How Christian Fundamentalists Plan to Teach Genocide to Elementary Children - Polidicks

[quote] The Bible has thousands of passages that may serve as the basis for instruction and inspiration. Not all of them are appropriate in all circumstances. The story of Saul and the Amalekites is a case in point. It's not a pretty story, and it is often used by people who don't intend to do pretty things. In the book of 1 Samuel (15:3), God said to Saul: "Now go, attack the Amalekites, and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys." Saul dutifully exterminated the women, the children, the babies and all of the men – but then he spared the king. He also saved some of the tastier looking calves and lambs. God was furious with him for his failure to finish the job. [B]The story of the Amalekites has been used to justify genocide throughout the ages.[/B] According to Pennsylvania State University Professor Philip Jenkins, a contributing editor for the American Conservative, the Puritans used this passage when they wanted to get rid of the Native American tribes. Catholics used it against Protestants, Protestants against Catholics. "In Rwanda in 1994, Hutu preachers invoked King Saul's memory to justify the total slaughter of their Tutsi neighbors," writes Jenkins in his 2011 book, Laying Down the Sword: Why We Can't Ignore the Bible's Violent Verses (HarperCollins). [B]This fall, more than 100,000 American public school children, ranging in age from four to 12, are scheduled to receive instruction in the lessons of Saul and the Amalekites in the comfort of their own public school classrooms.[/B] The instruction, which features in the second week of a weekly "Bible study" course, will come from the Good News Club, an after-school program sponsored by a group called the Child Evangelism Fellowship(CEF). [B]The aim of the CEF is to convert young children to a fundamentalist form of the Christian faith and recruit their peers to the club.[/B] [B]There are now over 3,200 clubs in public elementary schools, up more than sevenfold since the 2001 supreme court decision,[/B] Good News Club v Milford Central School, effectively required schools to include such clubs in their after-school programing. The CEF has been teaching the story of the Amalekites at least since 1973. In its earlier curriculum materials, CEF was euphemistic about the bloodshed, saying simply that "the Amalekites were completely defeated." In the most recent version of the curriculum, however, the group is quite eager to drive the message home to its elementary school students. [B]The first thing the curriculum makes clear is that if God gives instructions to kill a group of people, you must kill every last one:[/B] "You are to go and completely destroy the Amalekites (AM-uh-leck-ites) – people, animals, every living thing. Nothing shall be left." "That was pretty clear, wasn't it?" the manual tells the teachers to say to the kids. [B]Even more important, the Good News Club wants the children to know, the Amalakites were targeted for destruction on account of their religion, or lack of it.[/B] The instruction manual reads: "The Amalekites had heard about Israel's true and living God many years before, but they refused to believe in him. The Amalekites refused to believe in God and God had promised punishment." The instruction manual goes on to champion obedience in all things. In fact, pretty much every lesson that the Good News Club gives involves reminding children that they must, at all costs, obey. If God tells you to kill nonbelievers, he really wants you to kill them all. No questions asked, no exceptions allowed. Asking if Saul would "pass the test" of obedience, the text points to Saul's failure to annihilate every last Amalekite, posing the rhetorical question: "If you are asked to do something, how much of it do you need to do before you can say, 'I did it!'?" "If only Saul had been willing to seek God for strength to obey!" the lesson concludes. A review question in the textbook seeks to drive the point home further: "How did King Saul only partly obey God when he attacked the Amalekites? (He did not completely destroy as God had commanded, he kept the king and some of the animals alive.)" The CEF and the legal advocacy groups that have been responsible for its tremendous success over the past ten years are determined to "Knock down all doors, all the barriers, to all 65,000 public elementary schools in America and take the Gospel to this open mission field now! Not later, now!" in the words of a keynote speaker at the CEF's national convention in 2010. [B]The CEF wants to operate in the public schools, rather than in churches, because they know that young children associate the public schools with authority and are unable to distinguish between activities that take place in a school and those that are sponsored by the school.[/B] In the majority opinion that opened the door to Good News Clubs, supreme court Justice Clarence [B]Thomas reasoned that the activities of the CEF were not really religious, after all. He said that they could be characterized, for legal purposes, "as the teaching of morals and character development from a particular viewpoint". [/B] As Justices Souter and Stevens pointed out in their dissents, however, the claim is preposterous: the CEF plainly aims to teach religious doctrines and conduct services of worship. [B]Thomas's claim is particularly ironic in view of the fact that the CEF makes quite clear its intent to teach that no amount of moral or ethical behaviour can spare a nonbeliever from an eternity in hell.[/B] Good News Clubs should not be in America's public elementary schools. The club exists mainly to give small children the false impression that their public school supports a particular creed. The clubs' presence has produced a paradoxical entanglement of church and state that has ripped apart communities, degraded public education, and undermined religious freedom. The CEF's new emphasis on the genocide of nonbelievers makes a bad situation worse. Exterminist rhetoric has been on the rise among some segments of the far right, including some religious groups. At what point do we start taking talk of genocide seriously? How would we feel about a nonreligious group that instructs its students that if they should ever receive an order to commit genocide, they should fulfill it to the letter? And finally, [B]when does a religious group qualify as a "hate group"?[/B] [/quote] Wow. Source: [URL]http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/may/30/christian-fundamentalists-plan-teach-genocide?CMP=twt_gu[/URL]

Sensationalist as fuck in here. They're teaching Bible verses in an optional after-school extra curricular club for Bible study? The monsters.

