The Hazards of Belief

robindch

Nodin wrote: »

Due to his charm and sophistication, he's risen in the world.

I wonder if it's because he appears to be one of the few priests willing to stick his head above the parapet these days - even if it does get shot off.

Hotblack Desiato

robindch wrote: »

I wonder if it's because he appears to be one of the few priests willing to stick his head above the parapet under 80 left these days

FYP

Hotblack Desiato

Brian Shanahan wrote: »

Server's based in the Netherlands. So they probably have some protection.

that's what Theo van Gogh thought :eek:

Brian Shanahan

ninja900 wrote: »

that's what Theo van Gogh thought :eek:

Protection in the legal sense. There's nowhere you can go that'll give you protection if enough nutters decide to come after you.

Nodin

"It sits atop the roof of an old palazzo in the centre of Rome, surrounded by a broad terrace that affords breathtaking views across the Eternal City to the mountains beyond.
The penthouse apartment at the centre of Paolo Sorrentino's Oscar-winning movie La Grande Bellezza? Or perhaps the chosen retreat of a Forbes-list billionaire?
No. The flat in question is being created in the Vatican for the man who until recently was its most senior official.
While Pope Francis has been exhorting his clergy almost weekly to live lives as simple and frugal as his own, work has been going ahead on a luxurious retirement home for Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone , who stepped down as the Vatican's secretary of state last October."

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/01/pope-furious-cardinal-luxury-flat-vatican

7,500 Square Foot of a flat.

"La Repubblica said the refurbishment involved merging two existing flats: one of between 300 and 400 sq metres previously assigned to the head of the Vatican gendarmerie, and another of around 200 sq metres belonging to a deceased prelate.
In addition, the cardinal would have the use of a terrace area covering a further 100 sq metres.
La Repubblica said that Bertone would share the apartment with three nuns who would take care of the domestic work."


Gas stuff.

Hotblack Desiato

One to cook, one to clean, and one to...

pauldla

Woman beaten to death in a McDonalds for refusing to give cult members her phone number (apparently).

McDonald’s Cult Leader Gets TV Interview, More Details of Deadly Attack Emerge

The sensational story of a Shandong woman who was beaten to death at a local Zhaoyuan McDonald’s continues to shock the country. People are still trying to come to grips with the horrific crime, which involved a religious group named Church of the Almighty God. The group has been universally described by Chinese media as an “evil cult”.

Nodin

Bit of a sad story this.

"An Indian man who made his name exposing the "miraculous" feats of holy men as tricks has fled the country after being accused of blasphemy. Now in self-imposed exile in Finland, he fears jail - or even assassination - if he returns.

When a Hindu fakir declared on live television that he could kill anybody with tantric chanting, Sanal Edamaruku simply had to take him up on the challenge.

As both were guests in the studio, the fakir was put to the test immediately.

The channel cancelled all subsequent programming and he began chanting on the spot. But as the hours passed a note of desperation crept into his raspy mantras. For his part, Edamaruku, president of the Indian Rationalist Association, showed no sign of discomfort, let alone death. He merely chortled his way through this unconventional (and unsuccessful) attempt on his life."

That though, isn't what led to his exile.....
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26815298

Cabaal

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/06/02/bride-wedding-baby-gown/9859839/?csp=fbfanpage

JACKSON, Tenn. (KSDK) – Meet one woman who really, really wanted to get baby involved in her wedding.

So much so, in fact, that she allegedly tied one-month-old Aubrey to her wedding train and dragged her as she walked down the aisle.

Here's the full Facebook post from Carter-Brooks defending her decision:

"People questioning what we do, commenting all negative, and just doing the most. We good though we covered by the Blood which never loose its power. So to the media, radio, news, and whomever else wanting to talk about what WE do here you go: Media Media I see how it works regardless the situation or purpose people gone have something negative to say! The answer is we do what we want when we want long as Jesus on our side everything worked out fine and gone continue to be fine. Our 1 month old was awake and well secured on my train. Most important while yall got ya feelings in us we had our hearts in Christ which covers all!! So keep ya mouths running for it was just that Exclusive and Epic enough we made top blog way from small town Ripley, TN and the social media doing what they do, TALK!!!!"

Go team jesus!
He's on her side......so thats alright then.

Wasn't god on the side of numerous suicide bombers over the years?

Brian Shanahan

Nodin wrote: »

Bit of a sad story this.

