are teachers covered by freedom of speech?

[sandinista! 1,816]

There's also no comparison to my family's benign practice of celebrating Eid with contributing to a charitable org like Mercy Corps, and having my family over for grilled lamb, and people in North Korea who have been physically and mentally abused and violated in horrific ways by their government forming a coping mechanism in the face of such adversity.

Edited May 11, 2013 by sandinista!

[duraaraa 203]

Words have meanings. And implications, especially in classrooms of children.

From a medical science standpoint, no, benign religious beliefs are not considered a form of psychosis, and are not remotely treated as such. None of my nursing training ever included writing care plans for Disturbed Thought Processes on the basis of a patient wearing a crucifix, or a kippah.

That's why I said I expected more of a science teacher. Promoting children to regard people who don't have mental illnesses as having mental illnesses, with no basis in medical science seems pretty crappy.

That's not doing right by children, that's being a dogmatic jerk.

There's a whole gamut of science based studies too into how acts of terrorism like suicide bombings have their basis in reaction to foreign occupations and land disputes as opposed to religion/religious differences between peoples.

Please don't misunderstand my usage of delusion. I do not mean that religious people have a mental disorder. What I mean is that religious people think something that defies logic and the scientific process is true. The reason people are religious is because the lies have been passed down from generation to generation, and it makes it very hard for someone to break the cycle and think logically. It's only human nature to believe things that someone you trust tells you.

In the country I was teaching (Mongolia), people do not know a lot about Western religion. There was a specific place which targeted the same poor communities which I volunteered with. I met with them many times. They did not have legal permission to prosthelytize, but did so anyway. Their premise was, "the poor people living in this community will never make anything of themselves. We shouldn't put money into teaching them skills. So long as they find Jesus, they can live a happy, fulfilling life in poverty." They said they went to Mongolia out of the blue because Jesus spoke to them in a dream and told them to go there, to spread his word. These are the people who I think are delusional. I don't think they are necessarily mentally ill, but I do think that they convinced themselves to believe in something which has no logical reason to believe.

I did tell parents who sent their kids to that place to be careful, as they were prosthelytizing to children without the parents' knowledge or consent.

My goal was, on the contrary, to teach the people in these communities skills so that they could find work, and so their kids could get into good universities. I was able to get several kids into universities abroad, and they are doing well. These people have never done that -- the closest to help they gave these people was free food when they attended the Christian services.

To get back to my point, people have, throughout history, believed all kinds of nonsense. The closer people get to the truth, the more progress can be made. Those who hold on to beliefs which contradict fact are the ones that slow down progress. I wouldn't want the next generation to be that way.

Edited May 11, 2013 by duraaraa

[duraaraa 203]

There's also no comparison to my family's benign practice of celebrating Eid with contributing to a charitable org like Mercy Corps, and having my family over for grilled lamb, and people in North Korea who have been physically and mentally abused and violated in horrific ways by their government forming a coping mechanism in the face of such adversity.

The North Korean situations are fueled by fear and abuse.

Most religions were also spread in the same way. They still are today. "You will be in hell forever unless you believe in this."

Wasn't Muhammad a warlord? Robbing caravans, leading battled, ordering people's deaths. Sounds like something not dissimilar to North Korea. How about the crusades? Stoning people who don't obey the religion? I'm not entirely sure I see the difference -- the only difference is that now the spreading has been done, and the religions are accepted as regular.