[QUOTE=Paramud;36226344]Sensationalist as fuck in here. They're teaching Bible verses in an optional after-school extra curricular club for Bible study? The monsters.[/QUOTE] They are teaching elementary school kids that if someone does not believe in Christianity they should all be murdered? Also that no matter how good of a person you are, you are inferior to a Christian. This seems a problem to me?

[QUOTE=Paramud;36226344]Sensationalist as fuck in here. They're teaching Bible verses in an optional after-school extra curricular club for Bible study? The monsters.[/QUOTE] optional? you think the kids will have a single say in this? [quote]There are now over 3,200 clubs in public elementary schools, up more than sevenfold since the 2001 supreme court decision, Good News Club v Milford Central School, effectively required schools to include such clubs in their after-school programing.[/quote]

I did good news club when I was in elementry school. I don't remember the lessons but it was kinda fun. There was about 15 - 25 people in it. We could meet outside the school and walk to the hosts house (my friend). Then we got to play in his back yard which had this cool trampoline and other stuff for about 20 minutes. Then we all went inside and there was a bible lesson. I don't really remember what they taught us though. I don't think it takes place in the schools btw. The lesson was led by the host's mom.

[QUOTE=Turnips5;36226431]optional? you think the kids will have a single say in this?[/QUOTE] If the clubs were mandatory, do you think the article would've left that out? No. The writer would've plastered that all over the article.

Gotta start the indoctrination early, or no one will believe their silly fairy tales.

[QUOTE=Sam xD;36226453]I did good news club when I was in elementry school. I don't remember the lessons but it was kinda fun. There was about 15 - 25 people in it. We could meet outside the school and walk to the hosts house (my friend). Then we got to play in his back yard which had this cool trampoline and other stuff for about 20 minutes. Then we all went inside and there was a bible lesson. I don't really remember what they taught us though. I don't think it takes place in the schools btw. The lesson was led by the host's mom.[/QUOTE] This one is a school curriculum, they have stepped up in the last little while after getting a court allowance to be in schools for what they want. I had the same sort of thing you did for normal sunday school.

[QUOTE=Sam xD;36226453]I did good news club when I was in elementry school. I don't remember the lessons but it was kinda fun. There was about 15 - 25 people in it. We could meet outside the school and walk to the hosts house (my friend). Then we got to play in his back yard which had this cool trampoline and other stuff for about 20 minutes. Then we all went inside and there was a bible lesson. I don't really remember what they taught us though. I don't think it takes place in the schools btw. The lesson was led by the host's mom.[/QUOTE] This guy is a sleeper agent. As soon as Jesus returns, he's going to turn into a God-fearing Bible-thumping supersoldier, killing all atheists, homosexuals, and hook-noses in sight. [i]Beware.[/i]

[QUOTE=Turnips5;36226431]optional? you think the kids will have a single say in this?[/QUOTE] That quote doesn't say whether the children will have a say in it or not. It's an optional club.

[QUOTE=Sam xD;36226453]I did good news club when I was in elementry school. I don't remember the lessons but it was kinda fun. There was about 15 - 25 people in it. We could meet outside the school and walk to the hosts house (my friend). Then we got to play in his back yard which had this cool trampoline and other stuff for about 20 minutes. Then we all went inside and there was a bible lesson. I don't really remember what they taught us though. I don't think it takes place in the schools btw. The lesson was led by the host's mom.[/QUOTE] That doesn't sound nearly as scary as the OP makes it sound.

[QUOTE=Paramud;36226477]If the clubs were mandatory, do you think the article would've left that out? No. The writer would've plastered that all over the article.[/QUOTE] Yes but do you think the 4 to 12 year olds will be the ones choosing to be put in bible club?

[QUOTE=Rhenae;36226547]Yes but do you think the 4 to 12 year olds will be the ones choosing to be put in bible club?[/QUOTE] It doesn't matter, if they are being indocrinated in bible club they are probably being indocrinated at home as well. [editline]6th June 2012[/editline] And it isn't like they are saying anything factually incorrect. The bible actually does say that shit. Hopefully this lesson will show children how much of an asshole god really is.

[QUOTE=Rhenae;36226547]Yes but do you think the 4 to 12 year olds will be the ones choosing to be put in bible club?[/QUOTE] If the parents are forcing their children into Bible study clubs, the children are going to learn about Christianity no matter what you do. It's a moot point to try and get rid of the club.