"An Indian man who made his name exposing the "miraculous" feats of holy men as tricks has fled the country after being accused of blasphemy. Now in self-imposed exile in Finland, he fears jail - or even assassination - if he returns.

When a Hindu fakir declared on live television that he could kill anybody with tantric chanting, Sanal Edamaruku simply had to take him up on the challenge.

As both were guests in the studio, the fakir was put to the test immediately.

The channel cancelled all subsequent programming and he began chanting on the spot. But as the hours passed a note of desperation crept into his raspy mantras. For his part, Edamaruku, president of the Indian Rationalist Association, showed no sign of discomfort, let alone death. He merely chortled his way through this unconventional (and unsuccessful) attempt on his life."

That though, isn't what led to his exile.....
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26815298

I love the way the BBC have become so lily-livered that they are reporting the real reason for the miracle as follows:

Moisture on the wall the statue was mounted on seemed to come from an overflowing drain, which was in turn fed by a pipe that issued from a nearby toilet.

Because if they had reported it properly they would have also disclosed that the water had the same impurities in it as would be expected of drainage water from a toilet, the exact same drain they say it "seems" to be coming from.

recedite

The guy was challenged to explain the miracle of the dripping statue.
He explained it, and now the Mumbai police are after him.
That is absolutely scandalous and ridiculous.

robindch

Should there be a "WTF?" thread? If so, that's where this article should go:

Large Genitals Get Underage Boy Put in Russian Prison for Theft

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/501455.html

Moscow Times wrote:

A 13-year-old boy detained on suspicion of theft has become the subject of a biological dispute after a Russian court judged him old enough to be held legally accountable for his actions on the basis of his teeth and large genitals, a newspaper report said. Tomas, a Hungarian national born in Ukraine, came to Moscow with his aunt in March and was arrested the same month after police accused him of stealing a mobile phone, a charge Tomas denies, newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets reported Tuesday.

Following a medical examination of his teeth and genitals, prison doctors concluded that the boy was between 16 to 17 years old, allowing the court to judge him as an adult and put him behind bars. However, Tomas' relatives say he was only 12 years old at the time of his arrest, a claim supported by his Ukrainian documentation, which was checked when he crossed the Russian border in March. The regional prison service has ordered a review of the boy's case, the report said.

According to Article 20 of the Criminal Code, the age of criminal responsibility in Russia is 16 — lowered to 14 years only for serious offenses such as murder or rape.

Hotblack Desiato

Better stay out of Russia so :cool:


Wasn't there a fake crying statue in an Only Fools and Horses?

Bellatori

ninja900 wrote: »

Better stay out of Russia so :cool:


Wasn't there a fake crying statue in an Only Fools and Horses?

Milk crying Ganesh elephants were all the rage at one time...

norrie rugger

robindch wrote: »

Should there be a "WTF?" thread? If so, that's where this article should go:

Large Genitals Get Underage Boy Put in Russian Prison for Theft

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/501455.html

He will be a hit with the ladies back home, if this case is thrown out

norrie rugger

ninja900 wrote: »

Better stay out of Russia so :cool:

Why? Are you afraid of being tried as a juvenile?
:pac::pac::pac:

AstraMonti

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55BFSUxiuxA

Argh... just arghhh!

Turtwig

Yeah those gay people how dare they kiss while I'm trying to eat my food!:mad:

Bannasidhe

Turtwig wrote: »

Yeah those gay people how dare they kiss while I'm trying to eat my food!:mad:

At least they weren't [snip] feeding.

Turtwig

Bannasidhe wrote: »

At least they weren't [snip] feeding.

Bannaside banned for mentioning the 'b' word.

Bannasidhe

Turtwig wrote: »

Bannaside banned for mentioning the 'b' word.

Poor Bannaside.

endacl

Turtwig wrote: »

Bannaside banned for mentioning the 'b' word.

Booblie ooblie?

Oh knickers. There's me banned too....

:mad:

endacl

Bannasidhe wrote: »

Poor Bannaside.

Chin up!

Illegitimi non carborundum!

Bannasidhe

endacl wrote: »

Chin up!

Illegitimi non carborundum!

Oh I'm fine. It's poor Bannaside who got bannabanned for saying bannaboob.

Hotblack Desiato

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/crucifix-erected-in-kerry-county-council-meeting-chamber-1.1822912

F*ck's sake :rolleyes:

A crucifix has been erected in Kerry County Council meeting chambers in Tralee after council authorities acted on a controversial resolution passed by the outgoing council at its last meeting.

