Daily Archives: March 12, 2017

Byron Donalds(Photo: Submitted)

It has been more than three years since a School Board meeting in Volusia County was canceled after a heated dispute over what some considered to be pro-Islam content in a history textbook raised safety concerns about potential violence.

Dozens of protesters gathered before the meeting, holding signs with messages such as Stop Teaching Lies.

But the battle over what should be taught in classrooms still is raging, and it hasexpanded to the state level.

Last week, state Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Naples, introduced House Bill 989, which specifiescriteria classroom materials must meet.

It states these materials must provide a noninflammatory, objective, and balanced viewpoint on issues, be free of pornography and be age-appropriate.

If passed, the bill also would give all taxpayersthe right to dispute these materials in front of a school board.

In Donaldshometown in Collier County, that right is reserved for parents only.

Donalds, whose three sons attend a charter school in Southwest Florida, said the bill is intended to ensure children are exposed to quality instructional material that adheres to Florida standards and to provide an easily accessible way for the public to vet classroom materials.

Donalds said the purpose of his bill is not to accomplish a defined outcome.

His critics and there are many argue the bill would giveskeptics of evolution and climate change a platform to influence how those subjects are taught in classroomsor whether theywould be taught at all.

In the extreme case, is that possible? Yes, Donalds said. But (somecritics) are trying to read down a slippery slope that doesnt exist.

Donalds emphasized such changes could be made only if approved by a school board.

The CollierCounty School Board now is made up of three moderate and two conservative members, one of which is Donalds'wife, Erika. If the bill is passed, significantmodificationsto thecurriculum would be highly unlikely.

But three seats will be up for election in 2018, and if those are won by conservatives, the county could see major changes in what students are taught.

Many districts in Florida are conservative, and those values and ideologies already might be reflected in their elected school board members.

This has caused a chilling effect on teachers, said Brandon Haught, a high school biology and environmental science teacher in Orange City, Florida.

He isa founding member of Florida Citizens for Science, a group that describes their mission as defending against attacks on science education from lawmakers.

Haught said many people find the teaching of evolution and climate change inflammatory and unbalanced, so, if Donalds' bill becomes law,anyone who pays tax on a cup of coffee while visiting Floridacould advocateteaching creationism and that climate change isn't caused by humans.

If the majority of the school board agreed, those topics would be integrated into the curriculum of each public school in that district.

We would definitely not want that being taught in a science classroom, because, well, its not science, Haught said.

Keith Flaugh, co-director of the Florida Citizens Alliance, a conservative group that helped write the language for the bill, doesnt deny the possibility of that outcome.

So long as the material is presented in a balanced way, thats fair game, he said. We want kids to get a balanced view of the world, not an indoctrinated view of the world.

Mike Mogil, co-owner of Mathworks Tutoring in Naples and a former meteorologist, said if the bill is passed, he, as a non-parent, wouldchallenge how climate change is taught.

I would be there in front of the school board, Mogil said. If were going to teach climate change, lets teach it in the context of geological changes. Not to say that humans are great stewards of planet Earth we are not but CO2 produced by humans is not the primary cause.

However, Flaugh said exposing children to such alternative views isnt the intention of the bill.

Our kids should not be pawns between the Rs and the Ds, he said.

Flaugh said he identified 60 textbooks used in several Florida counties that he thinksviolate Florida standards because they contain abusive material.

This is not just about pornography," he said. "This is not just about religious indoctrination. This is not just about political indoctrination. This is about the total rewriting of our constitutional values.

Andrea Messina, executive director of the Florida School Board Association, said she thinks teachers and administrators do a good job of vetting school materials and ensuring they comply with Florida standards.

People dont just randomly bring in books for no reason, she said.

However, Messina embraces the idea of opening up the materials vetting process to taxpayers. She said it would encourage parents to become more involved and open up an important dialogue that would make us be more intentional about what we use and why we use it.

State Sen. Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, disagrees. She said the bill has good policy intent but that the vetting process shouldnt be left up to all taxpayers.

The whole random nature of it would make it chaotic," Passidomo said. "I dont think theyre accomplishing what they intended to.

Donalds said one reason he hopes to expand vetting rights to the public is to help relieve parents of that responsibility.

If you have two or three children and you work all day and take your kids to extracurricular activities and put food on the table, its so incredibly difficult to find the time to sit there and go through that process, he said.

We should let the public, who funds education, have a seat at the table, Donalds said.

In Collier County, that process requires parents to go directly to their childrens teachers to express their concerns.

If a solution isnt reached with the teacher, the problem would be presented to the principal, then the districts curriculum specialist and then the School Board.

Collier County School Board vice chairwoman Erika Donalds Byron Donalds' wife said she is not happy with the status quo.

Theres excessive red tape," she said. "The process really discourages anyone from bringing up an issue.

Furthermore, she said, some Florida counties dont have a defined process for how parents can challenge their childrens curricula in front of a school board.

Anyone can voice an opinion during the public comments part of a school board meeting, but many proponents of the bill say such speakers arent taken seriously.

