Northern Virginia Islamic school ducating future terrorists?

[Seshat]

(Reads rahmota's and Phoenix' thoughtful replies. Shakes her head sadly.)

I would like to have a response as thoughtful and informative as your responses to me. But I have no words.

Thank you, though, for reminding me how insular some people are.

Sad thing: my own parents, who encouraged me to think and learn and guided me towards being the questioning individual I am, have told me that Christianity is persecuted. In this country - Australia! Where the only religious public holidays are the Christian ones. (The others are Anzac Day, which is our 'veteran's day' equivalent, Labour Day, Australia Day, New Year's Day and the Queen's Birthday.)

I suspect that they've succumbed to some of the propaganda. (sigh)

[CancelMyService]

IMO I find it to be dangerous to have education and religious indoctrination under the same roof. You can make a pretty good case for that being the cause of a great majority of the world's problems.

Most of these private schools are little more than churches with textbooks, and the smaller class size helps foster the "Us vs The World" mindset that others have mentioned before me. Two of my best friends (who happen to be twins) spend a couple of years in a Christian school from grades 5-7, which is arguably the most impressionable age range, and to this day I can hardly have a conversation without them trying to at least make an attempt to convert my heathen agnostic ass. They both believe 100% that Christianity is under attack and all the world's problems would disppear magically if everyone just loved Jesus.

[Seshat]

I wonder what effect it would have to point out to them that both Jews and Muslims know about Jesus and his message, and revere him as an important prophet?

[AFPheonix]

They'd probably just give you a smile like one would give to a small child, because of COURSE muslims and jews are still blinded by sin to the true truth of the cross.
Or so they've been told.

[rahmota]

Seshat:

I wonder what effect it would have to point out to them that both Jews and Muslims know about Jesus and his message, and revere him as an important prophet?

Been there, done that. Tried it in several arguments with my exfriend, my BIL, some people on another discussion group....

The general reaction I got was "Yeah so what they are still wrong because they do not WORSHIHP JESUS AS THE LORD!!!!!" Bold and caps lock in their voices when they say it too.

Some people it'll take a mightly large amount of exlax to get that stick out....

[Seshat]

Then the Jews and Christians are wrong because they do not revere Mohammad as the Last Prophet. And the Christians and Muslims are wrong because they revere Christ and Mohammad as more significant prophets than they are.

(sigh)

Why can't we all just get along? I know, I know. It's a rhetorical question.

Thank you for the answers - again. I hate wilful ignorance. It drives me nuts.

[AFPheonix]

Me too, which is why I'm glad that I distanced myself from that community. Nice people and all, but meh.

What was even cuter were the times they'd ask me what I was studying in college when I came back home, and I'd describe some of the Bio/Chem classes I was taking, and you could see their eyes glaze over. The usual remark I'd get was "Oh, I'm glad SOMEONE'S interested in that, I could never study that..."
What? This stuff is COOL!
It was either that reaction, or people who'd want to talk Creationism with me. I'd try to be polite and just suggest that instead of getting all their information from The Creationism Institute, they should go peruse something like Scientific American or go directly to the source journals, they'd get all pissy and then hound me for weeks, wanting to joust with me on stupid Creation "proofs", or go into arguments that were not defensible like "We have to read the story of Genesis literally, or else we can't read the rest of the Bible literally, and then it means that it ISN'T TRUE. And of course the Gospels are TRUTH, therefore Genesis is true!"
(I wish I was making this up, but I'm not. This is really the sort of reasoning process that has been instilled in these people)

[rahmota]

seshat:

I hate wilful ignorance. It drives me nuts.

Well you could always ignore it and be ignorant of it....

AFP:

(I wish I was making this up, but I'm not. This is really the sort of reasoning process that has been instilled in these people)

Yeah I'm very irritated at the least by that too. How someone can purposely ignore scientific facts or information in front of them or purposely yell and scream at you to shut up with your lies (Actually happened when I was trying to talk to someone about evolution.) or do the whole come out of left field with the wierdest "Proven" arguments against evolution, or the moon landing, or how homosexual marriage does not demean regular marriage is beyond me. I've had people who if evolution was a brick wall and they where flying towards it at mach one they would deny it was there until their head got shoved out of their arse.

[Seshat]

seshat:
Well you could always ignore it and be ignorant of it....

Hey, I could try that!

Now can I do it without developing a paradox?