tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15868947.post5890121201539889039..comments2023-10-29T06:41:23.910-07:00Comments on Halfway There: Believing impossible thingsZenohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09058127284297728552noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15868947.post-24595272449254142292008-02-05T12:16:00.000-08:002008-02-05T12:16:00.000-08:00Ridger, I had to take religion classes when I went...Ridger, I had to take religion classes when I went to a catholic highschool. I didn't <A HREF="http://inthenuts.blogspot.com/2006/07/memories-of-my-high-school-religion.html" REL="nofollow">resist the temptation</A> ;-)<BR/><BR/>(you don't need to follow the link, ridger; it appears you were the first one to comment on it back when it was posted.)<BR/><BR/>Anyway, this is a very interesting post about the religious mindset in the face of conflicted evidence. I wonder what their thoughts about it really are? Is it all about avoiding cognitive dissonance, or could there be some who feel that evolution is false, therefore they don't need to bother with it? <BR/><BR/>There is a solution that will force them to go to these classes and do well in them. In engineering in Ontario universities, there is talk about introducing "core concepts" - ie. fundamental stuff from each course that you have to know and do well in to pass, regardless of your marks in the other units. I'd imagine a few core evolutionary concepts would be required to pass an intro to biology class.King Aardvarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02785457928646226831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15868947.post-38879707194349708632008-01-19T15:20:00.000-08:002008-01-19T15:20:00.000-08:00I have to assume that unit isn't worth a big chunk...I have to assume that unit isn't worth a big chunk of the course grade? You're right, of course; they are indeed avoiding the danger of having their faith shaken. They can't risk learning anything they don't believe in. Their religion is so important to them that they cannot tolerate a challenge to it; they might fall apart if they had to think.<BR/><BR/>My niece had the opposite problem (if you can call it that). Due to a convoluted set of circumstances, she found her constrained to attend a fairly fundamentalist Christian school for a year. She managed to pass all the classes, but complained constantly at home that she was having to write nonsense and lies on her papers to do it... But she never bought into it, she just wrote the papers and resisted the temptation to write what she really thought. And left the school as soon as her circumstances permitted.The Ridger, FCDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01538111197270563075noreply@blogger.com