Quote:
Originally Posted by Cheese
...but really the issues begin once they graduate a bunch of ignorant Creationists! How do you then re-program them to try and at least see it for what it really is after 12 years of school and perhaps another 4 years of Christian University?
I think its child abuse...teaching your children lies is abhorent and these parents should lose their right to breed.
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I think that we have been down this road before, Cheese, and while I share your disdain for religious fundamentalism, I cannot agree that simply because certain people choose not to develop any effectual critical thinking skills they should lose any parental rights.
As for the question of "how", perhaps my own upbringing presents a source for hope:
• I was born into and raised in a thoroughly fundamentalist evangelical home.
• While I am a proud product of the CBE public school system (Fowler class of '91!), I somehow managed to learn nearly nothing about biology. I opted for Physics 10/20/30, and barely squeaked through; avoided chemistry because I was terrified of the periodic table, and I think I avoided biology out of religiously conditioned paranoia, but I don;t remember for certain.
• I spent a full year in a "discipleship training centre" in Auckland, NZ, where I felt that God was "calling" me into "church ministry".
• I spent one year at Rocky Mountain College in Calgary, but left because the school was too soft in it's commitment to biblical inerrency, and Reformed theology.
• I spent a full year as a "pastoral intern". In case you don't know, this was a P/T paid position in a local church in which I essentially apprenticed under the senior pastor. My intent was to return to this church upon completion of my undergraduate degree, and work full-time as a bona-fide Baptist minister.
• I spent two full years in the now defunct Northwest Baptist Theological College in Langley, BC; a centre that was renouned for its iron-clad commitment to biblical literalism, reformed theology, and a strong commitment to expository preaching. Fortunately, because of its close proximity to Trinity Western University, I took a few courses there out of my growing interest in biblical languages and history. The university had just opened the Dead Sea Scrolls Institute, which provided early exposure to some of the most highly respected experts in the field.
* While I was still a student at the college, my university experience was something of a watershed in my own intellectual upbringing. My own theological and philosophical presumptions were obliterated by—well, reality, and I decided in light of the crisis of faith that I was experiencing that I could no longer—in good conscience—continue to pursue a career in "ministry" (That, and I was quickly discovering in my own "pastoral" experiences how much I loathe whining, sniveling and meddlesome parishioners). I shifted my focus purely onto academics, transfered to the University, graduated, went to Graduate School and earned my MA, and eventually entered Ph.D. studies at the University of Manchester in the UK, where I will be finishing this summer.
• My senior year in University was an interesting one: I had chosen to complete many of my electives in my second and third years, and thus needed to fulfill my science component in my fourth year. I took a couple of semesters of biology and was fascinated. Simultaneously, I was also registered in a senior seminar on the philosophy of science, as well as another seminar on the philosophy of language (it was a busy year!) I knew almost nothing about biology prior to my 25th birthday, but what I learned in my biology classes, supplemented by the topics of discussion in my seminars hooked me: my appetite for scientific knowledge became voracious.
So, somehow I managed to "evolve" from a raging, fundamentalist fanatic to become one of science's biggest fans. My parents are still ultra-conservative, young-earth creationists, and they were both—and still are!—good parents. I can't realistically consider my own upbringing akin to "child abuse". Yes, a great deal of what I learned was misguided propaganda, but for the most part evangelicals remain a pretty harmless bunch. I still have good friends who are committed to doing whatever they can to protect their own kids from exposure to the "evil theory" of evolution, but they are good people in spite of this. They have three of their own kids, and somehow have managed to find the time and the reservoirs of love to give to three more very seriously challenged foster kids. They are better parents than I think I ever will be, despite their own ignorance. You forget, Cheese, that most parents who indoctrinate their children do so out of a sincere but naive desire to protect them. While I harbour a small amount of resentment for how I was raised, my own fundamentalist upbringing was mostly positive. Of course there are exceptions in every situation, but honestly, for the most part "child abuse" is the furthest thing from what occurs in an evangelical household.