Seems like a red herring.
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I watched the video, and apart from being tortuously slow in getting to any point beyond what is trivially true, it seemed they were using whataboutism. Stop going on about slavery in America, and mentioning racism, “whatabout” all the other places and times where it’s much worse.
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The clip was the only thing I saw. I went and did my own research. Found the same thing Sheldon found. Does not seem educationally appropriate.
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My thoughts, overly juvenile and simplistic… I assume it was elementary schools. I didn’t think much of the short clip I saw. When has education been a priority in America. I was taught George Washington chopped down a cherry tree, Christopher Columbus discovered America, Edison invented the lightbulb, George Washingron was the first president and more. Oh, hey! I remember being taught how horrible Russian people were because they drank sour milk. 20 years later, it was a health food craze in California. “Yogurt.” I just learned, "Your can’t trust anything you learned in elementary school. You know, those institutions that have those big “In God We Trust” posters on the walls.
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I found another one called fireside chat, where some guy explains about god and suffering, allegedly anyway, I couldn’t finish watching as he kept repeating how his beliefs were based on reason and were rational, without saying why, and my teeth started to itch.
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Ok So I watched that painful nonsense pretty much all the way through, and though he annoyingly kept making the claim his beliefs were achieved through reason, and kept using the words logic and rational, he clearly was using them as rhetoric, and didn’t offer any rational argument for the existent of any deity. Quelle surprise right…
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@Rohan:
Now are you watching? This is the way ‘Adults’ have conversations. I went out, did some explorying, found out about Prager U, did a little reading, watched some other video stuff. Sheldon did something similar, and we have now formed opinions, based on the information we have gathered. In both cases it was a lot more than what you provided us with. Now we have quite a bit to base some sort of opinion on.
I have to go watch “There is no God, Murder isn’t Wrong.” LOL
LOLO… I just went there… ROFLMAO Belief in God is Objective morality?
But wait? Isn’t it my choice to believe in God? Isn’t that a subjective choice? There are after all lots of Gods and even no god. Pascal says I should choose to believe in a god? Subjective morality says morals are human-made and can vary from person to person .But what of morality that is God made and can vary from God to God? How is that not equally subjective? Well, as I don’t believe in God or gods, I imagine all those moral dictates from magical flying sky daddies are just man made as well. I’ve always wondered if there is one moral dictate that is not violated by the bible. We know the bible supports rape, murder, incest, the killing of babies, and much more. Where is this objective morality the Christians speak of. It certainly is not between the pages of their holy book.
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In in Massachusetts. So you’re 13 hrs ahead of me, and our time is EST
Sounds like hoot alright, enjoy. 
Damn it, I must be wrong again… 
Brilliant Mathematician mind, but I have to hope he realised the “wager” he’s famous for was meant as levity.
It’s as if they haven’t noticed this to be the case. One wonders why they bother with laws and jails?
Even were there only one deity, how is it not subjective morality? Are they claiming that morality exists independently of that deity, if not and it’s that deity’s choices then it is by definition subjective, if they’re claiming the morality are absolutes that exist independently of a deity, then you can still be an atheist and have objective morality. The problem then of course is who decides these absolutes are objectively moral? Did they always exist then, just waiting for humans to evolve?
Well for the sake of argument lets say they could demonstrate sufficient objective evidence that:
a) A deity exists
b) That this deity has proclaimed moral absolutes.
Now how do they know that the subjective moral diktat of this deity are in fact moral, what the hell are they measuring it against if not their own subjective morality? If they know what is objectively moral then they don’t need divine diktat, if they don’t then divine diktat is just a set of arbitrary rules, such a deity could decide that people are an abomination and should be persecuted just because they happen to have been born gay, that men should be in charge and women should just suck it up, that children can become the sex toys of powerful old men as long as they marry them, so they can keep procreating into old age.
You know what I am going to subjectively base my morals on avoiding and where possible preventing unnecessary suffering in other human beings, and if a deity exists it can torture me later, that’ll teach me.
Ah I know where you’re going wrong, you’re not interpreting it correctly see the objective morals will appear if you subjectively interpret the ramblings from bronze age patriarchal Bedouins. Focus on the good stuff mun, I mean the stuff you find subjectively good of course, then voila, it becomes objective see, simples…
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I would find it funny, except this is the actual Mr. Pager, the founder of an avalanche of drivel that has now been approved for Florida’s public schools and is being considered for others. I don’t know by what convoluted reasoning PragerU is considered a University. It’s also a nonprofit and pays no income taxes. My funny bone is numb.
