School Task - Conversion To Islam

[agchristie]

Is this wise?

http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/02/20/school-sets-children-task-of-writing-letter-explaining-their-conversion-to-islam/

[Hypognosis]

My school's r/e classes went through the entire smorgasbord so fast that no idea had time to settle or be cogitated over. Of course, by the end of it I had concluded "they can't all be right". I also like to think that if two or more sides cannot agree about a fact (in the realm of the unproveable), they are probably both wrong. Hence I ended up atheist. Oh, the irony.

Thinking back, the presentation of other faiths of the world was quite anodyne. I don't think my early-teens self could have processed stuff like misogyny properly. Worst case scenario is that cocky young males think "hey, I hadn't thought of that" and set about thinking themselves superior to girls. Could lead to a difficult marital life, if they even get that far.

What baffles me most is how muslim women just accept it (take it laying down if you'll pardon the expression). Other than fulfilling the function their DNA programs them to do, I don't see what they get out of it.

@naomi

I think the "teaching the controversy" approach (I'm inverting a maxim of creationists, as you'll have noticed) risks a hate-speech lawsuit. It would be great to see one played out and lose but, number one, no organisation wants to take an avoidable risk and, number two, if Arabic words have multiple meanings* so diverse as to make every single sub-clause of Koranic verse into a twisty, turny thing which can switch from stern punishment and beating in one translation to "a light tap" in another. It can lawyer itself out of any close inspection by non-experts and a court would rule against the defendant.

* I didn't read the link I'd posted in full until yesterday. In the depths of the article it gives examples where, of four meanings of a word, two are almost diametric opposites. English is bad for multiple meanings but this is in another league.

[naomi24]

Hypognosis, // I think the "teaching the controversy" approach (I'm inverting a maxim of creationists, as you'll have noticed) risks a hate-speech lawsuit. //

Or a racist lawsuit, or an equality lawsuit ... which is precisely why schools are compelled to teach a sanitised version of Islam. They couldn't possibly teach anything other than that.

[Hypognosis]

@naomi24

To my mind, that is precisely why I think this exercise was a dangerous idea. If it was a banking product with all the icky bits not disclosed, we'd call is mis-selling.

Not to the whole concept of religious conversion is flawed. It is not a choice to be made on a whim, like it's some kind of fashion statement. Perhaps they should be presented with the idea that, if they are not faithful to the religion they've been brought up with, how sincere could they possibly be about the new one?

Also, as it is structured as a two-fingers up to the parents letter "S***w you and your religion, I'm going my own way", what school has the right to encourage that sort of behaviour? What if a pupil was inspired (by their research) - or just plain rebellious - to actually go ahead and do something like this?

Thoughtless. And experimenting on children… again.

[naomi24]

Hypognosis, //Thoughtless//

I couldn't agree more. Utterly thoughtless. In fact just plain stupid.