Mr Culloty said he wanted to ensure the greatest symbol of Christianity was erected in the new chamber in case he should not be re-elected.

Democracy in action... there were only nine councillors present and six voted in favour.

However, Mr Culloty and his supporters said they were tired of apologising for their religion; local Muslims had no objection and one councillor suggested the erection of the cross might even encourage more “truth-telling” in the Kerry chamber.

However, yesterday a spokesman for the council said it had been decided to follow the wishes of members and a standard-size crucifix had been erected.

Standard size....??

SebBerkovich

ninja900 wrote: »

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/crucifix-erected-in-kerry-county-council-meeting-chamber-1.1822912


Standard size....??

I absolutely love the term "Standard size crucifix" - i'm gonna try and use it in a sentence today.

Bannasidhe

SebBerkovich wrote: »

I absolutely love the term "Standard size crucifix" - i'm gonna try and use it in a sentence today.

I am betting some insane mediaeval pillar of the church actually worked that out by searching scripture for references to Jesus' height and then used that to calculate the size of his cross - because of course it was bespoke.

'And lo the Lord our God did stand close to the Pillar of Astropod and he did rest his flagon upon it'
'Jesus did say onto Zebedee, thou art blocking my view'.
'The wailing of the children was woeful to the Lord and so he did comfort them and retrieved their inflated goat's bladder from the olive tree.'
'and the Magdalene did bring a dish of water to wash the Lords feet and was shamed for his feet were too big to fit so she asked the Lord if he threwth away the sandals and kept the box and did then crack upith with mirth.'
'Jesus approached the home of Nechzekial and did say 'Ow! Feck!' for the Lord was higher than the entrance.'

Hotblack Desiato

From a 20th century Irish schoolbook

endacl

ninja900 wrote: »

From a 20th century Irish schoolbook

I know we like to take the piss sometimes here. Is that serious?

robindch

^^^ I've seen 'shopped versions of that. Not sure which one was the original, but it wouldn't surprise me to learn that this was it.

anothernight

robindch wrote: »

^^^ I've seen 'shopped versions of that. Not sure which one was the original, but it wouldn't surprise me to learn that this was it.

There was an article in the Irish Times where the journalist talked about her old religion books, and included pictures. Iirc, she took a picture/scan from her book that was identical to that one.

Hotblack Desiato

It's from twitter. I've no reason to doubt it's real. I got the 'hippy dippy post vatican 2 god is love' religion books in school in the 70s, but I have no reason to doubt the veracity of that scan.

Ironically the 'post vatican 2 hippy dippy peace and love man' religion books just created a huge cognitive dissonance between what the books preached and what we observed every day in the activities of the 'religious' arseholes who beat and belittled us.

Bellatori

My wife comes from an RCC family. Her grandmother was a convert, her grandfather was Irish and her mother was pretty religious and a regular Sunday mass person. She was brought up a catholic and went to Virgo Fidelis Convent School. She was married in the church attached to the convent. (I have just suddenly realised that both she and her mother with RCC upbringings BOTH married atheists!). As she has got older her attachment to catholicism dwindled though she used to go to church to keep her mother company when we visited her or she visited us.

We don't discuss religion much because it does annoy her if I pull overplay the atheism. She believes in some sort of God if no longer the RCC one. We have discussed Tuam and also the child abuse scandal and she expressed neither surprise nor disbelief. On the contrary she I got a somewhat surprising 'What did I expect' response. Yesterday I made an astonishing discovery which somewhat illuminated the answer she had given. I showed her the picture above thinking she might find it amusing in an ironic sort of way. The response was, to say the least, astonishing.

She burst into tears of anger and rage. The things that she said about Nuns (RCC... convent school... hence Nuns of course... I'm an idiot to miss that) beggared belief. I have never heard my wife swear but now I know she has a pretty complete command of anglo saxon language... I also understand what the expression 'incoherent with rage' means.

Anyway, she did calm down after a few minutes and told me that she remembered something similar in the 50s in a colouring book at her primary school but by the time she started teaching at a catholic school in the 70s these had disappeared. Some of the pictures were quite racist as well she recalls.

My wife HATES Nuns. She thinks they are totally evil. Her experience of them at primary and secondary school was that they were deliberately spiteful and sadistic. They would determinedly provoke girls until they answered back and then punish them with beatings. Day girls would take pack lunches but boarders had to eat food that was totally unfit for human consumption. The Nuns had a completely different kitchen and would force girls to eat the food and regularly they would be sick and have to scrub the floor on their hands and knees.

