For many Yeshiva University student's life in New York City will be their first time truly living on their own away from home with a real sense of freedom. As a result, many students will have their first interaction with the world exterior of the jewish bubble in which they were raised Along with new experience, many difficult to answer questions will arise due to the spread of atheism in our society. University student and alumni will be surely questioned on their beliefs and the source of their beliefs, and many current and former students of the University will find themselves inadequately prepared to deal with the modern day atheist. Furthermore, they will find that most of the reasons and arguments for believing in God will seemingly …show more content…
Many issues would arise during the creation of this course, such as the issue that machshava books written hundreds of years ago do not address the objections of modern day atheist and that modern day atheist think differently and are more skeptical than the god-deniers of histories past. Resultantly, students need to be taught the thought process of atheist, the flaws in their logic, and how to address all their question. There is only one way to adequately do such a task, reading and dissecting The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins with a rabbi in class. Reading the God Delusion in class with a Rabbi should be mandatory for all students in their first year year in the university . Richard Dawkins, one of the most prominent atheist alive today, is know as one of the four horse men of atheism. His book, The God Delusion, has every objection to god made by modern day atheist and is forbidden to read without a Rabbi to rebuttal the books argument for for mere paragraphs from the book can make one question their belief in god. Unfortunately in today's secular society it will be almost impossible for students to avoid questions presented in The God Delusion; having a required curse in which students read and address the flaws of the book is the only way to prepare students for questions challenging their
He is warning us of the consequences of censorship and conformity. He is warning us of a future of ignorance. He is warning us of a path we may take if we are not careful. He incites us to remain open-minded and to take on our own quests for self-improvement through knowledge. He teaches us to value books in order to gain that knowledge.
Einstein, Stephen. & Kukoff, Lydia. (1989). Every Person's Guide to Judaism. New York: UAHC Press.
There are many knowledgeable books that introduce religions as well as specific religious traditions. However, students are naturally introduced to abstract methodological issues such as observer bias, rather than the religions themselves. If religions of the world are not approached with purpose and method, then students are likely to gain “stereotypes… of misinformation supplied by certain sectors of the media” (Chryssides & Geaves, 2014). Thus, in order to see how religion is lived in day to day life, one must “walk a mile in [the] moccasins [of religious people]” as Smart (1998) says. Therefore this essay will attempt to answer why it is important to study religion off campus and how this may challenge traditional understandings of religion.
Theology is an intentionally reflective endeavor. Every day we reflect upon the real, vital, and true experience of the benevolent God that exists. We as humans tend to be social beings, and being so we communicate our beliefs with one another in order to validate ourselves. Furthermore atheism has many forms, three of the most popular atheistic beliefs include: scientific atheism, humanistic atheism and the most popular one being protest atheism. Scientific atheism is the idea that science is the answer for everything and god is not existent. The humanistic approach states that society is self-sufficient; therefore God is not needed for survival. Therefore how could he exist? The position that I will argue in this paper is the pessimistic idea of protest atheism.
These school boards and parents can claim that banning this classic will protect their children from these subjects and these thoughts, and that by doing so, they can create the world to be a perfect place with love and harmony. The religious can claim all the righteousness they want, that God made the civilized man and that without religion, we wouldn’t be where we are today. However, the true nature of these subjects isn’t in that they exist, but the fact that we simply just don’t want to think or admit that they exist within ourselves. We need to use this book as a textbook to life, or a sort of guiding hand that tells us we need to realize that without our civilizations and without our rules, the world would be a much ruthless place than it is today.
INDTRODUCTION “Sex and Religion”? Those two don’t really go hand in hand,” commented a freshman student from UF. Like this student, numerous people around the world believe this misconception to be true. Whether people argue for or against the importance of gender in religion, more than just what goes on in the bedroom has been heating up lately. Many debates have sparked due to the negative connotation associated with sex when confronted about its position in religious cultures.
Prothero, Stephen. "There Should Be Prayer and Bible Study in Public Schools." Atheism. Ed. Beth Rosenthal. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2009. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Should the Bible Be Taught in Public Schools? (Interview with Stephen Prothero)." Beliefnet.com. 2007. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 19 Nov. 2013.
Christian faith and Ethos is the class I am taking this term. The professor 's name is Reverend Leroy Leach Jr. The class is about God, the creation, and how to read the Holy Bible.
...ferences and similarities as its predecessor atheism. Individuals and groups continue to assert their ideologies through their writings and critics continue to rebut these claims. As discussed, new atheism has shown evident different approaches in showing how religion has detrimental effects on society using events such as the many previous wars that have been initiated due to issues concerning religion. New atheism also addresses how these views and conceptions are forced upon children which highlight the significant developments of the ideas that have emerged since traditional atheistic times. By understanding how atheism and new atheism has developed and evolved, it can also be understood that there will be an endless and continuous arrivals of more diverse interpretations, approaches and goals of new atheism and issues revolving around religion in the future.
It is a book that my child may never be able to read. It seems that the only logical reasoning to aid in what offends people is to completely eliminate the book from the library. A better approach is to understand that this book may help them examine other beliefs, attitudes, values, and traditions and to accept, tolerate, or even reject these ideas without prejudices against people who hold particular views. In the democracy In which we live, where regularly all ideas are debatable. A wide range on all points of view should be available to the public.
Prayer in School: Good or Bad? As secular humanists and groups like the Christian Coalition are at war with each other regarding prayer in high schools behind closed doors in Washington DC, the average high school kid is the one that gets caught in the middle. For years now there has been a heated debate about whether or not prayer should be allowed in school. Every time the argument is rekindled, it ends in a stalemate, and is a topic that campaigning politicians tend to stay away from.
Prayer in School Students and teachers should have their various rights to prayer in school and religious expression, without the intervention of the state, because of past court cases reaffirming their right to freedom of religion. Students rights to freedom of religion in school are being challenged in today's times, and even more, teachers are facing hard consequences for involving religion and prayer in the classroom. Though clear laws are stated, that separate the church and state, there are also laws that protect the right to religion in the classroom. Students shouldn’t have to “ leave their religion at home” before they come to school. With my own personal experience of being able to pray in school, I understand the need of that connection
There are many positive effects which diffusion of religion has on a place. Religion teaches morals and values; as a result, areas with strong influences of religion often end up with better leaders and role models. Religion can be diffused in many ways, especially through education from an early age. Since religious schools in an area contribute to the cultural traits, morals, and values which children grow up to have, diffusion of religion has a significant impact in shaping a place. Religion is diffused throughout schools in many different ways; a very important way is through prayer.
A Liberal View on Religion in Public Schools There is a big controversy trending in public schools. Religion in public schools has been a leading issue in the United States and many people are reaching out to schools, religious figures, and political figures to either keep faith in schools or to eliminate it. As Americans we usually tend to automatically form an opinion on big controversies. My first stance towards the subject of religion in schools was to side with keeping religion in public schools.
The theory of evolution is often taught in the public school textbooks. It is widely felt that evolution is an attempt to completely remove God from all aspects of creation. Evolution destroys all meaning, purpose, direction, justice and hope in life. “You came from nothing, you are going nowhere, life is meaningless!” The Bible says in Psalm 14:1: “The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that does good.” Secular schools attempts to erase God from the classroom and from the minds of the next generation by eliminating the Bible as the basis for all knowledge. They pontificate to students and do not allow them the freedom to use their faith-based foundations to express their understanding without being stifled for not being politically correct.