- How my six-year-old boy debunked Intelligent Design – So adorable.
- Teacher suspended after parents question Facebook comments – She wrote about howshe was upset that one of her students had placed a Bible on her desk with a card that said, “Merry CHRISTmas” in it. From Josh. (See more discussion of the case at Friendly Atheist.)
- How fantasies affect focus – “Fantasizing about sex gets more than just your juices flowing—it also boosts your analytical thinking skills.” From PrimevilKneivel, who is very analytical.
- Tanya Nelson found guilty of killing clairvoyant over bad fortune – From James Fox.
While I don’t think the teacher should be suspended or fired, I do think she needs a slap upside the head for posting on Facebook.
Of course helicopter parents are going to be on Facebook. Even if she didn’t “friend” them, someone she probably knows did. She should know better. She criticized one of their precious children who was only trying to bring Christ into her heart! How dare she!
@Chasmosaur: She should probably start using filters!
I do think the suspension was out of line, but I don’t think teachers should be posting publicly about their students. It crosses a line. What goes on in the classroom should be between the students, teacher, administration, and parents, not the entire facebook world.
Also, that fantasies article is awesome. I have always been a daydramer/one to get lost in fantasies. Now I have been validated! :)
Oh and lol this comment over at the fantasy article cracked me up:
I wonder what is connection between the two phenemenon. Fantacising sex only makes one loose ones fluids which is harmful anyway. For creativity improvement there may be several other ways
Really? It makes you “loose” ones fluids and that’s … harmful?
I don’t even know.
That much ‘loost’ fluids might make for slippery floors and combined with obvious dehydration effects could make navigating around the family credenza a harrowing experience.
But isn’t there a homeopathic cure?
“Fantasizing about sex gets more than just your juices flowing—it also boosts your anal”
I choose to stop reading here.
Awww!! That blog about the six-year-old is adorable!!
I remember when I was a kid watching the movie “Jesus of Nazareth”. I immediatly hated that movie, but I was very young and it’s not a movie for kids to begin with anyway. But what happened is, when John the Baptist started ranting about the comming of the savior, I blurted out to my mom “he’s lying, isn’t he?” XD
I think he is doing a great thing reading the Bible to his son and letting the little man point out it’s absurdities. Everyone should read the Bible. It truly is a divine comedy, but not in the manner of Dante. My son loves Psalms 137 “Happy are those who seize your children and smash them against a rock.” He thinks that and the idea that God is merciful and good are hilarious. I ask you, who could not. I have been including him , to some extent, in my online atheist bible study. I read the juiciest and best parts to him and we cackle together.
Keep it up!
http://blessedatheist.com/
I remember as a kid I would occasionally come up with some really weedling questions for my ultra-religious grandmother and uncle.
One of the fun ones was questioning why all of the miracles performed by Jesus or the supernatural acts performed by God were entirely transitory in nature. I.E. why didn’t God just carve “Listen to Jesus” into the Moon? The usual counter was, “Because then there’s no faith in believing in him if he proves he’s there,” which placated me for a while, but then I started thinking about it and realized that that made no sense, since Jesus walking on water and feeding a crowd with a handful of food was doing just that. But it left behind no evidence other than eyewitness accounts which were written down by people who were already on Jesus’ side.
It also made me realize that God was basically telling us we were going to Hell if we didn’t believe, but was making us believe in him without ever showing himself to us.
As I grew older I realized that sort of made him an utter monster, if he existed.
Fantasizing about sex is good for you…, a life redeemed.
The six-year-old story is awesome. I’m pretty sure a lot of kids ask pertinent questions about religion when they’re not firmly indoctrinated not to. Kids want to know the “why” of everything and believe me, they will find loopholes in your rules every way they can.
Yesterday I told my 4-year-old all the stuff we’re doing for the next few weeks, and when I got to the superhero-themed birthday party she’s been invited to, she asked if she could dress up as a superhero for it.
I said, “Absolutely, of course! What kind of superhero do you want to be?”
She thought for a second and then threw her arms in the air and shouted, “Super Science Guy!”
So. Awesome.
Big props to TMBG for giving her incentive to run around singing, “Science is reeeeeeeal!” and making her think the periodic table of elements is the coolest thing ever. We told her it’s like the Lego of the universe and she loves that concept.
Kids love science if you let ’em.
Oh, and I’m glad all my fantasies aren’t only useful for my novels, but making me smarter too. Presumably the ones that start out lovey and then get all hot’n’heavy make me extra smart!
I like to say that the fake people who live in my head make the beds squeak a lot. And I’m published so it’s okay to have fake people in there, I’m not crazy, you can’t prove it, hahahahahaa….
“Sweetheart, I need to debug this code. Could you give me a little strip tease?”
Does that mean the religions are right and sexual fantasies do lead people from God?
@Gheiste:
It means venn diagrams will bring on the Rapture.
@delphi_ote: COTW!
@Gheiste: Although this one, I think deserves like a runner up COTW or something.
Perhaps with enough people having sex, we might be able to increase the numbers of non-religious in no time!
Hi there!
I agree that the teacher should not have posted comments like that on Facebook. I work in a library, and I have had some really obnoxious questions come over my reference desk. But I constantly fight the temptation to tweet or make a status update about anything that could be traced to a single student, simply because it wouldn’t be astoundingly difficult to track me down through Facebook. One of the reasons I keep my Facebook fairly open is because I want students to be able to contact me with their reference questions.
Even a very vague reference to a stupid question or obnoxious student would be giving away too much. Many high school and college students already worry too much about people talking behind their backs as it is. :)
Surely the right way for teachers to blow off steam is to complain in the teachers’ lounge to other teachers, or she could complain to her partner. There are all kinds of legitimate complaints that shouldn’t be aired in public.
That’s not to say the kids involved in this aren’t evil little bastards, but in all honesty children that age usually are evil little bastards, so that comes with the territory. I also don’t think dismissal is appropriate either, sure a mild reprimand would be sufficient.
The story of the six year old gives me hope for the future that there will be those with critical thinking skills that will continue to counter the claims of woshippers of the big sky daddy.