# Moron hillbilly's in bumfuck Virginia **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 18, 2015, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moron-hillbillys-in-bumfuck-virginia/740744 "2015-12-18T00:47:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2015, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moron-hillbillys-in-bumfuck-virginia/740744/121 "2015-12-19T17:14:31Z")
Wow, **Lamia**. Wow. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2015, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moron-hillbillys-in-bumfuck-virginia/740744/122 "2015-12-19T17:52:41Z")
I am so glad that my elementary school in Charlottesville was Catholic, not public. At least I expected religious indoctrination. We also didn’t get Jeff Davis’s and Bobby Lee’s birthdays off because we had Standards, a concept familiar to the better sorts of Virginians. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2015, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moron-hillbillys-in-bumfuck-virginia/740744/123 "2015-12-19T17:59:37Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > Wow, **Lamia**. Wow. Yeah, that was basically my reaction when my friend told me this. I said “How is that even legal?”, but the WRE program has apparently been designed to fall within the law – it isn’t funded by taxpayers, doesn’t take place in public school classrooms, etc. I still find it very disturbing though, and I’m certainly glad I don’t have kids going to school someplace where they might feel pressured to join their classmates on the “Bible bus”. > [@dropzone](#): > > I am so glad that my elementary school in Charlottesville was Catholic, not public. At least I expected religious indoctrination. Although I’m an atheist, were I a parent and money wasn’t an issue then I think I’d actually prefer to send my kids to a good quality Catholic school where they’d receive serious instruction about Catholicism instead of a public school where they’d go off once a week to sing Sunday school songs and color in pictures of Bible stories. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2015, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moron-hillbillys-in-bumfuck-virginia/740744/124 "2015-12-19T18:16:03Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > Yeah, that was basically my reaction when my friend told me this. I said “How is that even legal?”, but the WRE program has apparently been designed to fall within the law – it isn’t funded by taxpayers, doesn’t take place in public school classrooms, etc. I still find it very disturbing though, and I’m certainly glad I don’t have kids going to school someplace where they might feel pressured to join their classmates on the “Bible bus”. Many public schools have explicitly religious-oriented extracurricular activities that take place in classrooms, as well, though with a range of nonreligious alternatives gor the same time slots. > [@](#): > > Stoneburner thinks education is not complete without the Bible– and 75 percent of the parents in Waynesboro seem to agree. At least that’s the number giving permission for their children to attend the classes. > > But for Stoneburner, the benefits aren’t limited to learning Biblical history. “I think the value is to show that including God in your education is important,” she says. Well… I don’t think I agree with that last, in the way she means it. But I _do_ agree that “education is not complete without the Bible.” As literature and source material for the English language, as cultural studies and historical context. I think I might send my kids to the WRE some of the time, just so they learn something of where their classmates and neighbors are coming from–and how to hold their own among them. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2015, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moron-hillbillys-in-bumfuck-virginia/740744/125 "2015-12-19T18:32:09Z")
> [@Ramira](#): > > I have [no idea about the basmalla](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basmala) and rock music. For those following at home: the first part of the basmala in Arabic is “Bismillah” (In the name of God). Rock fans will recognize it as being used in Queen’s _Bohemian Rhapsody_. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moron-hillbillys-in-bumfuck-virginia/740744/126 "2015-12-20T19:03:58Z")
Lots of people suddenly coming out against teaching religion in schools these days. I sure miss the good ol’ days when these same idiots were up in arms when they couldn’t pray at football games and crap like that. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moron-hillbillys-in-bumfuck-virginia/740744/127 "2015-12-20T19:32:01Z")
Fifty years ago, I suspect these same people would have freaked if their kids were learning Cyrillic, and claimed the school was indocrinating them as communists. > [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](#): > > I have a simple, two-part test for teaching of religious beliefs in a public school setting: > > 1. Does it have a valid, secular purpose? > 2. Is it minimum amount of teaching of religious ideas necessary to further that purpose? > > Teaching children the fundamentals of world religions so they can understand other cultures and peoples, teaching about schisms in Christian thought to understand European history, and teaching about Abrahamic prohibitions on human imagery to understand early-Protestant era iconoclasm or Islamic art all pass this test. Opening class with a prayer does not, and neither does copying the phrase “Jesus loves me” 50 times to practice handwriting. How about in choir, if you’re choosing _Ave Maria_, one of the most beautiful pieces of all time? What if you’re using religious phrases if you’re learning Latin, or Greek? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moron-hillbillys-in-bumfuck-virginia/740744/128 "2015-12-20T19:51:23Z")
I love that the reaction from good Christians is so severe they have to close ALL county schools for safety reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moron-hillbillys-in-bumfuck-virginia/740744/129 "2015-12-20T20:32:16Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > How about in choir, if you’re choosing _Ave Maria_, one of the most beautiful pieces of all time? I think a good chunk of Western art is going to require understanding the religious context, so I think this would pass both tests. > [@](#): > > What if you’re using religious phrases if you’re learning Latin, or Greek? I think I’d have to know more about what the specific goal of the lesson is. When I learned Latin, it was all classical Latin, so lots of Iupiter this and Iupiter that, but nothing Christian. (Iupiter is, of course, the god Jupiter, so this is arguably religious in and of itself. My Latin teacher was explicitly trying to teach Roman culture as well as language, so stories involving their gods easily pass both tests.) If the lesson were specifically about medieval Latin, it wouldn’t be too hard for me to imagine there’d be a religious context the student would have to understand. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moron-hillbillys-in-bumfuck-virginia/740744/130 "2015-12-20T21:33:37Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > 1. Allah is the same deity as Jews and Christians worship, the God of Abraham (though Christians have a slightly different understanding of his nature). > > 2. The Pledge of Allegiance does specify, since it doesn’t allow for polytheists or athesists. “God,” without qualification, is the god of the monothesists, the God of Abraham. The Pledge of Allegiance can suck it though. It shouldn’t have “under God” in it. It’s a violation of the First Amendment. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2015, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moron-hillbillys-in-bumfuck-virginia/740744/131 "2015-12-21T01:16:55Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > How about in choir, if you’re choosing _Ave Maria_, one of the most beautiful pieces of all time? What if you’re using religious phrases if you’re learning Latin, or Greek? This has nothing to do with the subject at hand, but I can’t let this pass: _Ave Maria_ is a text, not a piece of music. There are many, many, many settings of _Ave Maria_. (I suspect you mean the Schubert _Ave Maria_, which is neither a choral piece or really an _Ave Maria_, but now I’m just quibbling.) ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2015, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moron-hillbillys-in-bumfuck-virginia/740744/132 "2015-12-21T04:51:27Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > I love that the reaction from good Christians is so severe they have to close ALL county schools for safety reasons. I think the entire county’s schools should be closed permanently, all the children therein denied a public education, and the entire county should be declared ineligible to vote in any future elections. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2015, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moron-hillbillys-in-bumfuck-virginia/740744/133 "2015-12-21T16:11:41Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > I think the entire county’s schools should be closed permanently, all the children therein denied a public education, and the entire county should be declared ineligible to vote in any future elections. Wouldn’t be the first time: [http://www.vahistorical.org/collections-and-resources/virginia-history-explorer/civil-rights-movement-virginia/massive](http://www.vahistorical.org/collections-and-resources/virginia-history-explorer/civil-rights-movement-virginia/massive) ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2015, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moron-hillbillys-in-bumfuck-virginia/740744/134 "2015-12-21T16:56:54Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > If the assignment is to write out what each religion believes, then why not? Haven’t read the whole thread yet, so I’m hoping someone beat me to this. But I hope you’re clear on the difference between an assignment that is appropriately completed by a kid writing, “Christians believe that Jesus is Lord” versus one that requires the kid to write the sentence, “Jesus is Lord.” I would have no problem with the first, but I would be pissed if the school made my kid write the second one. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2015, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moron-hillbillys-in-bumfuck-virginia/740744/135 "2015-12-21T17:36:34Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Haven’t read the whole thread yet, so I’m hoping someone beat me to this. > > But I hope you’re clear on the difference between an assignment that is appropriately completed by a kid writing, “Christians believe that Jesus is Lord” versus one that requires the kid to write the sentence, “Jesus is Lord.” > > I would have no problem with the first, but I would be pissed if the school made my kid write the second one. I tried to say that, but you said it more clearly. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2015, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moron-hillbillys-in-bumfuck-virginia/740744/136 "2015-12-21T21:32:30Z")
> [@fachverwirrt](#): > > This has nothing to do with the subject at hand, but I can’t let this pass: _Ave Maria_ is a text, not a piece of music. There are many, many, many settings of _Ave Maria_. > > (I suspect you mean the Schubert _Ave Maria_, which is neither a choral piece or really an _Ave Maria_, but now I’m just quibbling.) I’m aware of that – I’m Catholic, of course I know that. And yes, I was referring to Schubert’s _Ave Maria_. And yes, you are quibbling, and you really don’t have a point. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2015, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moron-hillbillys-in-bumfuck-virginia/740744/137 "2015-12-22T00:47:56Z")
I’m on break. Quibbling is how I occupy myself. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2015, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moron-hillbillys-in-bumfuck-virginia/740744/138 "2015-12-22T00:59:20Z")
> [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](#): > > I think a good chunk of Western art is going to require understanding the religious context, so I think this would pass both tests. > > I think I’d have to know more about what the specific goal of the lesson is. When I learned Latin, it was all classical Latin, so lots of Iupiter this and Iupiter that, but nothing Christian. (Iupiter is, of course, the god Jupiter, so this is arguably religious in and of itself. My Latin teacher was explicitly trying to teach Roman culture as well as language, so stories involving their gods easily pass both tests.) If the lesson were specifically about medieval Latin, it wouldn’t be too hard for me to imagine there’d be a religious context the student would have to understand. When I was in the Latin club in high school (why, yes, I _didn’t_ start dating until I was in my thirties, why do you ask?), we sang _Adeste Fidelis_ at the holiday concert. It seemed appropriate. And, in the spirit of **fachverwirrt** , it’s “Ivpiter”. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2015, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moron-hillbillys-in-bumfuck-virginia/740744/139 "2015-12-22T01:18:36Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > And, in the spirit of **fachverwirrt** , it’s “Ivpiter”. 😃 Ivppiter ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2015, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moron-hillbillys-in-bumfuck-virginia/740744/140 "2015-12-22T01:40:34Z")
“Ooops, I still have 10 inches of column to fill up. Hey, Abdul. Can put in some more wiggly, wormy scrawls in this space… add a tiny graphic to make it look cute… yeah that’s it.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moron-hillbillys-in-bumfuck-virginia/740744.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moron-hillbillys-in-bumfuck-virginia/740744.md?page=8)