I shall be a little more circumspect in future.

Bannasidhe

Bellatori wrote: »

My wife comes from an RCC family. Her grandmother was a convert, her grandfather was Irish and her mother was pretty religious and a regular Sunday mass person. She was brought up a catholic and went to Virgo Fidelis Convent School. She was married in the church attached to the convent. (I have just suddenly realised that both she and her mother with RCC upbringings BOTH married atheists!). As she has got older her attachment to catholicism dwindled though she used to go to church to keep her mother company when we visited her or she visited us.

We don't discuss religion much because it does annoy her if I pull overplay the atheism. She believes in some sort of God if no longer the RCC one. We have discussed Tuam and also the child abuse scandal and she expressed neither surprise nor disbelief. On the contrary she I got a somewhat surprising 'What did I expect' response. Yesterday I made an astonishing discovery which somewhat illuminated the answer she had given. I showed her the picture above thinking she might find it amusing in an ironic sort of way. The response was, to say the least, astonishing.

She burst into tears of anger and rage. The things that she said about Nuns (RCC... convent school... hence Nuns of course... I'm an idiot to miss that) beggared belief. I have never heard my wife swear but now I know she has a pretty complete command of anglo saxon language... I also understand what the expression 'incoherent with rage' means.

Anyway, she did calm down after a few minutes and told me that she remembered something similar in the 50s in a colouring book at her primary school but by the time she started teaching at a catholic school in the 70s these had disappeared. Some of the pictures were quite racist as well she recalls.

My wife HATES Nuns. She thinks they are totally evil. Her experience of them at primary and secondary school was that they were deliberately spiteful and sadistic. They would determinedly provoke girls until they answered back and then punish them with beatings. Day girls would take pack lunches but boarders had to eat food that was totally unfit for human consumption. The Nuns had a completely different kitchen and would force girls to eat the food and regularly they would be sick and have to scrub the floor on their hands and knees.

I shall be a little more circumspect in future.

Thankfully my mother saw the graffitti on the wall and removed me from a large convent school aged 7 and sent me to a gloriously secular private school.

But one of my abiding memories is of how the nuns treated one particular family when I was in 'Babies' -aka Junior Infants.

Up until 1st class the school was mixed and as I was only 4 everybody in the class was 'older' from my perspective but there was a group of siblings/cousins whose ages ranged up to 7, but hey - first day at school, what did I know - this could have been perfectly normal like.

The oldest being a boy with the reddest hair I had ever seen and on our first day the nun asked him a question and he looked at her in confusion. She repeated the question - getting louder and louder and more verbally abusive until she was spitting insults into his face. Finally he stuttered out 'Ní thuigim' through the snot and tears. Which stopped her in her tracks for a second. Then a rapid conversation took place in Irish.

Turns out, although he could speak English, it was very much their second language and they rarely used it so when she spoke to him - in an aggressive manner from the get-go- he was so taken aback he wasn't able to 'translate' in his head. The more she roared- the more puggleised he became. He was so terrified he wet himself. The nun made sure we all knew about that.

I just couldn't understand the naked hatred she was displaying towards those children while (relatively) being sweetness and light to the rest of us. I thought once she realised his first language was Irish - mad for the ol Gaelige the nuns as I had already discovered when I needed a wee and wasn't allowed to go to the loo I didn't say, 'will cad agum amock maw shea duh hull ay?' (that's what it sounded like to me anyway and I had never heard it before in my life). In the end I said 'sister, I am going to wet myself' and just left. When I got back she asked who 'my people' were - so I told her. It just so happened my paternal grandfather and his brothers had founded the local GAA club...The target was removed from my back.

Now, we lived with my maternal grandmother who was very socially liberal and from a wealthy background with solid republican credentials in a nice middle class respectable area of Cork so we were fairly protected from the nasty aspects of the world.

After school I related what happened to Me Nan. She said that family are 'itinerants' and explained that they moved around and lived in caravans and often didn't get to school until they 'settled' in a house or a halting site so they tended to all start school together. That's fine I thought but it doesn't explain what I saw...

This was 1968. In our house Dr Martin Luther King was a hero so I was aware of 'racism' - but I thought that was all stupid people who hated other people because of their skin colour... these kids were Irish and white and spoke Irish fluently so surely the nuns would love them???

My very first day in school I saw the naked face of bigotry.

I asked Me Nan what I should do. She said I could join in/say nothing/object - the choice was mine...

