# If we spent more time teaching our kids the word of God... **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 16, 2006, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-spent-more-time-teaching-our-kids-the-word-of-god/344742 "2006-02-16T02:57:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bag\_of\_Mostly\_Water](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bag_of_mostly_water/32/1029_2.png) [@Bag\_of\_Mostly\_Water](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bag_of_Mostly_Water)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-spent-more-time-teaching-our-kids-the-word-of-god/344742/1 "2006-02-16T02:57:19Z")
> [@Paula Wolf](#): > > “If we spent more time teaching our kids the word of God and less time worried about technology and science, this would be a better world.” As quoted in a [column by Patty Fisher](http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/columnists/patty_fisher/13876391.htm) in today’s _San Jose Mercury News_. The column summarizes responses to her column Saturday on the debate over evolution. I find Paula Wolf’s comment disturbing on many levels. Feel free to debate. Note: I’m not sure how long the link to the Mercury News will be valid. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-spent-more-time-teaching-our-kids-the-word-of-god/344742/2 "2006-02-16T03:04:22Z")
We’d all be starving, freezing and illiterate, but we’d be happy! You tell the youth of today that and they don’t believe you… ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-spent-more-time-teaching-our-kids-the-word-of-god/344742/3 "2006-02-16T03:08:18Z")
We tried that once, it was called “The Dark Ages”. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-spent-more-time-teaching-our-kids-the-word-of-god/344742/4 "2006-02-16T03:12:46Z")
I don’t know why people insist you have to choose between teaching kids ethics and teaching them facts. They’re not even the province of the same people - you’d expect parents to teach most of the life lessons and schools to teach most of the science and technology. “Kids these days.” - Plato ---
**Author:** ![Bag\_of\_Mostly\_Water](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bag_of_mostly_water/32/1029_2.png) [@Bag\_of\_Mostly\_Water](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bag_of_Mostly_Water)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-spent-more-time-teaching-our-kids-the-word-of-god/344742/5 "2006-02-16T03:33:07Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I don’t know why people insist you have to choose between teaching kids ethics and teaching them facts. I agree with your statement. However, we would probably not consider Paula’s version of the “word of God” to be ethics. She wants kids to be indoctrinated rather than taught critical thinking skills. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-spent-more-time-teaching-our-kids-the-word-of-god/344742/6 "2006-02-16T03:36:47Z")
> [@Ex\_Chemist](#): > > I agree with your statement. However, we would probably not consider Paula’s version of the “word of God” to be ethics. She wants kids to be indoctrinated rather than taught critical thinking skills. I agree, and it seems many of the letter writers want the same thing. I’m speaking more generally because I think there aren’t going to be a lot of people here who would agree with Wolf. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-spent-more-time-teaching-our-kids-the-word-of-god/344742/7 "2006-02-16T04:08:49Z")
How about we teach them the word of God and technology and science? Maybe cut back on some TV time to make up the difference. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-spent-more-time-teaching-our-kids-the-word-of-god/344742/8 "2006-02-16T04:47:09Z")
Well, they wouldn’t pass the NCLB standardized tests, then. God’s not on the tests! ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-spent-more-time-teaching-our-kids-the-word-of-god/344742/9 "2006-02-16T05:25:10Z")
**Paula Wolf** wins. We’ll follow the examples of the Taliban-controlled Afghanistan and Iran. If you get enough religion, everybody’s happy and good! ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-spent-more-time-teaching-our-kids-the-word-of-god/344742/10 "2006-02-16T06:16:48Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > How about we teach them the word of God and technology and science? Whose word and whose God? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-spent-more-time-teaching-our-kids-the-word-of-god/344742/11 "2006-02-16T07:42:38Z")
That’s a personal decision to be made within the family. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-spent-more-time-teaching-our-kids-the-word-of-god/344742/12 "2006-02-16T07:44:14Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > That’s a personal decision to be made within the family. Who is “we,” then? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-spent-more-time-teaching-our-kids-the-word-of-god/344742/13 "2006-02-16T08:51:29Z")
The same “we” that was teaching kids in the OP, happily starving in the second post, living in the dark ages in the third post, and questioning Paula Wolf’s ethics in the fifth post. It’s that darned editorial “we” acting up all over the place again. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-spent-more-time-teaching-our-kids-the-word-of-god/344742/14 "2006-02-16T15:47:10Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > Whose word and whose God? The Flying Spaghetti Monster, of course. Sheesh! ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-spent-more-time-teaching-our-kids-the-word-of-god/344742/15 "2006-02-16T16:30:20Z")
I’m all for teaching the Word of Allah. What? That’s what she wanted, wasn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-spent-more-time-teaching-our-kids-the-word-of-god/344742/16 "2006-02-16T16:43:56Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I don’t know why people insist you have to choose between teaching kids ethics and teaching them facts. Ethics and religion are mutually exclusive. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-spent-more-time-teaching-our-kids-the-word-of-god/344742/17 "2006-02-16T17:05:02Z")
Fallacy of composition. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-spent-more-time-teaching-our-kids-the-word-of-god/344742/18 "2006-02-16T17:29:36Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I don’t know why people insist you have to choose between teaching kids ethics and teaching them facts. Because time is a finite commodity? ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-spent-more-time-teaching-our-kids-the-word-of-god/344742/19 "2006-02-16T20:18:35Z")
Are we talking about teaching kids the _entire_ word of God – including hum-dingers like Lot’s incest with his daughters in Deuteronomy, or Mark’s directives for seizing other people’s women (Mark 7:25-27) – or just the sanitized Disneyfied happy-happy-joy-joy version? > [@Clothahump](#): > > Ethics and religion are mutually exclusive. Ah, so you finally admit that the religious-right-dominated Republican party is inherently unethical! Bravo! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-spent-more-time-teaching-our-kids-the-word-of-god/344742/20 "2006-02-16T20:30:18Z")
> [@UncleBeer](#): > > Because time is a finite commodity? I thought with God, all things are possible? :smack: I vote we not teach them Home Economics if there’s such a time crunch. My point, of course, is that there’s no dichotomy here. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-spent-more-time-teaching-our-kids-the-word-of-god/344742.md?page=2)