Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!usc!julius.cs.uiuc.edu!psuvax1!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: spock@maths.tcd.ie (Tommy Hayes (Thanks Dr.W.)) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Missed Point Message-ID: Date: 11 Dec 90 05:55:30 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Dept. of Maths, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. Lines: 37 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu Why can't everybody just realise that Jesus was just an ordinary, albeit very ahead of his time,person who had a lot of brilliant ideas about how we should live? There is absolutly no need to bring in god,heaven or anything like that to explain anything,and anybody who does was either brainwashed by their parents or else are too ignorant to think objectivly about their religion. I remember one of my many religious instructors in school once gave a very cutting address against people like the dreaded 'Moonies' and 'Born Again Christians' who kidnap people unbeknowns to them and brainwash them for a couple of weeks into their way of thinking. The thing is, he said he was giving the opinion of the catholic church.Will somebody please tell me what the difference between this and your parents doing the 'right thing' and brain-washing you for the first 14 odd years of your life? Objective replies will be appreciated.... [The problem with rejecting parents' attempts to "do the right thing" for their kids is that if they don't do so, each generation has to start from scratch. So there has to be some way of transmitting culture and values that still allow enough freedom for change to occur where it's needed. I'd say proper education includes not only one's own values, but a critical attitude and the intellectual tools necessary to be critical. I've heard descriptions of what some of the cults do that is classified as "brainwashing". It includes things like a diet that is low in proteins, emotional blackmail, and a high-pressure environment that is designed to avoid providing the opportunity for critical thought. I can't comment on how your parents educated you. I hope they didn't do these things... It seems to me that the key is that education should assume it is trying to provide you a basis from which you will do further development, and not just a set of beliefs that you will adopt unchanged. Not that there's anything wrong with trying to teach kids specific beliefs, but you should assume that some of them are probably wrong, and the kids are going to need ways to decide which ones. --clh]