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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><b>From:</b> extropy-chat <extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org> <b>On Behalf Of </b>William Flynn Wallace<br><br><b><o:p></o:p></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b>>…</b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black'> I"ll bet most kids, teens, put their parent's religion down when filling out forms until they reach college</span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'>…<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif'>Indeed sir? On what forms would such a question be allowed?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'>>…<span style='color:black'>I don't know what any of you have experienced. Many of you are atheists. In my case it was a big struggle within myself to come out as an atheist. Family flak doesn't even begin to describe it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'>>…<span style='color:black'>What people put down on forms and what they truly believe can be very, very different.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black'>bill w<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>I am surprised such forms exist in our modern world.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>I have a fun contribution to the notion, an observation from the current 7<sup>th</sup> grade public school curriculum. Since at least the time I was that age, religion in all its forms was avoided in public schools. It is difficult or impossible to explain the history of Europe in particular without talking a lot about Christianity, and without going into detail on the Protestant reformation. They tried.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>Now, suddenly, everything is different. The online resources are filled with detailed discussions about not just the Reformation, but individual players, in detail, with religious dogma crammed in there all over the place. So… why the sudden change?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>I offer this explanation: with the arrival of excellent online curriculum, the school administrators are suddenly freed from the risk that individual teachers would say something, anything, that would offend someone, anyone. The online material is excellent, it explains so much. If a parent complains, then the student has the option of not doing that unit. There is enough material that the student can learn around that material and still make the tall pointy grade. Now the administration can freely offer online material about Christianity, Protestantism or Catholicism, Islam, Hindu, anything they want (and they do.)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>I have viewed some of the material my son’s school subscribes to, and it is excellent. It doesn’t appear to promote any particular religion. The students come away with so much better understanding of European history; there is no comparison to the old days when teachers were afraid to mention it. Much of history cannot be understood without detailed study of religion and its role in politics. This is clear if one gazes at BillW’s world religion map and noticing it has sharp boundaries that are on the boundaries between nations.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>spike<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div><div><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in'><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></blockquote></div></div></body></html>