why the nose ring, body modification can include the ears, belly button or the nipple which would have all be acceptable for this girl, especially knowing the rules at the school.. they told her she could leave it in as long as it was covered.. this was just a publicity stunt for her and more than likely the church, which even in the FAQ's addresses this issue...
We live in different times. We used to have rifles in racks in the parking lot at school. I had a middle school science teacher who taught us how to make gunpowder. We were respectful to teachers and adults. We had discipline. Today, a teacher showing a student how to mix saltpeter, charcoal, and sulphur into an explosive combination would be jailed, as would any student who brings a rifle onto campus. I didn't make those changes. Society did. We all either propelled these changes to happen or allowed them to happen. What changed PRM? I'm no more likely to blow up something now, than I was then. You are probably no more likely to take a deer rifle from the rack to shoot someone, unless the situation calls for it. Society and I trust your judgement. Society does not apparently trust students to not use those rifles in a similar vein.
I would think that they could begin to petition the county for the law change. Why not begin by suggesting a midpoint. We bring the rifles, but they are locked in the rack and not removed on school property. Seems like any discussion would be productive, as long as both parties are willing to compromise and not hide behind a rule book. And, if getting into trouble with the authorities is what it takes, civil disobedience in the face of illegal or immoral laws is the way that Ghandi and others helped to bring about change.
I agree with most of what you said. If your last sentence were to read, "Teach them moral values, by example, and require that they follow suit", then we're agreed completely.
:iagree: Since when is the Johnston County Board of Education the highest law in the land? They have over stepped their bounds and the judge has correctly over-ruled them.
This one is fitting too::lol::lol::lol: The weirder you're going to behave, the more normal you should look. It works in reverse, too. When I see a kid with three or four rings in his nose, I know there is absolutely nothing extraordinary about that person. ~P.J. O'Rourke Even better! People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them. ~Dave Barry
I am surprised that you posted the Dave Barry quote. It does not seem consistent with the posts that you have made on this topic.
Really?? Give me an example of another church that has you do things that are harmful to your health as a form of ritual....
PRM, I do enjoy our exchanges, and respect feel the conviction of what you share. My point was initially that there are other places where one teaches/learns moral values other than a church on Sunday. Masjids and Temples/Synagogues don't celebrate their Sabbath on Sundays. Other moral values based Faiths also have their own types and times for celebration of what they consider their teachings to be. Additionally, polytheistic and non-religious cultural teachings can be moral ones as well. If, as you say, "parents on their own have failed at this", what would propel them to take a child to a place of worship in the first place? I don't consider the schools as having failed here. I don't believe it was ever the school's responsibility to begin with. Those that do have already abdicated their responsibility for teaching their children. The schools have enough to do to teach the academics required. Many posters on here decry allowing the public schools to "raise" our kids or teach values with it's "liberal" agenda. As a teacher in higher grades, I could insist that my students treated each other civilly. I couldn't make them be nice. That was already a learned behavior or not. Sadly, in most cases, it was not taught or learned. My spouse, who teaches at the elementary school level (and in whose class I volunteer) sees this as well. There are some families who teach values we respect. I wish all students had those types of parents who instill values and expect the schools to reinforce them. [case in point - C6 taught the oldest child in the family years ago and now has the youngest this year. Consistently involved parents and well behaved, eager to learn children who are always prepared for school. I wish all students had those types of parents.] And there are some who think it's the school's function to do it all. I do not rise to defend the family's choice of religious views. I do not understand their views and values, yet that isn't my job to judge theirs as valid or not. I defend their right to practice it, no matter how unusual it may be. You claim that the parent's allowing a teen to choose their beliefs is wrong. I submit to you that many teens have questions about beliefs. In my experience, those who do have them are usually propelled to question what they've been taught so far because of the inconsistencies of seeing people not "walking the walk", yet often "talking the talk." Furthermore, there are non religious parents who raise their children as well as religious leaning parents. There are atheists and agnostics, and non Christian families that do this.
Christianity has extensive examples of this. From an article in the Times of London, which I felt would be better accepted than a wiki thing... http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article4628278.ece Paragraphs 6-8..as reads The idea of “mortification of the flesh” - literally putting the flesh to death - has been an aspect of Christianity from the beginning. Christianity's first scriptures, the letters of St Paul, are the source for its ascetic tradition. Romans viii, 13 says: “If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye live through the Spirit to mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” More explicitly Colossians iii, 5 registers the fears about sex (and food) for which death-bound “flesh” is a euphemism: “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.” As a result Christianity has a permanent tradition of mortification, ranging from self-denial, wearing hairshirts and chains, fasting and self-flagellation all the way to self-castration. The “desert fathers” lived eremitic lives, anticipating the self-denying existences of monks and nuns whose vows of celibacy and poverty abnegate normal humanity in the hope of pleasures to come, not only greater but everlasting. The only “religion of the book” that does not contain ritual traditions of self-inflicted suffering is Judaism, although it requires male genital mutilation in the form of circumcision. Sackcloth, ashes and fasting are the norm for penitents; punishments, which are biblically plentiful and savage, are mostly inflicted by the deity. ..... Google religious self mortification and see the references. 2 minute search, plenty of sources. Selected these. Images are even more startling. http://www.opusdei.us/art.php?p=16367 Opus Dei spokesperson giving their side of the story. http://www.ncregister.com/blog/stunner_pope_practiced_self-mortification/ From the National Catholic register. Note the authors info in the side box. http://www.bookrags.com/research/religious-self-mortification-ema-05/
P, You know that I think highly of you but your responses regarding a parent taking a child to church don't sit well with me. I do not attend church and have not since I was a child. I believe in a mixture of different faiths; Buddhism being my choice. When our family moved here, around 16 years ago, several neighbors noticed that our family did not go to church and volunteered to take my daughter. I thought about it and decided that it would be fine, if she wanted to go, for her to learn about different religions without my influence. She attended a Methodist church, a Baptist church and a Catholic church until around the age of eleven. At the age of eleven she asked me if she could be baptized at Horne Memorial along with some friends. We talked about what that meant and she seemed to genuinely be interested in wanting to do this so I allowed it and attended. I have taken her to a Jewish Synagogue and Buddhist Temple so that shes also knowledgeable about religions other than Christianity. She nor I attend any organized religious facility and I think she has turned out fine. She was raised by a single mother, never attended church on a regular basis and yet her values, character, morals and compassion for others are to be admired, in my opinion. She is respectful to others, most of the time, and she has her faults. Values and morals can be taught by parents without religion. You met her.......honestly do you think she lacks those traits because I did not take her to church? I know this is a little off track of the original subject but I took offense to what you were saying and needed to respond. We're still cool but not everyone is the same nor needs to be told what or whose values to teach or have. Sherry