Schools are dropping the Holocaust from history lessons to avoid offending Muslim pupils, a Governmentbacked study has revealed.
It found some teachers are reluctant to cover the atrocity for fear of upsetting students whose beliefs include Holocaust denial.
There is also resistance to tackling the 11th century Crusades - where Christians fought Muslim armies for control of Jerusalem - because lessons often contradict what is taught in local mosques.
This is so stupid I do not even know where to begin...go ahead...
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This is what happens when religion and beliefs take an upper hand over facts and science! So, what next?
I don't think this is a good idea.
But you did notice, didn't you, that this is in England, not the US.
Yes, they are the leaders in the liberal movement...we follow behind about ten years
Vittal--
What is killing respect for logic and evidence isn't religion. Religion has always existed in the west and has been a part of the lives of its greatest scientists, from Mendel to Newton.
What is killing us is postmodernism, with its braindead relativism and nihilism.
Everytime I hear a dumb person claim that propositions can be "true for you and true for me," I just cringe. Liberals teach this "understanding other perspectives" nonsense in our schools daily, and reading the classics-- the Platonic dialogues, for example-- has become a rarity.
Few today want to say that truth is absolute, and that propositions can be true or false, but not both. Instead, millions have become proficient at doublethink, as if propositions can be true and false at the same time. Those who refuse to doublethink are usually attacked for not having "nuance."
Ayn Rand had it right when she wrote that "There are two sides to every issue: one side is right and the other is wrong, but the middle is always evil." Those who want to have things all ways are incapable squaring evidence to their theories of how the world works, and inevitably become fanatics, whether they be revolutionary Islamists in Iran or the commie diehards in Cuba.
Hey, mabewe can offer them a chocolate Mohammed to ease their suffering, eh?
Jason,
Even before postmodernism, we see cases where societies chose to ignore the historic facts or scientific findings based on their beliefs. That’s the essence of fanatic behavior.
Not just in west, all over the world, religion has co-existed with science to the most part. One can be rigorously religious and logical at the same time. One of the greatest mathematicians Ramanujan credited his acumen to his family goddess!! He believed that the goddess dictated him mathematical results! I don’t know if it is an absolute truth or just another perspective! If you are into mathematics and read his work, you can’t question his logic!
Every time I hear from a dumb person that religions peacefully co-existed with historic facts and science, I too cringe in disgust.
vittal--
The power of ideas cannot be overestimated.
Revolutionary Islam, for example, did not exist 100 years ago. Hundreds of thousands of Jews used to live in places like Iraq. It took sophisticated and intelligent thinkers like Sayyid Qutb in the mid 1900s to develop the philosophy into a coherent system of thought. Most militants today are not oppressed proles, but tend to be usually fairly well educated.
Look at the 911 hijackers-- they were the ubernerds. Mohammed Atta was degreed in architecture, Zaid Jarrah was studying aerospace engineering in Hamburg, Wail al-Shehri was a school teacher, Majef Moqed was a law student at King Fahd University-- it isn't like they were monsters. They were simply idealistic young kids with rotten ideas in their heads.
Socialists are another example. They always have had great intentions about doing good. However, why are they capable of killing human beings wholesale by the millions? Because they see thought itself as determined by economic conditions, so criticism of socialism, no matter how grounded in evidence and reason, is labeled as a prejudice of the rich.
Ideas have consequences.
When postmodern ideas become commonplace and pedestrian, its adherents can't tell friend from foe, and think there is moral virtue in doubting oneself while being open to everything else, no matter what experience teaches. They seal themselves off from evidence by preaching that everything is just a perspective, and that means everything-- including science.
Probably you meant – Power of ideas can not be ‘underestimated’…?
Ideas do have serious consequences. Question is – what triggers your ideas? Is it pure imagination? Is it the perceived supremacy over others based on color, religion, caste, nationality and/or ideology? Or, Is it based on some logical, real facts?
We all can live different life styles and still be respectful to each other. I don’t see anything wrong in understanding other perspectives. In fact, that is the only way out. If I am a vegetarian, it’s my choice. As long as we don’t judge each other based on our eating habits, there is no harm. Most of the conflicts (be it socialist-communist, radical Islam or racism) have their deep roots in lack of respect and understanding of others.
vittal--
Yeah, that's what I meant. I couldn't clean out all of the bugs, even with three attempts.
As far as respecting people goes, we need to make a critical distinction. I agree with you that if we take human life as our standard of value, then yes, every human being is worthy of respect, and that includes freedom of opinion. But that doesn't mean all opinions are equally true. Some of them will be false, and some of them will be wicked. Because the false and the wicked are allowed to exist in a free society, it becomes the responsibility of citizens to identify the false and the wicked when they arise. Postmodernists abhor this sort of benign judgmentalism.
Jason -
Many things in our life are not simple ‘true or false’ questions. There can be multiple answers to a question and that’s what makes our life and hence the society a very complicated place. Freedom of expression (and respecting each other) is a tool to handle the differences and strike a harmony among all these different views on life.
Other than science (and math), everything in life is relative. You believe in God-A, I believe in God-B. You like food-X and I like food-Y. There is no single answer or ‘right’ way. It all depends on how you ‘view’ the world. Largely it is influenced by your religion and culture. Pre-marital sex or child out of wedlock may be totally a wicked idea and punishable in some societies! On the other hand, religious courts and punishments based on the old religious scripts sounds like a wicked idea to a western society.
I agree – it becomes the responsibility of citizens to identify the wicked ideas and address them. A free, democratic system does a good job of doing it by openly debating and arriving at the best solution that suits the local culture.
If we insist on living in a world based on relativism, we will continue to suffer at the hands of those who hold power as they assert "their truth" through their legislation, thereby forcing it upon us all. The plain fact is that truth can usually be measured, experienced and proven, though some of it may seem insignificant on the surface. The ripple effect of those less significant truths alter perceptions of larger truths when ignored. Acceptance of a little skin, for example, with the appearance of Playboy magazine, has helped lead to the massive porn industry, acceptance of pre-marital sex, the spread of STDs, homosexuality and other lifestyles vying for acceptance, and other societal ills. The same can be said for the peace-at-any-cost mentality and the unwillingness of some of our society to defend itself against aggression, such as by Islamofascists.
As far as religion and science goes, one was a major factor in the flourishing of the other. Christian principles encouraged the scientific exploration of the world to explain God's mysteries of creation. At some point, science surplanted religion in the minds of many, but for largely subjective reasons since it has never proven that God doesn't exist. Yet at the same time, there is much that supports the notion that Christ was who He said He was, and far more so than any other religion could possibly hope to. Despite this, Christianity has become one of the most tolerant religions in history, accepting that what one believes is a matter of choice. This truth lead to the creation of our country.
Right and wrong, good and evil, all these can be a matter of choice. But as Jason said, things cannot be both, each must be one or the other in truth and fact, if not in the mind of a given individual.
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