A nastygram from me.
It's about time I posted this. I sent this to my science teacher after a discussion we had in class on Thursday.
***
Hello,
I'd like to [begin] by saying I enjoyed watching Planet Earth in class today. I am a fan of nature documentaries, and, to a degree, I enjoyed putting the video into perspective in a global context. The brief discussion we had after class was mostly enlightening, but some aspects of it caught me off guard. Maybe my reason for sending this email is petty, but I feel these things need to be said, and I certainly mean no disrespect by saying them.
I agreed with much of what you said until you got to the phrase “I’ve never seen two groups of atheists kill each other.” Besides the fact that this had no relevance to the discussion, it’s simply not true. What about the Soviet Communists, who at their ideological core were atheist? Surely you know that they killed thousands (and probably even millions) of people, including those who disagreed with the political and religious ideas of the ruling regime. Almost certainly, they didn’t kill because of their belief (or lack thereof) in God. But once God is taken out of the picture, there are dozens of other reasons one can find to kill.
As you said yourself, killing is an instinct inherent in all animals, humans included. That doesn’t make it morally or ethically right, but it’s an evident instinct. Most animals (to our knowledge) have no sort of religion and continue to kill each other on a daily basis-shouldn’t that tell you that religion, nor any other ideology, should be held responsible for murder (not per se anyway)? Religion is not inherently evil; neither is science or politics or any other institutionalized ideology. The sobering truth is that were it not for science, religious fanatics would not be able to impose their will on large groups of innocent people. That’s not to say that science is evil; it isn’t, just as religion isn’t, nor is politics, nor money, nor land, nor any other supposed cause of war. However, because they exist, people will use them as excuses to kill one another. If one should choose to blame one for causing evil, they should blame all of them.
In this age, most people have moved past the assumption that science and religion aren’t compatible. I assume that, to a degree, you still believe in this divide (based on the comments you’ve made about religion in the past). I don’t mean to demean you in this assumption; if you believe this to be true, I respect your belief. However, the classroom is not the arena to promote any such belief, whether it is pro- or anti-religion. I certainly believe in civil-and, most importantly, balanced-discussion of any and every subject in the classroom, and I believe it’s a teacher’s job to maintain an environment where a student need not feel alienated because of his or her personal beliefs.
I’d like to thank you for having the patience to make it all the way through this e-mail. Additionally I’d like to thank you for showing Planet Earth in class; apart from the relief of having a day off from work (just joking), it’s always fun to step outside the strict boundaries of what we’re studying to learn more about science and the world. But most of all, I’d like to thank you for offering truly thought-provoking opportunities that challenge me to evaluate how I relate to others intellectually.
-AJ
***
Hello,
I'd like to [begin] by saying I enjoyed watching Planet Earth in class today. I am a fan of nature documentaries, and, to a degree, I enjoyed putting the video into perspective in a global context. The brief discussion we had after class was mostly enlightening, but some aspects of it caught me off guard. Maybe my reason for sending this email is petty, but I feel these things need to be said, and I certainly mean no disrespect by saying them.
I agreed with much of what you said until you got to the phrase “I’ve never seen two groups of atheists kill each other.” Besides the fact that this had no relevance to the discussion, it’s simply not true. What about the Soviet Communists, who at their ideological core were atheist? Surely you know that they killed thousands (and probably even millions) of people, including those who disagreed with the political and religious ideas of the ruling regime. Almost certainly, they didn’t kill because of their belief (or lack thereof) in God. But once God is taken out of the picture, there are dozens of other reasons one can find to kill.
As you said yourself, killing is an instinct inherent in all animals, humans included. That doesn’t make it morally or ethically right, but it’s an evident instinct. Most animals (to our knowledge) have no sort of religion and continue to kill each other on a daily basis-shouldn’t that tell you that religion, nor any other ideology, should be held responsible for murder (not per se anyway)? Religion is not inherently evil; neither is science or politics or any other institutionalized ideology. The sobering truth is that were it not for science, religious fanatics would not be able to impose their will on large groups of innocent people. That’s not to say that science is evil; it isn’t, just as religion isn’t, nor is politics, nor money, nor land, nor any other supposed cause of war. However, because they exist, people will use them as excuses to kill one another. If one should choose to blame one for causing evil, they should blame all of them.
In this age, most people have moved past the assumption that science and religion aren’t compatible. I assume that, to a degree, you still believe in this divide (based on the comments you’ve made about religion in the past). I don’t mean to demean you in this assumption; if you believe this to be true, I respect your belief. However, the classroom is not the arena to promote any such belief, whether it is pro- or anti-religion. I certainly believe in civil-and, most importantly, balanced-discussion of any and every subject in the classroom, and I believe it’s a teacher’s job to maintain an environment where a student need not feel alienated because of his or her personal beliefs.
I’d like to thank you for having the patience to make it all the way through this e-mail. Additionally I’d like to thank you for showing Planet Earth in class; apart from the relief of having a day off from work (just joking), it’s always fun to step outside the strict boundaries of what we’re studying to learn more about science and the world. But most of all, I’d like to thank you for offering truly thought-provoking opportunities that challenge me to evaluate how I relate to others intellectually.
-AJ