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I found temples made out of paper | 18 comments (18 topical, 0 hidden)

Christianity or "own religion" by Alan Crowe (4.00 / 1) #1 Sun Jun 22, 2008 at 03:00:29 AM EST

I found the "ignorant of Christianity" link fascinating. I suspect that all big religions are in the same situation, with a disconnect between the folk faith that one gets from ones parents and the formal teachings.

The thing that triggers my suspicions is a story in the Scotsman Newspaper about Buddhists in India. They were terribly pleased to have a new living Buddha in their midst. They knew he was a Buddha because he didn't have to eat food any more. He had perfected an austerity.

What makes this funny is knowing traditional Buddhism. The Buddha starts as an ordinary man, trying to obtain enlightenment, whatever that is, by following the standard ascetic practises of his day, mostly meditating and fasting. He gives up the fasting. With some decent grub inside him, he is able to meditate more deeply and becomes enlightened. He goes on to teach the middle way: don't pig out, but don't starve yourself either.

So using the magical ability to do with out food as the mark of a Buddha is a huge WTF.

It might be other things too by TheophileEscargot (2.00 / 0) #5 Sun Jun 22, 2008 at 08:38:02 AM EST

For instance, the separation of Church and State in the US might mean there's less religious education in schools, leading to a more sectarian focus.

Or it might be the strong emphasis on sola scriptura among evangelical protestants in particular.
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It is unlikely that the good of a snail should reside in its shell: so is it likely that the good of a man should?

[ Parent ]

"Don't pig out?" by Herring (4.00 / 2) #6 Sun Jun 22, 2008 at 09:23:57 AM EST

Then how come Buddha was such a fat bastard?

You can't inspire people with facts
- Small Gods

[ Parent ]

That's a by TheophileEscargot (2.00 / 0) #7 Sun Jun 22, 2008 at 09:35:46 AM EST

Different Buddha.
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It is unlikely that the good of a snail should reside in its shell: so is it likely that the good of a man should?

[ Parent ]

Don't make me read Hesse again [n/t] by Herring (4.00 / 1) #8 Sun Jun 22, 2008 at 10:01:29 AM EST

You can't inspire people with facts
- Small Gods

[ Parent ]

That Straight Dope link, by ambrosen (4.00 / 1) #10 Sun Jun 22, 2008 at 12:34:10 PM EST

would be a bit better had it not had an ad for Gay Chubby Dating on the page.

[ Parent ]

: Odd, I got by TheophileEscargot (2.00 / 0) #12 Sun Jun 22, 2008 at 08:36:58 PM EST

Buddhism Information UK
A structured course on Buddhism, Buddhist study and meditation.
www.ahs.org.uk
Carved Buddhas for Sale
Laughing, Dancing, & Thai Buddhas Unbelievably low prices.
www.trossachstreehouse.co.uk
Buy a Buddha statue
Buy outstanding garden accessories from this Hungerford supplier.
www.gardenartplus.com
Who knows why Google serves up the ads it does.
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It is unlikely that the good of a snail should reside in its shell: so is it likely that the good of a man should?
[ Parent ]

The trouble is by ambrosen (4.00 / 1) #9 Sun Jun 22, 2008 at 11:14:04 AM EST

that it's not really folk faith that's causing all the Christian misconceptions, it's the formal teachers. I'd be inclined to put it down to sola scriptura, like Theophile Escargot does. I think that the basic problem with that is that it removes all wider context from the interpretation, which is why these students have never noticed the two different yet infallible (I don't know to what extent they're consistent) accounts of The Nativity, and the two missing ones.

And, yeah, it seems that one of them thinks there's five gospels, which I guess can only be because they've been spoonfed, and made to rely on one person's interpretation as authoratitive. And they consider it so authoratitive that they can't find things out for themselves.

It's bizarre to me. And, well, it looks rather like another religion, namely Islam. But at least their book was written by one person. And they worship him as author and prophet, so there's some combining structure. With the Protestants, well, they don't even know they're wrong.

[ Parent ]

It's funny by Scrymarch (4.00 / 1) #11 Sun Jun 22, 2008 at 03:17:14 PM EST

I learnt about Martin Luther in tenth grade history but the American school system with all its compulsory civics and humanities seems to have no time for him.

