From: jblain@ac.dal.ca
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: Re: help from you guys
Date: 9 Oct 92 00:47:44 -0300
Organization: Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

In article <2AD252EB.28154@news.service.uci.edu>, cortese@skid.ps.uci.edu (Janis Maria Cortese) writes:
> You've talked in the past about what you've said to fundies when they
> pushed you to keep the situation from getting out of hand.  I think I
> need some help in that department.
> 
> I'm TA-ing an anthropology class this quarter, and one of the subjects
> we touch on, of course, is evolution.  I thought ABSOLUTELY NOTHING
> about it until I was approached after class by one of the students who
> asked me what the anthropologists thought about the Bible.  The phrasing
> he used made me think he was sympathetic to creationism.
> 
> I replied that the anthropologists considered that that theory was not
> well enough supported with fact.  He replied, "Yes, but some people
> believe it."
> 
> I was one hair away from saying, with no malice intended, "Well, people
> have believed all sorts of false garbage under the guise of 
> religion . . . " before stopping myself.
> 
> I have to teach these kids in my discussion section on Friday, and I'm
> concerned that, offhand and reflexively, I will respond to a question
> like that by saying, "All kinds of mutually contradictory creation myths
> are supported by religion.  Why should one supersede the others?"
> thereby allowing to to be a topic of conversation.  I can also see
> myself responding, "Religion has been an excuse for people to push all
> sorts of bullshit . . . " off the cuff, and getting into a "verbal
> tussle." 
> 
> I'm VERY WORRIED that, should this situation arise, I might say
> something that would start something up, without meaning to.  However, I
> don't want to let a remark like, "But the Bible says . . . " go
> unchallenged.
> 
> In short, how do I challenge something like that without starting
> something?  Fundies are notorious for taking any difference of opinion
> as a personal affront, and I am tempted to say, "Well, if you believe in
> creationism, what the hell are you doing in an anthro class, damn it?"
> 
> Any opinions?  Again, I don't want to let a remark like that just go,
> but I don't want to start something, and I most definitely don't want to
> waste the class's time frittering away the hour arguing with a fundie
> with rocks in their head.
> 
> If anyone out there has experience dealing with such a situation, I'd
> appreciate it.
> 
> Blessings,
> Janis  
> 
-- 
Janis - you're right to try to steer clear of arguments in class time, for the
sake of the OTHER students and your own sanity!  If a fundie wants to persevere,
tell hir you'll talk about it at the END of class time.

However you should either make some comment (again for the sake of the other
students) or ask the professor to deal with it, if it gets raised again.
Particularly the idea that the bible is _true_ and other religions ain't -
you can say anthropologists (or sociologists, of which I'm one) would be
interested in WHICH people believe the bible, and what the other characteristics
of their culture are, because people's beliefs are an important constituent
of their cultures. You can also say that anthropology as social science
isn't qualified to determine the "truth" of various kinds of belief,
because the question of truth or otherwise is a matter of faith not science
 . . 

I know all this rather ducks the issue, but you have to in class. The last 
thing you need, or want, is an argument over this, and so you have to find a
formula that will permit you to duck it. But remember that the professor
has responsibility for the class (I assume) and so if it gets troublesome
you should be able to pass it to hir. TAs really shouldn't have to deal with
this kind of trouble. (Now of course I don't know what this particular
professor would say . . .) At the very least you need to know if she or he
will back you up if there's a row - so try to talk about it before the class
if possible.

Blessings

	Jenny		Jblain @ ac.dal.ca
__________________________________________________________________________
	I was in many shapes before I was released:
	.....
	I was a path, I was an eagle, I was a coracle in seas;
	I was a bubble in beer, I was a drop in a shower;
	I was a sword in hand, I was a shield in battle.
	I was a string in a harp enchanted nine years, in the water as foam;
	I was a spark in fire, I was wood in a bonfire;
	I am not one who does not sing; I have sung since I was small.

						[from The Book of Taliesin]