Fundie Christian group alleges New Age beliefs taught in public school

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.the-dispatch.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050925/APN/509250652&cachetime=5

A Christian group says a stress-reduction classes for students at a Raleigh elementary school promoted "New Age" beliefs and were school-sponsored religious activities that violated the First Amendment.

Called2Action, a local activist organization, has sent a letter to Wake County Schools Superintendent Bill McNeal and school board members asking them to make sure this kind of "spiritual and religious program" doesn't happen again.

"For a Christian parent, you've got some areas of concern that they're teaching things opposite to your faith," said Steve Noble, chairman of Called2Action. "But what's even beyond that is it's violating the (First Amendment) establishment clause." snip

Called2Action said it received complaints from a mother whose children were asked to do breathing exercises, chant and use their "life forces" last month at Partnership Elementary School. The classes were conducted by Emily Gunter, founder of the Rites of Passage Youth Empowerment Foundation in Durham.

[FreedomAngel82]

1. They really should look in the mirror

Now they know how it feels eh? I still don't expect them to stop their ways even though there are private Christian schools available for them. Oy.

[0rganism]

11. The mirror shows them only what they want to see

Notice that the christo-fascists object not because these teachings are unscientific loads of nonsense, or even because they're inherently religious and have no place in public schools, but rather because they're not Christian.

If this same teacher were handing out leaflets stating, "Jesus is the way, the Truth, and the Light," these parents objecting now would probably be a-okay with that.

[thefloyd]

2. I don't understand these people

I never thought of school as a place to create beliefs. I simply believed school was a place to learn and receive good grades.

Here is a good story. While in high school the school set set up a hypnotist for entertainment. One of the local churches applied pressure to the school board to cancel the event because hynotists were evil or something to that effect. I was 16 and laughed for days.

[0rganism]

16. school as a place to create beliefs

It certainly is. In a certain sense, the christo-fascists are quite correct that secular schools present a challenge to their belief system.

School teaches us to believe stories about how the world is and how things came to be this way. School teaches us that authority figures are qualified to judge us, rank us, reward us, and punish us for our activities. School teaches us to sit down and shut up and do what we're told.

And all this directly overlaps the teachings of Christianity, substituting a public bureaucracy for a church heirarchy as the authority to be respected and obeyed.

[thefloyd]

19. I strongly

disagree. I learned to obey authority figures from my parents. The way I acted in school was a direct result of my parents.

[0rganism]

27. Lucky you. If you hadn't learned it from your parents...

...you would have learned it there. Or been excommunicated, so to speak.

[thefloyd]

28. I am

stating there are other sources besides school to get beliefs. For instance music, Athletes. I think you are limiting the scope of where one gets his or her beliefs

[tjdee]

3. They call Native American beliefs "new age" too. They are kind of dumb,

sometimes.

Everything that doesn't go with their worldview is considered new age, even if it's yoga (which has been around for hundreds of years) or Native American mysticism.

Though, I don't want someone telling my kid about "life forces". I mean, WTF is that and why is that education? Don't like the chanting either--though I do think a number of stress reduction exercises can be done to the satisfaction of most parents. It's silly to call it school-sponsored religious activities, but whatever happened to teaching math and reading?

[NNN0LHI]

9. Yea you got to be careful of them "life forces"

Never know where that could lead a young susceptible mind?

Don

[tjdee]

14. Well, I dunno, sounds a little too Star Wars for me.

It's a personal quirk, to be sure. Don't have a good reason.
:shrug:

[NNN0LHI]

15. I thought you were being sarcastic. I was playing along. Oops n/t

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

18. What they are afraid of is all forms of mysticism

including Christian mysticism. As someone who has practiced breathing and chanting and using motions to praise God, I know there is a time and a place for everything. One can teach a simple breathing technique to dispel anger, for example, without ever dealing with the mystical constructs behind it. You tell a kid, "If you are really angry at someone, don't slug them. Instead, count to ten." Bet you've even said that to a kid. But simply add one line-"Count ten breaths"-and you've made it effective, because it is very very hard to stay mad if your breath is slow and even, which tends to happen if you pay attention to it. I think applying this breathing technique in the proper situation is very practical and not "New Age-y".

As for chants, well, they have their place too. Would you object to small children being read "The Little Engine That Could" and being encouraged to chant "I think I can" when they are trying to do a new task? Or having a group chant "Go Go Go!" to an athlete at a sporting event? I doubt if even the Christian parents described above would have a problem with this type of chanting.