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Prager U is not considered a university.
“The state of Florida just announced that we are becoming an official vendor,” CEO Marissa Streit said. “This means if you are a teacher in Florida you can not be fired for using PragerU content.”
PragerU is a conservative platform that was founded by conservative talk show host Dennis Prager and Allen Estrin in 2009.
On its site, it touts itself as a nonprofit focused on “a free alternative to the dominant left-wing ideology in culture, media, and education.”
PragerU is an online resource, so we’re basically everywhere! We are free and available to anyone with an open mind and online access. PragerU headquarters are located in Los Angeles, CA. Our mailing address is 15021 Ventura Blvd. #552, Sherman Oaks, CA 91403.
As a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit, we rely on the generosity of good-hearted Americans just like you to support our work. You can help us spread the ideas of PragerU to the next generation by making a 100% tax-deductible donation.
It’s not, look at the link above to Wikipedia, and it states clearly it is not.
I was also being ironic about it sounding like a hoot.
I guess what I need is a lawyer to explain to me why they’re allowed to call themselves a University when they’re not one. That was one of the reasons Trump University was sued if I remember right. Maybe no one has gotten around to it yet. Hopefully they’ve finally gotten some of the kind of attention they don’t want.
(just guessing) Because they put *university" in the name of the 501c3? Just like I could change my last name to Doctor; then maybe I could get fools to believe I’m a doctor.
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Don’t you just love how he draws the conclusion, and still does not ask the question? And walks away knowing nothing more than when he started. And, he does it even though he has been shown a better way to go about doing things. So Typical of this thread.
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I watched the video about how Atheist children should still be taught religion.
If the video was truly unbiased, then it should have given Buddhism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, etc. equal time.
And I don’t buy that Christianity is a specific tool that can be used to combat depression, anxiety, etc. by providing God as a “friend” to lean on during hard times.
I may–however–have a negative bias, as I’ve seen how religion fucks things up in healthcare. Ironically, I might even be religious now if I hadn’t worked as a paramedic.
Christianity seems to be implicated in keeping people from seeking medical (and psychiatric) care for depression, anxiety, PTSD, psychosis, and other mental health issues, as the sufferer isn’t “praying hard enough,” or “It’s God’s way of challenging you to deepen your faith,” or “We all have our crosses to carry,” or–one of my favorites–“God must be punishing you for something. Have you been indulging in porn, or maybe you’ve had bad thoughts?”
It seems–at least to me–that toxic masculinity has a relationship with Christianity, and that an extreme expression of this toxic masculinity is a part of the dynamics behind the tragic mass shootings that we see in my country.
As evidence of this claim, consider the growing number of churches that treat the AR-15 assault rifle as a religious item.
Please see below:
I sometimes do a moderate amount of yoga because I have back and joint pain from my years of working as a paramedic, and the same people who venerate the AR-15 assault rifle as a religious icon tell me that my yoga is Satanic and offensive. I worked in a local religious hospital as an EKG technician during the COVID epidemic, and sitting for 12 hours at a time can be painful and lead to a lot of stiffness, so I occasionally did yoga at my desk.
This led to several problems, as a few of my religious coworkers–who venerate guns as a symbol of Christian nationalism–complained about my expressions of Satanism. My yoga was interpreted as being similar to a Nazi salute or making a gang sign.
In fairness to the facility, they tried to treat me fairly, and they provided a safe space and some time away from desk where I could stretch and do yoga postures without offending anyone.
Also, I don’t mean to imply that all of my coworkers were like this.
Still . . . what is more Satanic? An AR-15 or yoga postures to treat back pain?
I know that my claims may seem hard to accept. I’m originally from New York, and the claim that yoga is Satanic would be laughed at and ridiculed in New York City, as yoga is sometimes taught in elementary school gym class.
So, please see below:
There is real momentum here in Florida to “protect children” from yoga . . . but the AR-15 is a religious icon.
I really hate being autistic, because my social incompetence keeps me from understanding why everyone doesn’t see how Christianity can bring one down some strange, violent rabbit holes.
So, I sometimes wonder if I’m the one with the problem, as people often think I’m being oppositional just to offend and/or piss people off.
