Reprehensible in So Many Ways
We've been told that the CRC President sent this message last week to a school board member, a Washington Times reporter, several MCPS staff, legal and medical professionals, people associated with CRC's endeavor, a Yahoo group ... a bunch of people:
It does seem to be a short summary of their ideological message, doesn't it? Get with our religious program, or you can just Sit Down and SHUT UP!!!
Let me just ask: why is any member of the Montgomery County Board of Education exchanging informal emails with the president of the group that just sued them? Is this his kind of humor -- he finds this sort of thing funny? Is that what we're dealing with? -- Board members who think religion should be forced on people, and they should just Sit Down and SHUT UP!!!? How much does this explain why the school board let Liberty Counsel waltz in and baffle that judge without a fight?
I hope that at least some of the board members plan to fight for the best curriculum, the one they unaminously approved in the first place.
From: mnturner@[email address deleted]
Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2005 4:08 PM
Subject: FW: Ten Commandments
I did not know this. Did you?It is said that 86% of Americans believe in God. Therefore, it is very hard to understand why there is such a mess about having the Ten Commandments on display or "In God We Trust" on our money and having God in the Pledge of Allegiance. Why don't we just tell the other 14% to Sit Down and SHUT UP!!!
It does seem to be a short summary of their ideological message, doesn't it? Get with our religious program, or you can just Sit Down and SHUT UP!!!
Let me just ask: why is any member of the Montgomery County Board of Education exchanging informal emails with the president of the group that just sued them? Is this his kind of humor -- he finds this sort of thing funny? Is that what we're dealing with? -- Board members who think religion should be forced on people, and they should just Sit Down and SHUT UP!!!? How much does this explain why the school board let Liberty Counsel waltz in and baffle that judge without a fight?
I hope that at least some of the board members plan to fight for the best curriculum, the one they unaminously approved in the first place.
posted by JimK at 9:34 AM
3 Comments:
Let's all keep in mind that the public is free to send things to BOE members. There's no evidence that the BOE member responded in any way to this junk. Hopefully the BOE member used the delete button on that one.
But if ex-recall's President likes the logic here, let's apply it to the 60 Minutes piece last night. We learned that 88% of abstinence pledgers have sex anyway, usually unprotected sex at that. The abstinence pledge program producer interviewed said if his teenage daughter becomes sexually active, he'd rather she have unprotected sex than protect herself with a condom! If abstinence pledging fails 88% of the time, why don't we tell the abstinence pledge funders and teachers to SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP?
JN
Well, you know how it goes. Majority rights are important when WE are in the majority, and stigmatizing when WE are in the minority.
For instance, just about the curriculum, the Protect Yourself video was piloted already, and approved, the great majority of parents signed the petitions for their children to watch the video, and participate on the Health Class in which the video would be shown.
However, exRecall/CRC and Michelle Turner in particular have insisted on their kids beeing stigmatized if for not opting in to the curriculum. But they were the minority, so... let me quote Michelle here: "Why don't we just tell the other [SMALL%] to Sit Down and SHUT UP!!!"
But, that's not TTF.org position. Ours is that the small % not opting in should have alternative units, and, if the numbers grant it, alternative classroom.
That does go to show the differences between exRecall and us.
What is it with the stigmatizing of kids whose parents don't opt in? Kids have been kept out of the sexuality unit in Health Ed for years. Where are the data on these stigmatized kids? I believe that it is a complete fabrication. Why isn't that repeated assertion challenged?
Michelle Turner's kids don't see movies, read books, or listen to the music that other kids their age enjoy, and they aren't bothered by it. So their happy high school years are going to be blighted by a two-week independent-study program on abstinence?
Oh, and the data on the Americans who believe in God is difficult to correlate to the 10 commandments for several reasons. One is that there has been an up-surge in religious affiliation since the 1960s when immigration rules were eased for non-europeans. Many people come here with strong religious beliefs that are god-centered but not Christian. Also, when asked in surveys, people tend to say that they believe in God whether they have any religious affiliation or any real belief system at all. For instance, a person being polled about religion is likely to say that s/he believes even if s/he hasn't ever attended a church or has not attended a church since childhood. Furthermore, that person will claim an affiliation whether it is there or not. S/He will say "methodist" if mom was a Methodist. This phenomenon is widely known and understood by relgious demographers. Furthermore, churches report membership differently. Some report the number of living persons who give them money, whether they have gone through the forms of membership or not. Others claim only those who have formally chosen membership. Others claim every person within a member's nuclear family, so that if Mom joins, Dad and all the kids, including the 1-year-old, are listed as members.
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