[KittyWampus]

26. Such a lovely post. You are a wise woman. Learning to meditate

for a few minutes before beginning the school day... to focus ones thoughts on the day's tasks is highly beneficial.

And these things depend on accessing ones own inner potential.

Prayer to some outside force seems somehow less effective when it comes to kids.

But then, religion as taught all too often isn't about self-empowerment.

[richmwill]

4. HA!

They can't even see the hypocrisy, can they? Gee, I wonder if any of their children have tried to "witness" to their schoolmates?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

5. breathing must be against Christianity

funny, but the practices described are used by Sufis, Hindus, and various Christian groups, among others. Don't see how they can necessarily be called "New Age" or strictly limited to one religion. Bet these folks don't like yoga or tai chi either.

[tjdee]

13. They don't.

In part because I love Shah Rukh Khan :silly: , I'm looking into taking up yoga.

You'd think I was talking about taking up Satan worship according to some of the older folk I know at church. Supposedly yoga "opens a window", LOL, it's like a spiritual gate drug!

But ask them what yoga is, specifically what parts of yoga are "bad", they have no idea. They mumble something about chanting, but they got nothin'. That's what happens when people are xenophobic and uneducated.

It's just so hilarious because Jesus was brought up in the Middle East after Hinduism and a number of other religions were already in place, but Asians practice "new age" stuff. Umm.......okay....

[cynatnite]

6. My RW mother loved separation of church and state...

when we lived in Idaho. She wanted to protect my kids from that 'horrible' mormon religion.

But she still thinks christianity should be taught in public schools :shrug: go figure

[FreedomAngel82]

7. Oh good grief

Somedays I feel like going to sleep and waking up in a couple of years. Of course this will probably still be going on then anyways. *sigh* And of course they don't get the hypocriacy. *sigh*

[thefloyd]

10. Even if Christianity

is taught is public school which denomination would be taught?
I cannot imagine how many fundies would cry foul if their interpretation of the bible was not taught. Teaching Christianity in public schools would create more debates

[Blue_Tires]

8. and i'm willing to bet

that these are the same people fighting to the death to put the 10 commandments and mandatory school prayer in each classroom

[Richard Steele]

12. Nice idiot quote:

"If a person had taught to pray to Jesus Christ
to reduce stress, that would have been stopped," Noble said

Kinda different: No one was doing any PRAYING to anyone!

They are actually upset because they think someone violated
their right to be IGNORANT.

[Davis_X_Machina]

17. Problems often arise...

...trying to teach yoga or tai chi in dance or P.E. classes, with many of the same objections being made.

[dretceterini]

20. I wish some of these so called "Christians"

actually read the bible and followed what it said, rather than the agenda of their churches.

[displacedtexan]

21. Am I the only one who immediately thought of...?

"I want to kill
everyone.
Satan is good.
Satan is our pal."

From "The Burbs."

[LouisianaLiberal]

22. Talk of "life forces" and chanting

in any context other than an objective discussion of their history is inappropriate. While I agree that encouraging children to do such things is not harmful to them, the Xtians have a point.

If I demand that NO religion of ANY kind be promoted in a public school, then Taoism, Vitalism, the philosophy of Henri Bergson, etc. or wherever they get their notion of a "life force, must be taught as elements in the history of thought, not as practical applications to be followed.

And yes it is because the Xtians perceive these theories as religious that we should be sure that they aren't taught as religious ideology.

I disagree with them that these are "religious ideas", but I would rather keep ALL religious training out of schools than start splitting hairs.

Teach them in the context of the history of philosophy, not as practical applications.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

23. Breathing is dangerous to their spiritual life

You must make small short breaths only. If you get more than the minimum oxygen, you might actually think.

[cmd]

24. I used the word visualize one time

I was teaching my kids tricks for remembering a list of things. If the words were dog, apple, ball; I might tell them to think of a dog sitting on a ball eating an apple. My little fundie spy girl rushed home to tell her school board mom that I said visualize in class. Momma was at the door before the last bus left.

She was ok with the lesson when I explained it. Her five year old had obviously been programmed to watch for New Age vocabulary. Momma ended up pulling her girls out of school and homeschooling them. It was rather odd having a homeschooling mom on the board of education of a public school.

[geniph]

25. If breathing is offensive to the fundies,

then I wish to Gawd (pun intended) they'd quit doing it!