The article linked below came out in November 2008, but I only came across it last night. It is from World Net Daily. Though I have no idea of this publications background, I suspect it to be a right wing conservative publication. Again, I have not researched it, so I first read it as an unbiased article (although the author calls "The God Delusion" an anti-Christian book, which leads me to believe he has not read it, or did not comprehend it. Also, a link to a book in the middle of the article on the spread of atheism titled "The Marketing of Evil" was a little obvious). Please read:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=81459
While respecting the circumstances and feelings surrounding a case like this, especially a suicide of a young student, I find the reasoning of the student's family and friends short sighted and ignorant. Emotions often cloud judgement in such circumstances, but the slant the writer uses in the article adds to my disgust.
To suggest a book's presentation of "irrefutable" evidence destroys and undermines a persons faith and should be held accountable for "malpractice" is like blaming the iceberg for the Titanic hurling faster and faster, unchecked, through the icy North Atlantic. The evidence is what it is, so maybe the preliminary mindset is to blame. Did it not occur to anyone this young mind had been molded and filled with so much unquestionable "faith" that he forgot to think for himself. And once faced with ideas that break the mold, he was unable to cope. Even though it may hurt, blaming the truth is never a good idea.
The father stated by allowing his son to attend a secular school, he felt like he "put a toddler in the front of [his] car ." Kilgore's son was 22 years old. Definitely not a toddler, but he demonstrated the binding paralysis of a lifetime of indoctrination.
"I want to hold schools accountable for what they're teaching our kids. This was malpractice," he said. Challenging college students to read a book (not in the curriculum? GASP!) and allowing them to come to their own conclusions? How appalling! The problem did not lie in the book. The demise of this student started 20 years earlier, with the force feeding of misinformation, the discouragement of questioning, and the unaccountabilty of fundamental religious teaching.
3 comments:
I've always liked the fact that people grasp at straws for reasons of suicide, rather than believe that this person was mentally unbalanced in the first place. The same thing occured to me about all the G.I.'s who came back from Vietnam "messed up". They where mentally fragile before they went over there, and if Vietnam didn't screw them up, something else would have.
I believe in my God, but I believe that His plan is for each of us to search both sides of the story and have the balls to choice for oneself. I can't believe a faith made up of quilt is the right path. This boy was probably afraid of his father's reactions. I cannot believe we have free will and are not permitted to have free choice. That would be an oxymoron or something like that. Heavy stuff.
Other "World News" headlines from the site:
*"Brad O'Leary to expose Obama plot to silence talk radio"
*"Tell your government no to so-called 'Fairness Doctrine'"
*"How to prepare for Obama's new economic order"
So I don't know why you'd think it's a 'right wing' site. Seems perfectly middle-of-the-road to me.
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