I just found this article in the San Luis Obispo Tribune discussing whether or not a religion class should be allowed in school.
The Atascadero school board voted Tuesday night to reconsider a controversial resolution allowing students to attend a church class during school hours.
And then farther down …
Santa Margarita lawyer Michael Blank offered a different viewpoint. “There’s a lot of cults and sex out there that may be unattractive to this board,” he said.
He asked school board members how they would react if the “Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster,” a parody religion, wanted to offer a class for students.
I’m not sure which category we fall into. Probably cults.
My view is that religion classes should be allowed in school but that they shouldn’t be taught by any member of that particular religion. Unless we’re talking about Pastafarianism, in which case the teacher should be a devout Believer, dressed in Pirate Regalia.
Here’s the link
I wonder, if Cameron had found a plate of ancient spaghetti in the tomb, would he publicize it? Nahhhhhh not likely…too “controversial”.
On Feb 20, the Atascadero Unified School District’s School Board voted unanimously to rescind the resolution to allow students to leave study hall to attend religious instruction (http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/local/16746137.htm). I heard that the resolution only passed because the board members were told, erroneously, that they would be sued if they didn’t pass it. Contrary to the article’s implication that it was public feedback that brought the issue back to the board, the board itself insisted on debate and another vote once the members did their own research. They’ve also put a procedure in place to prevent further on-the-spot votes that would not allow them to be prepared. (I love the part of the article about the sophomore, who gave a spirited speech while dressed as a pirate!)
Just a little something I picked up over at Dawkins this morning :)
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This Modern World: You can’t trust science! Is the Earth sphericated or flaticular?
http://www.workingforchange.com/comic.cfm?itemid=22047
And you’ve just got to love this:
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Academy denies claims from job candidate
A teacher applying for a senior job at a Teesside school claims he was confronted by “religious intolerance” at his interview.
“They were asking for a missionary, not a teacher,” said Dr Valentine, himself a Methodist lay preacher.â€
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http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/news/tm_headline=academy-denies-claims-from-job-candidate%26method=full%26objectid=18729637%26siteid=109975-name_page.html
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hehehehehe :)
RAmen
Ahoy me hearties, nice to see me very own Teesside making the pages here. Comes to somethign when a preacher accuses a school board of religious intolerance and zealotry! i’ll be biking about there monday, there may just have to be a fsm poster on the school sign.. yaarrrrr me hearties.
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And Nikkiee, forgive the personal question whereabouts you from then? thought the Gazette had a circulation of 12 and 2 of them seem to get delivered to my house!
Spider
I’m an Aussie. ….from the Sunshine State of Queensland :)
Picked that story up over at the Dawkins site on my morning rounds.
RAmen
pijaviguwicn…
nice post…
“My view is that religion classes should be allowed in school but that they shouldn’t be taught by any member of that particular religion. Unless we’re talking about Pastafarianism, in which case the teacher should be a devout Believer, dressed in Pirate Regalia.”
This has worried me for a while. We all know that you need no specific attire to Witness as a Christian. However, His Noodlyness has decreed that it is disrespectful to preach the Gospel of his Noodly Ways to the masses without wearing full pirate regalia.
Now this is not easy. A ruched shirt and half-length trousers are portable by the simple expedient of wearing them. A tricorn hat is large and bulky, and may be cause for adverse comment if worn on the London Underground. Taking a cutlass anywhere in public is a definite non-starter in these suspicious days, let alone a brace of pistols!
So what, then would suffice as “full Pirate regalia” – do we really need the tricorn hat, or can we manage with a simple eye-patch and a kerchief tied round the head? How can we ensure that we can preach the gospel of the FSM in public, without disrespect, using only easily portable materials that do not get us arrested?
Yours,
Devout Heathen