Why is it that so many in the atheist community cannot bring themselves to get past their anger whenever they engage in discussions? The language of many of their contributions in public debate is laced with invective and dripping with sarcasm and bile. There are exceptions of course, but they tend to fall more into the category of being the 'exception that proves the rule' when compared to the hostility of many of today's atheist posters. Comment offered by the theists in the public square is often depicted as being 'malicious' or 'venomous' and intended to enslave the 'feeble minded and weak' by those who post. Nothing could be further from the truth. Venom is something that is oriented to death. Christians are oriented in a 180 degree different direction. We speak not to the culture of death that grips our world but rather for the culture of life and light which ends with the gift of eternal life. For example, the Catholic Church in its hum...
Have you read the curriculum? I haven't yet, but as a parent I do, and I often find the rhetoric differs from the reality.
ReplyDeleteMichael: I didn't read the entire curriculum, but I did read the overview provided by the Ministry of Education outlining the content for each grade as well as a number of different commentaries. You are right though as some of the rhetoric and commentary is over the top.
DeleteThis is my more detailed response to someone on Facebook who challenged me to explain my concerns.
"Essentially I believe that the new curriculum doesn't respect the psychological element of the new program in as much as it doesn't seem to respect the 'latency' stage of development (which usually runs from about 5-11 or 12 years of age). Naming anatomical parts etc is fine with me. I have no problem with those elements even in the early grades. But introducing the concept of gender shifting and dealing with specific sex acts at such an early age can be detrimental to a child's development. That period of relative tranquility between the end of the 'fearsome fours' and the start of adolescence is there for a reason and I don't think this curriculum respects this.
As to her contention that opposition to this new program is fueled by homophobia, I believe it is a blatant attempt to salvage it in the face of the curriculum's principle author being arrested on charges of production and possession of child pornography in Toronto. After all, it's difficult to take the word of someone that his proposal best addresses the psychological and social needs of a child when he's caught with thousands of kiddy porn images on his computer.
Fr. Tim