The school board has the purview to largely ignore them, Byron Donalds said. We all know that doesnt actually put you in the game.

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More here:

Teaching of evolution, climate change at stake in Naples legislator Donalds' bill - Naples Daily News

Theyre all, in one way or another, connected with Catholicism. Thats how theyre related. These also happen to be the topics covered in the TOP10 trending posts on this blog this week.

And why shouldnt they?

Dappled Things argues Flannery OConnor apparently neversaid, You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you odd, but she was right anyway:

The reader of today has forgotten the cost of truth, even in fiction. I dont believe that you can impose orthodoxy on fiction. I do believe that you can deepen your own orthodoxy by reading if you are not afraid of strange visions. Our sense of what is contained in our faith is deepened less by abstractions than by an encounter with mystery in what is human and often perverse.

In other words, The Catholic Imaginationteaches that God is close to all of the phenomena of the sublunar world, even, or especially, the weird ones:

In new book news, the Catholic-friendly Calvinist press Eerdmans(mouthful, isnt it?)has a new book of essays by Catholic and Protestant theologians on the topic of Evolution and the (traditional) non-literal reading of Gensis entitled Evolution and the Fall:

What does it mean for the Christian doctrine of the Fall if there was no historical Adam? If humanity emerged from nonhuman primatesas genetic, biological, and archaeological evidence seems to suggestthen what are the implications for a Christian understanding of human origins, including the origin of sin?

Evolution and the Fall gathers a multidisciplinary, ecumenical team of scholars to address these difficult questions and others like them from the perspectives of biology, theology, history, Scripture, philosophy, and politics

CONTRIBUTORS:

William T. Cavanaugh Celia Deane-Drummond Darrel R. Falk Joel B. Green Michael Gulker Peter Harrison J. Richard Middleton Aaron Riches James K. A. Smith Brent Waters Norman Wirzba

Now thats an excellent group of top-notch scholars!

Im only surprised that Conor Cunningham, author of an important Eerdmans book on evolution and theology, Darwins Pious Idea,didnt make the list. His work is featured alongside the words of Benedict XVI in the post Did Darwin Kill God? Heres a brief summary of the Cunninghams book in BBCdocumentary form:

Please considermakinga donation to this blog through the donation button on the upper right side of its homepage so that we can replace the bald tires on our car. You might miss me if Im gone!

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The rest is here:

What Do Sex, Lent, UFO's, Evolution, and the Shroud of Turin Have in Common? - Patheos (blog)

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The word ego has such a negative connotation. We refer to people with a detrimental amount of narcism as having big egos. And often, we find our ego is the biggest force between what we think we can do, and what we can actually do.

The ego is an energetic form or structure within our individual experiences that separates us from our higher self. It is, in a sense, a false sense of self. The ego hides behind the I and me in such statements as:

I am ugly.

I am perfect.

I could never do that.

No one can ever do that as good as me.

No one loves me.

Having such thoughts, and agreeing with even the faintest conviction that they define us, creates and supports the ego.

However, it is easy to be unaware when this is happening to you, and so we find ourselves stuck trying to discern the difference between what is really us, and what is simply the ego. After all, we have spent years living our true selves, as well as building our ego self-images. But the two do not have to coincide. In fact, it is completely possible to extract the genuine self out of the grip of falsities that merely create daily obstacles in our lives.

Here are four examples of opportunities to reduce ego in daily lives:

Many of the successes that come to define us are merely meant to feed the ego. In the words ofEckhart Tolle, On a deeper level you are already complete. When you realize that, there is a playful, joyous energy behind what you do. Your achievements do not make you a better person, but they do make your ego feel this way. When you feel inclined to share a success of yours, try practicing giving credit to someone else, such as a mentor who helped you.

Humility is one of those words that makes many of us cringe. People fear being embarrassed; being humiliated. But there is nothing noble about escaping such a fate. Embracing humility robs the ego of its comfort zone. And in moments when you open your arms to such a thing, you will find you arent thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.

Its easy to get caught up in the what-ifs of life. What if you dont fit in? What if people dont like you? Once again, this is merely your ego hindering you from living your life to its fullest. Dont get attached to such questions or concerns, and instead embrace the discomfort as a transition from what you dont yet know to what you soon will.

Though your thoughts, feelings, and words are important, its easy to put them on such a pedestal that you stop listening to others, even cutting them off to insert your viewpoints.Allowing others to truly hold the floor allows you to develop better listening skills as well. There is a reason people use objects in groups to symbolize whose turn it is to speak, while others must listen until they have passed the object onward. Humans can be impatient, yes, but its really more about the desire to speak your mind. This is merely the ego, however.

Your life path number can tell you A LOT about you.

With the ancient science of Numerology you can find out accurate and revealing information just from your name and birth date.

Get your free numerology reading and learn more about how you can use numerology in your life to find out more about your path and journey. Get Your free reading.

Read more:

4 Techniques For Reducing Ego In Your Daily Life - Collective Evolution