Paudie with the red hair was my best friend in Babies, he taught me Irish, I helped him with English and he used to come for tea in our house. He didn't come back to school the next year...:(

Edit to add : About two weeks after this incident my cousin asked me if I knew why 'Me Nan' (that was her official title) was at the school - she saw her in the corridor. First I heard of it. By coincidence we got a new nun teaching us the next week. A dotey pet named Sr Carmel who was about 700 years old....

robindch

Bannasidhe wrote: »

I just couldn't understand the naked hatred she was displaying towards those children while (relatively) being sweetness and light to the rest of us.

One of my two sisters was in a Mercy Convent-controlled school down the country in the mid-seventies. She was being bullied by a couple of louts in the class and the nuns did little or nothing to resolve the situation, either because they couldn't, or they didn't want to.

After my parents had met the Mother Superior several times to discuss what was happening, and seeing nothing changing, they decided to move my sister to another school. As soon as she heard this, the Mother Superior went ballistic as my family's name is well-known in the town and news would get around about why she'd moved.

So, the Mother Superior, being a typical nun of the time, instead of doubling down and trying to fix the problem, immediately threatened to cancel the convent's contracts with my dad's large shop, so he told her "no need to be nasty about it but if that's what you want to do, then go right ahead".

This being towards the end of the school year, my parents decided to leave my sister work out hew few remaining weeks in the old place, but immediately booked her into another school starting the following September. In late August -- not having heard anything from the new school in months -- phoned the new school to find out that the Mother Superior from the old had rung up during the summer to tell them to revoke my sister's place, which they had done. The new school immediately reversed the decision and she started there and enjoyed it.

Memorable people they were. Those "mercy" nuns.

Bannasidhe

robindch wrote: »

One of my two sisters was in a Mercy Convent-controlled school down the country in the mid-seventies. She was being bullied by a couple of louts in the class and the nuns did little or nothing to resolve the situation, either because they couldn't, or they didn't want to.

After my parents had met the Mother Superior several times to discuss what was happening, and seeing nothing changing, they decided to move my sister to another school. As soon as she heard this, the Mother Superior went ballistic as my family's name is well-known in the town and news would get around about why she'd moved.

So, the Mother Superior, being a typical nun of the time, instead of doubling down and trying to fix the problem, immediately threatened to cancel the convent's contracts with my dad's large shop, so he told her "no need to be nasty about it but if that's what you want to do, then go right ahead".

This being towards the end of the school year, my parents decided to leave my sister work out hew few remaining weeks in the old place, but immediately booked her into another school starting the following September. In late August -- not having heard anything from the new school in months -- phoned the new school to find out that the Mother Superior from the old had rung up during the summer to tell them to my sister's place, which they had done. The new school immediately reversed the decision and she started there and enjoyed it.

Memorable people they were. Those "mercy" nuns.

My lot were the Presentation Sisters.

Eventually all of girls in the extended family were moved out of their clutches to the same secular school.

MrPudding

Bellatori wrote: »

She thinks they are totally evil. Her experience of them at primary and secondary school was that they were deliberately spiteful and sadistic. They would determinedly provoke girls until they answered back and then punish them with beatings. Day girls would take pack lunches but boarders had to eat food that was totally unfit for human consumption. The Nuns had a completely different kitchen and would force girls to eat the food and regularly they would be sick and have to scrub the floor on their hands and knees.

I shall be a little more circumspect in future.

I experienced nuns in my primary school and would agree with your wife. Evil, evil people.

One of the things in life that makes me really sad is that, because there is no god, there is by extension no hell, so those evil creatures aren't being tortured for eternity.

MrP

Bellatori

MrPudding wrote: »

I experienced nuns in my primary school and would agree with your wife. Evil, evil people.

One of the things in life that makes me really sad is that, because there is no god, there is by extension no hell, so those evil creatures aren't being tortured for eternity.

MrP

that is certainly a bit of irony embedded in atheism... ah well.

Hotblack Desiato

One of my earliest memories of school (late 70s) is being leathered by a big scary nun for no reason at all. Now that I'm a parent it's quite amazing to think that relatively recently people just accepted it was OK for teachers and 'religious' to belt 4 year old kids for the most minor or imagined infringements.


......

Meanwhile...

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/religion-and-beliefs/ireland-the-most-truly-muslim-country-in-the-world-1.1826354

The country in the world most faithful to the values of the Koran is Ireland according to an Iranian-born academic at George Washingon University in the US. Next are Denmark, Sweden and the UK.

