Next They'll Be Wanting to Burn Them

[Cyberman]

Exactly so. What is banned in schools, as I understand the American school system, is mandatory prayer.

[Lek]

I had to take a break since I was out of breath from dodging all those arrows coming at me at once. First of all, I'm talking about the US public school system, since that's where I live. I think it's okay to have proper sex education in schools, but I'm not one to say "they're going to do it anyway, so give em some sex ed and some condoms and hope for the best." I don't think there's a place in the public school system for sexually explicit books.

I don't know where you live, but if a teacher here tries to pray in class or even tell the class that he follows Jesus, he'll be out of there no time. This doesn't apply to the rights of the students to exercise their freedom of speech. If a kid wants to tell a classmate that he or she is a christian or an atheist or whatever, that's his or her right. Minimalist says he still has the bible they gave him in school. All I can say is if that was an American public school, it must be an awfully old bible.

[Chad32]

The bible is banned in schools.

No it fucking isn't, you despicable liar.

Edited to add: I still have the bible they gave me at my primary school.

I got a bible for my graduation.

[Darkstar]

...following complaints from some parents concerned that the book contained sexually charged material...

But...

---

Judges 19:22-30
New International Version (NIV)
22 While they were enjoying themselves, some of the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they shouted to the old man who owned the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him.”

23 The owner of the house went outside and said to them, “No, my friends, don’t be so vile. Since this man is my guest, don’t do this outrageous thing. 24 Look, here is my virgin daughter, and his concubine. I will bring them out to you now, and you can use them and do to them whatever you wish. But as for this man, don’t do such an outrageous thing.”

25 But the men would not listen to him. So the man took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go. 26 At daybreak the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, fell down at the door and lay there until daylight.

27 When her master got up in the morning and opened the door of the house and stepped out to continue on his way, there lay his concubine, fallen in the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold. 28 He said to her, “Get up; let’s go.” But there was no answer. Then the man put her on his donkey and set out for home.

29 When he reached home, he took a knife and cut up his concubine, limb by limb, into twelve parts and sent them into all the areas of Israel. 30 Everyone who saw it was saying to one another, “Such a thing has never been seen or done, not since the day the Israelites came up out of Egypt. Just imagine! We must do something! So speak up!”

[Esquilax]

I had to take a break since I was out of breath from dodging all those arrows coming at me at once. First of all, I'm talking about the US public school system, since that's where I live. I think it's okay to have proper sex education in schools, but I'm not one to say "they're going to do it anyway, so give em some sex ed and some condoms and hope for the best." I don't think there's a place in the public school system for sexually explicit books.

We aren't talking about Fifty Shades of Grey, here. We're talking about a young adult book with some occasional foul language in it.

I don't know where you live, but if a teacher here tries to pray in class or even tell the class that he follows Jesus, he'll be out of there no time.

Only where that prayer is something the teacher is leading the class in, which is against the law. A simple statement of personal belief won't invite any punishment, or shouldn't, but the trouble is that christians in particular seem to have difficulty figuring out the difference between stating their own beliefs and proselytizing to others.

Come to think of it, why is this teacher praying in class anyway? He's there to do a job, not to fuck around and do whatever he wants. Just don't go unfairly privileging prayer over any other activity; if you'd punish him for stopping class to do something else, then the same rules apply to prayer. Do it on your own time.

This doesn't apply to the rights of the students to exercise their freedom of speech. If a kid wants to tell a classmate that he or she is a christian or an atheist or whatever, that's his or her right. Minimalist says he still has the bible they gave him in school. All I can say is if that was an American public school, it must be an awfully old bible.

First of all, that was me that told you that, and granted, it's an Australian public school, not an American one. But when I read about kids getting to get out of class for religious instruction for up to several hours, on school time and money, I have a hard time believing in all these heavy religious restrictions in your education system.

[Lek]

...following complaints from some parents concerned that the book contained sexually charged material...

But...

---

Judges 19:22-30
New International Version (NIV)
22 While they were enjoying themselves, some of the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they shouted to the old man who owned the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him.”

23 The owner of the house went outside and said to them, “No, my friends, don’t be so vile. Since this man is my guest, don’t do this outrageous thing. 24 Look, here is my virgin daughter, and his concubine. I will bring them out to you now, and you can use them and do to them whatever you wish. But as for this man, don’t do such an outrageous thing.”

25 But the men would not listen to him. So the man took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go. 26 At daybreak the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, fell down at the door and lay there until daylight.

27 When her master got up in the morning and opened the door of the house and stepped out to continue on his way, there lay his concubine, fallen in the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold. 28 He said to her, “Get up; let’s go.” But there was no answer. Then the man put her on his donkey and set out for home.

29 When he reached home, he took a knife and cut up his concubine, limb by limb, into twelve parts and sent them into all the areas of Israel. 30 Everyone who saw it was saying to one another, “Such a thing has never been seen or done, not since the day the Israelites came up out of Egypt. Just imagine! We must do something! So speak up!”

I would definitely be with my kids the first time they read that passage. You're not addressing the question at hand.

[Cyberman]

I don't know where you live, but if a teacher here tries to pray in class or even tell the class that he follows Jesus, he'll be out of there no time. This doesn't apply to the rights of the students to exercise their freedom of speech. If a kid wants to tell a classmate that he or she is a christian or an atheist or whatever, that's his or her right.

That's exactly what I said, only with more words.

Incidentally, I live in England.

[Cyberman]

I had to take a break since I was out of breath from dodging all those arrows coming at me at once.

What, all four of us?

[SteelCurtain]

Not to mention that these rules are there for a reason. Christians like to break the rules and then act persecuted or like religion is under attack when they get called to accountability.

But this book is largely harmless. There are no gratuitous sex scenes in it. If you think any 10th grader hasn't heard about masturbation or that learning about the harm of alcoholism or sexual abuse is too much for a 16 year old, something is wrong.

[The Valkyrie]

I had to take a break since I was out of breath from dodging all those arrows coming at me at once.

What, all four of us?

Depends how many personalities we each have.