc., so long as non-religious students can opt out. Of course, that would mark those students as ‘non-conformist’.

Anyway, Oliver (if that is his real name, and even if not), is a rather competent letter writer. A few gems from his letter of Oct. 9

In last weeks letters page Nigel Campbell asks whether his scientific credentials are not good enough for a previous correspondent. Well frankly Dr Campbell – they are not. Experience in one field of study doesn’t necessarily qualify you to talk about another area, which was clearly demonstrated by your letter last week.

 …  Even their bravest attempt at dressing ID up in scientific jargon “Irreducible Complexity” is just a weak critique of evolutionary biology, not a theory in its own right. The problem with ID is that it starts with a conclusion “God did it” and then tries to find evidence to support this claim. This isn’t how science works and it is intellectually dishonest to claim otherwise.

…

I’m sure astrologists, phrenologists..etc would all like their area of study to make it in to school text books, and with all these competing interests why should ID have any sort of special privilege when it comes to access to the school curriculum.

If ID were to go through the process that every other serious science goes through, then maybe it could get on the first rung on the ladder in to acceptance in the science curriculum. Thankfully, I can’t see it ever reaching the top. 

 I think it is time that school boards stopped being run only by concerned citizens and actually sought to include people who know what the fuck they are talking about when it comes to examining the curriculum. People with credentials in science should have the last word on the science curriculum; people with degrees in history should oversee what children are taught about the past, and so on. Sure, schools have a socializing function, but when it comes to the content of the courses, there should be little if any deferrence to non-expert opinions.

Breathtaking Inanity in Dover PA.

I was very pleased to meet (now retired) Prof. Yoshida at the screening of “A Flock of Dodos” (I will comment on the film in a bit–it had some very interesting bits, and some things that kind of raised at least one of my eyebrows). Anyway, Prof. Yoshida wrote to inform me that a documentary will be aired on the fiasco over ID in Dover PA. This was the great kaffuffle that had a school board sued by its teachers when the board tried to make the teachers tell students that evolution was “just a theory” and blah blah blah.

Here is part of the email that Prof. Yoshida forwarded to me from the National Center for Science Education.

JUDGMENT DAY:  INTELLIGENT DESIGN ON TRIAL

Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial, a special two-hour documentary
about the Kitzmiller v. Dover case, in which teaching “intelligent design”
in the public schools was ruled to be unconstitutional, is to air
nationwide on PBS at 8:00 p.m. on November 13, 2007.  “Judgment Day
captures on film a landmark court case with a powerful scientific message
at its core,” explains Paula Apsell, NOVA’s Senior Executive
Producer.  “Evolution is one of the most essential yet, for many people,
least understood of all scientific theories, the foundation of biological
science.  We felt it was important for NOVA to do this program to heighten
the public understanding of what constitutes science and what does not, and
therefore, what is acceptable for inclusion in the science curriculum in
our public schools.”

In addition to the documentary itself, there is a generous website,
featuring interviews with Kenneth R. Miller on evolution, Phillip Johnson
on “intelligent design,” and Paula Apsell on NOVA’s decision to produce the
documentary; audio clips of Judge John E. Jones III reading passages from
his decision in the case and of various experts (including NCSE’s Eugenie
C. Scott) discussing the nature of science; resources about the evidence
for evolution and about the background to the Kitzmiller case; and even a
preview of the documentary.  Teachers will be especially enthusiastic about
the briefing packet for educators; further resources for educators,
including a teacher’s guide, a two-session on-line course, and a number of
lesson plans, are to be released shortly.

For information about Judgment Day, visit:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/id/

For the preview, visit:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/preview/i_3416.html

Hopefully I will learn to program my VCR before it airs…

 

John Pendleton, Guy with a Lab Coat, has plans for Latin American Schools

According to the website for “Revolution against Evolution” self-accredited chemist John Pendleton–whose videos are all over youtube (including some adapted for refutation: see this earlier posting by fellow SHUFFLer, Natasha)–once introduced himself and his mission this way (bold added by me).

“Target audience: churches, schools, denomination, any other focus. My real target group is the Hispanic community, including all of Latin-America. First to the believers to strengthen their faith in God and His word, especially Genesis. Secondly is to us the evolution-creation issue as a means of getting the gospel into secular schools, and universities.“

So, the whole debate is just a front! As if we didn’t know. This is something that the Dover PA trial also revealed. Next time somebody writes a letter to the editor declaring that ID is not “religion” or that is purely a scientifically motivated position, we will all know better!

Time for One Alberta School System!

It is time to abolish the separate school system in Alberta. Fortunately, I’m not alone in this realization and a group is being organized in Calgary to try to accomplish this goal. They are calling themselves ”Alberta One School System” and are  model themselves after a similar group in Ontario, One School System Network.

Here are some initial thoughts:

School systems cost money: why should taxpayers pay for duplication of administration?

Although some people claim that separate schools are better than the public, one must ask why does that seem to be the case. Is it because the schools are “separate” or because in certain schools there are inspired teachers, principles with suffient funds? Would a switch to a public system necessarily ruin these schools?

We do not segregate students based on percieved “race” anymore. Why should we segregate for religious reasons? The goals of a multi-cultural pluralistic society cannot be achieved by sequestering children.

“Secular” does not mean “atheist” or “anti-church” or “lacking morals”

Alberta One School System has had one meeting and another is planned for Nov. 6 (Tuesday) somewhere in Calgary. I don’t have much information, but once I find out more I will post it.

Lets try to get a branch office down here in Lethbridge!