[QUOTE=yawmwen;36226572]Hopefully this lesson will show children how much of an asshole god really is.[/QUOTE] supreme wishful thinking skills, man

[QUOTE=yawmwen;36226572]It doesn't matter, if they are being indocrinated in bible club they are probably being indocrinated at home as well. [editline]6th June 2012[/editline] And it isn't like they are saying anything factually incorrect. The bible actually does say that shit. Hopefully this lesson will show children how much of an asshole god really is.[/QUOTE] Yes, but their plan is get the kids who are already being brought up that way in, and get them to bring their friends, who may not be. I don't think them being taught this is the problem(although I don't necessarily like it), more the fact I am not comfortable with this abusing the school system to do what it wants. It shouldn't be an after school program, in the school curriculum.

I'm an optimist.

[QUOTE=Paramud;36226586]If the parents are forcing their children into Bible study clubs, the children are going to learn about Christianity no matter what you do. It's a moot point to try and get rid of the club.[/QUOTE] this is just the thing though, they shouldn't be able to force their kids into Bible study clubs at school just fucking indoctrinate your kids at home the old fashioned way. come on, this shouldn't be in schools and you all know it

[QUOTE=Rhenae;36226628]Yes, but their plan is get the kids who are already being brought up that way in, and get them to bring their friends, who may not be. I don't think them being taught them is the problem, more the fact I am not comfortable with this abusing the school system to do what it wants. It shouldn't be an after school program, in the school curriculum.[/QUOTE] Why not? Not allowing it would be a violation of the 1st amendment. If a school has after school clubs, then they have to allow everyone in without discriminating against religion or political ideologies.

[QUOTE=Rhenae;36226628]Yes, but their plan is get the kids who are already being brought up that way in, and get them to bring their friends, who may not be. I don't think them being taught them is the problem, more the fact I am not comfortable with this abusing the school system to do what it wants. It shouldn't be an after school program, in the school curriculum.[/QUOTE] It's an after school program, which pretty much means nothing. You can start up almost any type of club as long as the school board approves it. Hell, my friends managed to start up an after school club devoted entirely to playing video games.

[QUOTE=Turnips5;36226632]this is just the thing though, they shouldn't be able to force their kids into Bible study clubs at school just fucking indoctrinate your kids at home the old fashioned way. come on, this shouldn't be in schools and you all know it[/QUOTE] Yea, this shouldn't be in schools. But they are legally and morally entitled to their little club.

[QUOTE=Turnips5;36226632]come on, this shouldn't be in schools and you all know it[/QUOTE] They aren't teaching it in classes, they're having an after-school club. If you ban it from the schools, they'll just have it a church. I honestly don't see a problem with this.

[QUOTE=Paramud;36226661]It's an after school program, which pretty much means nothing. You can start up almost any type of club as long as the school board approves it. Hell, my friends managed to start up an after school club devoted entirely to playing video games.[/QUOTE] Playing video games doesn't teach you to have a disregard for human life other than that of other Christians... (well... depending who you talk to. I bet these people say it does, and corrupts youth)

Why do people automatically demonize the people running this club. For all you guys know, they could be Universal Unitarians preaching acceptance and peace of all races, social classes, and sexual orientations, and Biblical fallacy. The article even said it was a pretty tame experience. Herding all Christians together and claiming all they do is preach intolerance and hatred is kind of rash. At the end of the day, there a lot of Christians who don't do this, just as many who do. "They're choosing and picking!" That is a moot point in this case, it is not what the story is about. I don't understand why people are jumping to these huge conclusions, like every Christian is a card carrying member of Westboro. I understand the anger expressed at teaching young people things that are empirically false, but most of the posts in the thread are people assuming they're teaching them bigotry and hatred. How do we know that? [b]Edit:[/b] Welp. I was wrong. :v:

[QUOTE=Funcoot;36226831]Why do people automatically demonize the people running this club. For all you guys know, they could be Universal Unitarians preaching acceptance and peace of all races, social classes, and sexual orientations, and Biblical fallacy. The article even said it was a pretty tame experience. Herding all Christians together and claiming all they do is preach intolerance and hatred is kind of rash. At the end of the day, there a lot of Christians who don't do this, just as many who do. "They're choosing and picking!" That is a moot point in this case, it is not what the story is about. I don't understand why people are jumping to these huge conclusions, like every Christian is a card carrying member of Westboro. I understand the anger expressed at teaching young people things that are empirically false, but most of the posts in the thread are people assuming they're teaching them bigotry and hatred. How do we know that?[/QUOTE] Did you read the articles quotes on what stuff is in the curriculum of this after school course? This may not be the only thing they teach true, but this is a strong part of it.

[QUOTE=Rhenae;36226885]Did you read the articles quotes on what stuff is in the curriculum of this after school course? This may not be the only thing they teach true, but this is a strong part of it.[/QUOTE] Woah! I missed that. You are right. Thank you for pointing that out.