In my case, yoga seems to help with chronic pain, it also provided some benefit when I was recovering from alcoholism, and it helped me provide better patient care at work. For me, yoga seems to improve my co-ordination and balance, which are very important when I help transfer and move patients . . . especially for those patients whom are obese, pregnant, have amputations, and/or if they are attached to complicated medical equipment.
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I have no children, but if they’re serious then they must teach their children about rational objections to their beliefs, including some basics about logic, and epistemology, and all scientific facts, even the ones that contradict their subjective religious beliefs, fair is fair…
I got 14 seconds in before the woman presenting the second video made a very dubious and sweeping set of claims, she mentions a Harvard study but as yet I see no citation?
She also failed to mention that anxiety or depression among atheists, might have multiple explanations, for example if they were from a very religious family that then ostracised them for their atheism, and lived in one of the most religious countries on earth, where atheists and atheism were very negatively viewed, as they are in the US
To measure this data objectively they should compare stats with other countries that are almost entirely secular.
FYI even were her claim true it would not evidence a deity at all. Kids get upset when they find out Santa Claus isn’t real, this doesn’t make him real, or suggest we should teach them he is into adulthood to lesson any angst.
1:28 and she’s using a false dichotomy fallacy, equating atheism with Nihilism. Then goes on to claim belief in a deity is a “valuable source of support and comfort” so an emotional crutch then, no argument from me, and again this doesn’t remotely evidence a deity, though it does suggest emotional investment in and therefor bias in favour of theistic beliefs.
Wow, 1:47 she suggests parents lie to their children when they ask about death, and pretend a deity exists, this is going from risible quackery to dangerous nonsense now. If she was practicing in the UK I’d be inclined to find out what regulatory bodies oversee psychologists or psychiatrists and report her.
2:10 she uses a false equivalence fallacy, equating not scaring children with harrowing details about tragedies when they ask, and lying to them that a deity has taken the victims to “Sugarcandy Mountain” (Orwellian reference is mine). It’s hard to believe a qualified psychiatrist or psychologist can’t find a third option from terrifying children with harrowing details about life, or lying to them about imaginary deities, as I said this is now starting to sound pernicious.
I’m struggling to watch the rest of her BS, and I am dubious she’s ever counselled any children, as children are often far more resilient than adults in dealing with tragic events. IN fact fuck it, I’m going to spare myself the trauma of listening to anymore of her mendacious quackery.
My youngest grandson has some food allergies, and in particular a nut allergy, when diagnosed he just 6 years old and prayed to god to cure him, I shall leave it to you to imagine how he felt when his brother, friends and cousins tucked into treats that his parents could not risk him having. He never told anyone about the prayers, but one day announced he no longer believed god was real, as he hadn’t answered his prayers at all, and even he was real, he didn’t like a god that would act like this. It still makes me smile years later at how smart he was at 6, compared to adults who claims every good thing is a divine miracle, then shrug their shoulders and claim the same god is mysterious when tragedy inevitably strikes. I will see I can summon up the patience to sit through the other video, but whilst my atheism has never depressed me at all, the rank stupidity of that irrational bias certainly dented my mood.
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I agree absolutely, what she presented was a false dichotomy fallacy, it was watered down version of Pascal’s wager to convince parents to indoctrinate their children.
I used to practice Aikido, and a large part of that was mediation and Yoga, and had the same speech from theists about it being Satanic. I laughed, hard…it did not go down well.
Time to buy some plastic Halloween devil horns, and a black candle with a Satanic symbol on it for your desk, fuck em…
Maybe make a flyer up inviting everyone to join you in your Satanic yoga sessions? Seriously this kind of shit would be laughed at where I live.
That’s good to know at least…and it should be laughed at, my brother-in-law was a primary teacher before retiring through ill health, and had to sit while a visiting religious apologist took one of his classes for RE, he was squirming uncomfortably listening to the BS, when he noticed one or two of the 6 year olds looking at him in disbelief, they weren’t buying the nonsense they were being fed, and were looking at him to see why he wasn’t saying something. Once the RE teacher left, the questions came thick and fast, and he was asked if he believed it, and he of course explained he was an atheist, and that it was entirely up to them if they believed in any deity, but gave scientific explanations to rebut any claims that contradicted scientific facts.
I am in exactly the same position, but the firms I worked for never allowed to practice yoga or even properly stretch to relieve my back pain, you have my sympathies. I am out of work since Covid, and get to run through the physio routine the local hospital gave me every morning at my leisure, and am almost pain free for most of the time for the first time in about 36 years of chronic back pain.
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