Tea Party and learnin the US Constitution

[Racket_Man]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0..._lnk3%7C214258

It seems the Tea Party is trying to get A LOT of schools to use some wackjob's "divinely inspired document".

[Greenday]

Hm, is this the same Tea Party who refuses to debate some college kid on the Constitution because they are too scared?

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...=2011305200091

[Ghel]

How can they possibly think that a document that includes the statement "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." is divinely inspired? Consistency FAIL.

If the Constitution was inspired by their God, it would say something more along the lines of "The official religion of these United States of America is Christianity." And probably detail specific beliefs.


I'm sorry to share a state with Bachmann (but I didn't vote for her). She probably doesn't even realize her own lack of knowledge regarding the constitution and US history. That is, she's ignorant of her own ignorance.

[HYHYBT]

Oh, but the Tea Party is allll about fiscal responsibility, doncha know.

[KitterCat]

Though the National Center for Constitutional Studies is best known for its promotion of Skousen's work, including "The 5,000 Year Leap," a 1981 book that suggests Biblical inspiration for the Constitution, those materials aren't included in the packet being touted by the Tea Party Patriots.

Instead, a $19.95 order buys "A More Perfect Union," a movie DVD created by Mormon-run BYU in 1989 depicting the 1787 Constitutional Convention, as well as an accompanying teacher's guide, a poster and a pocket-size Constitution.

Bill Norton, the Tea Party Patriots leader in charge of the group's "Adopt a School" push, gives seminars for the National Center for Constitutional Studies. He says the BYU movie was endorsed 20 years ago by the federal Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution, proving its educational merit.

I really cant see a problem here. They’re asking for schools to be reminded to actually teach something they should be teaching anyway on a week that teachers should be teaching it anyway. Their also asking for them to use a movie that was endorsed by a federal Commission. Who cares if it was done by a Christian run organization, so long as the material is correct it doesn’t matter. If it isn’t use something else. If you don’t want to use that movie, find other source material. Its not as if the group is out there screaming you must use this material and teach the constitution this way.

[AdminAssistant]

Christian-run organizations shouldn't have *anything* to do with the public education system. Ever. Even (or especially) BYU. I'd lay money that PBS has a number of good educational vids on the Constitution.

[Gravekeeper]

Christian-run organizations shouldn't have *anything* to do with the public education system. Ever. Even (or especially) BYU. I'd lay money that PBS has a number of good educational vids on the Constitution.

^ This, frankly.

The amount of bit chomping froth some religious groups in the US have for trying to force shit into the education system is bad enough as is. -.-

[Crazedclerkthe2nd]

Hm, is this the same Tea Party who refuses to debate some college kid on the Constitution because they are too scared?

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...=2011305200091

Were you aware said kid received all kinds of nasty rape and violence threats after she laid that down that challenge?

Google it if you think I'm lying. Really messed up stuff.

[Greenday]

Were you aware said kid received all kinds of nasty rape and violence threats after she laid that down that challenge?

Google it if you think I'm lying. Really messed up stuff.

That's...what the entire article I posted was about. Look at the comments. Just a ton of people trying to defend the tea party saying they'd NEVER do anything like that

[mikoyan29]

Christian-run organizations shouldn't have *anything* to do with the public education system. Ever. Even (or especially) BYU. I'd lay money that PBS has a number of good educational vids on the Constitution.

I don't have a problem with some Christian-run organizations having something to do with education. I mean Catholic schools have a reputation for excellent education. Its when they start prolystizing that I have a problem with it.

the unfortunate part about the Consitution is that in many ways it is such a simple document that it doesn't cover many of the issues we are discussing now. I don't think the framers had any inkling of some of these issues. There are serious debates about what each of the clauses mean and there have been since 1783....

[linguist]

I don't have a problem with some Christian-run organizations having something to do with education. I mean Catholic schools have a reputation for excellent education. Its when they start prolystizing that I have a problem with it.

but what admin said was that christian-run (or any religious, imo) organizations have no place in public education. catholic schools would be part of the private education system.

[Andara Bledin]

The knee-jerk "oh, noes, you're a religion, you can't help our schools" is pretty bad. There are ways that they could contribute that wouldn't result in the problems most of us want to avoid.

^-.-^

[mikoyan29]

but what admin said was that christian-run (or any religious, imo) organizations have no place in public education. catholic schools would be part of the private education system.

Knee jerk reactions like religious organizations have no place in public education bug me. I think many of our problems come from that reaction. Certain people like to say they like diversity but it seems that they only like certain kinds of diversity. Like it or not, religion does have a place in our society and different religions can offer different viewpoints on most things, especially the Constitution. Having the BYU view of the Constittution is not a bad thing as long as you balance with other views.

[FArchivist]

Knee jerk reactions like religious organizations have no place in public education bug me. I think many of our problems come from that reaction. Certain people like to say they like diversity but it seems that they only like certain kinds of diversity. Like it or not, religion does have a place in our society and different religions can offer different viewpoints on most things, especially the Constitution. Having the BYU view of the Constittution is not a bad thing as long as you balance with other views.

Except that it isn't a kneejerk reaction. The involvement of religious institutions in public education has been defined pretty well by a long series of court cases. Far from being kneejerk, it is a long and profound amount of thinking on what the role of religion should be in government. I highly recommend, if you think it is kneejerk, that you read the actual decisions of these cases and see the logic behind the decisions.