Being A Jehovah's Witness In The Public School System
Added 2019-10-21 18:27:01 +0000 UTC
Comments
I definitely agree there. I think part of my position comes from working for a public school district. It seems like all I see are new ways to take fun away from kids. I might be a little over-sensitive about it. Btw, thanks for the response! You were one of the first Youtubers I found when I started looking for atheist/anti-cult content. You are still my first choice when new videos come out.
Jesse Cole
2019-10-21 21:08:02 +0000 UTCdisagreements are fine. maybe i feel the way i do because i grew up being excluded from things for religious reasons. either way there are some problems we should be addressing with religion and schools
Telltale Atheist
2019-10-21 20:53:21 +0000 UTCMy other comment aside, I completely agree on the tax exempt thing. If churches want tax exempt status, fine. Let them earn it by actually benefiting the community. Individually too. I don't want the LDS headquarters to get tax exempt and have every church in every town inherit it.
Jesse Cole
2019-10-21 20:48:37 +0000 UTCI'm sorry Telltale, I can't agree with your view on celebrating holidays in schools. If it was something like a giant crucifix it would be different. But elf-on-a-shelf, unless i'm missing something, is specifically about Santa Claus. This is not a religious practice. I would argue that it is not even a religious holiday anymore. Christmas is, in fact, a federal holiday. In this country, it is very common for Muslims and Jews and Atheists to celebrate. Jehovah's Witnesses are pretty unique in that respect. And, while you might have a point about some kids feeling left out of the celebration, I want to point out that denying the other students the festivities of the holiday is kinda another way of catering to some kids religious beliefs. And what about New Year's? I understand the JWs don't celebrate that either. Should any acknowledgment of New Years be banned to avoid offending them? I'm not saying you don't have a point. You do, and its a good one. But there's a place to draw the line that is reasonable. Banning inherent festivities around a federal holiday is not the place to do it. You want to ban crucifixes? Fine. You want to ban other overt religious symbols (i'm blanking right now for some reason), fine. But I don't think this is a fight that's worth fighting and I don't think you have the moral high ground here. The problem isn't the elf on a shelf in the classroom offending Muslims (for instance). The problem is the existence of Islam and Christianity and Judaism, etc.
Jesse Cole
2019-10-21 20:46:36 +0000 UTC
