Religion in History class

[Missuhs Bunneh]

Last semester in my history class we were learning about Hinduism, Daoism, Buddhism, and a few others that I can't quite remember well sweatdrop

Well, I live in a very religious community, and it's the kind that has churches built in such close proximity that they're neighbors, and there's like 12 in my city. Anyways, some students, I noticed, were getting increasingly bad grades for the semester, because the teacher would tell them to pay more attention/ review more, etc., etc. The reason these few people did not listen/ stopped listening to the teacher is because they would interject every time he explained the bible was accurate as a history book, but just that, and every time he mentioned another religion the students wouldn't pay attention at all. However,I find Buddhism most interesting :3

Now, I know quite a lot of people in this guild are religious, and quite a lot are also not. Has anyone just stopped listening because it makes you that mad that someone questioned your beliefs? Why or why not?

I have, but only when it's being used in excess. Like, if God is being praised in every other sentence. >.>;;  

[D i v i n i t y]

Lol whooo bad grades for them. Ummm I think it's stupid to stop listening just because history class talks about religion... It's not like anyone's forcing anyone else to believe, right? In the class, don't you guys simply talk about different religions? It's a history class o_O

yeah, well, I DO find it annoying when God is mentioned like in every other sentence... like we had to run a cross country meet today at this christian school where there's signs everywhere saying "YES to prop 8" (which is a proposition to "protect marriage" and not have gay marriage be legal. Also, we had to do a prayer before running. I didn't want my lame friend to be all "HAH I KNEW YOU WOULD DO THAT, ATHEIST!" since he's hardcore christian and knows I'm an atheist; so i just stared at the ground during their 10 second prayer.
My friend praises God a lot since he's the VP of our school's Christian club. It gets sorta annoying how much he prays aloud and asks God for help out loud. I could've sworn that the Bible taught that the one who praises God in private without wanting attention is the better one but hmm...
Lol he seems to be mentioning God more often these days in front of me. He acts as if praying out loud before a test in anatomy class will make me go "Hmmm God DOES exist if he's praying to him!"  

[Missuhs Bunneh]

Yep, he's not forcing anyone, but some students have a...I dunno, like a snobby attitude towards him when he's explaining the basic information about religions.

Haha your friend = converting fail

If my best friend did that I would get really annoyed. But I hope she doesn't do that, because she's my only atheist friend and I'd miss making fun of religions with her ;A;  

[Daffodil the Destroyer]

This is an atheists' guild; I don't think that many of us are religious here. XD

I remember my hyper-Christian phase in high school. I was in a wonderful humanities class where I could have potentially learned a lot about myself and others, particularly through the lessons about world religions and philosophy.

I was so deep into my own self-righteous bullshit that I used to get angry at the teachers for "trying to indoctrinate us with pc-ness and toleration" (an actual quotation from a note I was passing with a friend during this class). Imagine that; tolerating the rights of others to have their own beliefs...

I was also convinced that the teachers were trying to convince me that every single religion and philosophy we studied was the "ultimate truth." What escaped me at the time was the contradiction of saying that Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Shinto, Hellenism, nihilism, asceticism, stoicism, Platonism, Aristotelianism, and utilitarianism were all the ultimate truth. Somehow it didn't dawn on me that this couldn't possibly be their goal.

I didn't ignore the lessons to the point where my grades suffered really seriously, but I did make lower grades than I could have if I'd really paid good attention. I blocked a lot of things from my long-term memory that I really wish I remembered now. I also had a habit of finishing my essays on tests with a Bible verse that says, "Beware lest you be cheated by philosophy and empty deceit according to the basic principles of men, according to the world, and not according to Christ" or something very similar.

 

[Sanguvixen]

As someone else stated earlier, this is an Atheists and Agnostics guild. So there will not be many people here who are religious because few religious people are willing to join an Atheists guild and not cause trouble.

That said, I remember in one of my history classes, the professor was covering an aspect of the Hebrew's that I know personally there is no archeological evidence of. That deals with the whole wandering in the desert thing and the Egyptian enslavement of the Hebrews.

Now it made me angry that the history course was bending over backwards to placate Christianity, by offering something up as history that isn't history...but that didn't stop my from paying attention, taking my notes and getting a good grade on the unit.

Not paying attention during a history class because it covers different religion's is childish. Those people in your class are gifted with being able to get a secondary education and they should take full advantage of it.  

[Serendipity Splendor]

Yeah that's really dumb. Religion had a huge impact upon history, you have to learn about other cultures as well. Of course, if the teacher was just talking about how one religion was the best and great and true... well THEN you draw the line and stop listening

But in general yes learning about other religions is important to understanding the world...  

[fhbnfghnbfgbsnbg]

I don't know about the bible being as accurate as a history book, but perhaps some cultural aspects of it could be applied.

In any case, religion is a huge part of history. With events like the Crusades, Spanish Inqusition, people moving to the "New World" to escape religious persecution, even back in Roman times when they built massive temples and statues to the Gods, religion isn't a thing that can be ignored when studying history.
I do believe even the Constitution has some religious influence; while the founding fathers were Deists, that is still a belief in God as a higher power.

The people in your class are only hurting themselves. Or their grade, rather.  

[Missuhs Bunneh]

I do know this is an atheist guild, but I didn't want to...I suppose, offend anyone? Haha, that sound sort of lame now ;A;

@Daffodil the Destroyer:
;A;
I've only learned about the first four of the religions listed so far.
Haha, so you were a bit of a rebel in your history class with the signing of your essays?

@Sanguvixen:

Yes, my teacher spoke of the...Exodus I believe? When the Hebrews somehow were allowed to leave Egypt, but my teacher said it didn't matter how, they just did whee
Kudos to you for being a good student! d(^w^)b

@KuroFur: My teacher was saying things matched up in the bible and solid facts history, not all of the bible, but some points? I don't know, I don't intend to sit down and read the whole thing xp  

[Daffodil the Destroyer]

Missuhs Bunneh

I do know this is an atheist guild, but I didn't want to...I suppose, offend anyone? Haha, that sound sort of lame now ;A;

@Daffodil the Destroyer:
;A;
I've only learned about the first four of the religions listed so far.
Haha, so you were a bit of a rebel in your history class with the signing of your essays?

@Sanguvixen:

Yes, my teacher spoke of the...Exodus I believe? When the Hebrews somehow were allowed to leave Egypt, but my teacher said it didn't matter how, they just did whee
Kudos to you for being a good student! d(^w^)b

@KuroFur: My teacher was saying things matched up in the bible and solid facts history, not all of the bible, but some points? I don't know, I don't intend to sit down and read the whole thing xp

Well, the last six were philosophies rather than religions, and you've probably learned at least a bit of Hellenism through classical Greek mythology. ^.^

Yeah, as far as I know, I was the only one who signed my essays with Bible verses, but I used to pass notes and make fun of the non-Christian ideas with this guy who sat behind me. I ended up dating him and we just fed off each other's vitriol. >.>

 

[Missuhs Bunneh]

@Daffodil the Destroyer:

Yep, they are philosophies, and supposedly Buddha didn't want it to be a religion but lo and behold, right? ;D
I know the basics of Greek mythology, but I've honestly never heard of Hellenism OwO;;
Haha, sounds like you had fun in your class :3
I think people have most fun when they complain ;A;
(i wonder, do I use too many smilies?)  

[Aaron Lee Morrison]

Read, friends:

Lol, personally, I find a lot of religions EXTREMELY interesting. It pisses me off that there are people so far shoved into bigotry that they are that hateful of other cultures.

-L.A.