Just to segue onto a largely different topic, this is why periodic calls to teach more Australian history in school are stupid. If American history becomes meaningless stripped of its world historical context, how much more for Australia ...
_{The Political Science Department of the University of Woolloomooloo}

[ Parent ]

When I lived in a Muslim country .... by Tonatiuh (4.00 / 1) #14 Mon Jun 23, 2008 at 04:06:00 AM EST

... I used to remind people in my office that Mohamed's first wife was 15 years his senior, used to chase them to got to Friday prayer, and knew where the prayer room was.

Once in the UK I have teased more than one Muslim friend reminding them during Ramadan that they should not eat and that chicken isn't necessarily halal.

[ Parent ]

School age by ucblockhead (4.00 / 1) #2 Sun Jun 22, 2008 at 06:22:58 AM EST

He's only shown that it doesn't matter in the narrow metric of earning potential.

I've lived this argument in my house. My mother, with a school teacher background, is firmly in the "get them in as young as possible because smarter kids¹ kids will get bored" camp. My wife, a current school teacher, is firmly in the "young kids, especially boys, aren't as socially ready for kindergarten" camp.

In my state, the cutoff is December 10th and my son was born the 20th of November. For any kid born after around September, it is up to the parents. His older cousin was born right around the same time, and lives in New Mexico, which sets the cutoff at September 30th, something I've heard no end of complaints about.

The arguments that convinced me the most were the social and emotional ones. He'll get more time to figure out what the hell he wants to do with life. He'll be generally the oldest, biggest, most experienced kid in his grade.

But I'm not wedded to any of the arguments, really. People are too individual in their growth rates.

¹My mother's implicit assumption is that all kids in the family are of course much smarter than average. I make no such claims.
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[ucblockhead is] useless and subhuman

: Most kids are smarter than average. by ambrosen (4.00 / 2) #3 Sun Jun 22, 2008 at 07:02:13 AM EST

According to that set of tests which finds that average intelligence rises over time.
That said, parents who are able to take their time to make detailed decisions about what kind of education might be best for their children will probably have smarter children than the average child, too.
That said, who cares? They still end up as a person. And yeah, people are cool. Especially if they're family. And littler than you. I hear tell that they're coolest of all if you made them. Sadly I have no first hand experience of that.

[ Parent ]
: Not just earnings by TheophileEscargot (2.00 / 0) #4 Sun Jun 22, 2008 at 08:35:13 AM EST

Our measure of performance is the military enrolment IQ test scores (when students are around age 18), which is taken by almost all children.
...
We also study the effects of school starting age on longer-term outcomes including educational attainment, early fertility, and adult earnings.

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It is unlikely that the good of a snail should reside in its shell: so is it likely that the good of a man should?
[ Parent ]

Who by Merekat (4.00 / 1) #13 Mon Jun 23, 2008 at 04:05:54 AM EST

I really didn't like it. It wasn't as bad as the ancient Rome one but I really don't like the Donna Noble character and I couldn't work out what had happened to Rose's teeth and why she was talking like she was drunk and had a mouthful of cotton wool. Yeah, the premise was good but the execution sucked.

: Voices by TheophileEscargot (2.00 / 0) #16 Mon Jun 23, 2008 at 08:08:26 AM EST

Apparently she had problems "finding her voice" again, according to Metachat anyway.
One annoyance I have is that since my parents moved away from London when I was a kid, my accent gets more Londonish when I'm stressed... but I can't do it deliberately at all.
If I ever start sounding like Ray Winstone, it is generally a sign that I'm about to hit someone. It would be much handier if I could put on the voice as a warning before I get to that point...
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It is unlikely that the good of a snail should reside in its shell: so is it likely that the good of a man should?
[ Parent ]

Doctor Who by nebbish (4.00 / 1) #15 Mon Jun 23, 2008 at 04:12:20 AM EST

Nuclear war? Genocide? Pretty bloody dark for 7pm on a Saturday evening.

It's funny, the last two episodes are the first ones I've seen since Billie Piper was his assistant. I seemed to have timed that quite well. Last week's claustrophobic episode was brilliant.

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It's political correctness gone mad!

Seems to be what they call by TheophileEscargot (4.00 / 1) #17 Mon Jun 23, 2008 at 08:09:44 AM EST

A bottle show. Very good though: I think they have to use their imagination more if they can't lean on a new monster or set or whatever.
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It is unlikely that the good of a snail should reside in its shell: so is it likely that the good of a man should?

[ Parent ]

: Low budget by nebbish (4.00 / 1) #18 Tue Jun 24, 2008 at 03:42:18 AM EST

Often means more imagination, you're right.
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It's political correctness gone mad!
[ Parent ]

I found temples made out of paper | 18 comments (18 topical, 0 hidden)


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