Blasphemy law helps a lot, no doubt :mad:

SebBerkovich

ninja900 wrote: »

......

Meanwhile...

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/religion-and-beliefs/ireland-the-most-truly-muslim-country-in-the-world-1.1826354

Blasphemy law helps a lot, no doubt :mad:

Thier "Islamicity index" seems a little vague.
It's described as "countries in the world most faithful to the values of the Koran" judging by the way interpretation of scripture generally goes, i'd say "values of the Koran" is fairly subjective.

Nodin

Turtwig wrote: »

Bannaside banned for mentioning the 'b' word.

https://www.facebook.com/1483854478512179/photos/a.1493363927561234.1073741828.1483854478512179/1499152046982422/?type=1&theater

Wereghost

ninja900 wrote: »

Meanwhile...

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/religion-and-beliefs/ireland-the-most-truly-muslim-country-in-the-world-1.1826354



Blasphemy law helps a lot, no doubt :mad:

The push to abolish the senate probably didn't hurt either.

Bannasidhe

Nodin wrote: »

https://www.facebook.com/1483854478512179/photos/a.1493363927561234.1073741828.1483854478512179/1499152046982422/?type=1&theater

Nipples crack.

Think about that.

Sexy my arse.

endacl

Bannasidhe wrote: »

Nipples crack.

Think about that.

Sexy my arse.

I read 'nipples crack' as 'knuckles crack'...

pauldla

More on the Church of the Almighty God; six members on trial in Guangdong.

Church of the Almighty God Members on Trial in Guangzhou

PRD residents shocked at the beating death of a Shandong woman by a religious group named the Church of the Almighty God may be surprised to hear they are well-entrenched in Guangzhou.


Seven people belonging to the cult were prosecuted at the Haizhu District Procuratorate on June 6, reports the Procuratorate Daily. Arrested in January of this year, alleged leader Bai Xiujie and six group members were charged with “undermining law implementation through a cult organization”.


...


As China Topix reports, Church of the Almighty God was first established in the 90s in Henan by Zhao Weishan. The cult claims Jesus Christ has been resurrected through Yang Xiangbin, the wife of the cult’s founder, who fled to the US in 2000.

recedite

SebBerkovich wrote: »

"Islamicity index" seems a little vague.

"Islamic" values seem to be all the "good" values according to him. In much the same way, they are more often referred to as "Christian" values in this part of the world.
Also the blasphemy laws have probably given us an extra boost compared to otherwise similar western countries.
We should take it as a compliment though, and just ignore the dodgy use of language

robindch

Life in a Christian 'fundamentalist' school in the UK

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-27681560

anothernight

robindch wrote: »

Life in a Christian 'fundamentalist' school in the UK

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-27681560

There is (or was, idk) one school in Tallaght that uses PACEs. I visited it years ago, after I completed my Junior Cert, at the request of a family friend who is a Baptist pastor.

The classroom was a small, long room with desks lining the sides, and puritan-like children of different ages reading those PACEs. I talked to a few of them, and they seemed a little too brainwashed for my taste. I was asked by the pastor's wife to wear my school uniform for the visit, because that was the only ankle-length skirt I owned.

They offered no language education, and when I asked what happens if one of the children decides to go to university (since their curriculum isn't exactly recognised anywhere), I was told that their usual career of choice after school was becoming a pastor or the wife of a pastor.

The prospect of having to go to such as school was scary. I'm very glad I have reasonable parents.


EDIT: Ohh!!!! I remembered something else! Their list of banned books!!! I was actually handed a little leaflet explaining their values, what to expect from the school, the fees (these were not cheap...) and then at the back there was an actual list of books that are banned for being immoral. Romeo and Juliet is the only one I remember, but it the whole list was just nuts! I'd already read some of them in my childhood too.

Hotblack Desiato

robindch wrote: »

Life in a Christian 'fundamentalist' school in the UK

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-27681560

Ridiculous that schools are allowed teach that instead of a proper curriculum. It's tantamount to child abuse and denying them a real education.

bigmo2310

robindch wrote: »

Life in a Christian 'fundamentalist' school in the UK



This thing that I dont get about this is how is there not more fuss over what these schools teach. What do OFSTED do all day? This school teaches that evolution doesnt exist or that homosexuality is wrong! Can you imagine if someone opened an independant school teaching that Hitler was right, or that the second world war never happened, or worse still if this was an islamic school? The Daily mail would jizz in their pants over the amount of leverage they could give that. Its an absolute joke.