Oh, I’m fine with people studying the bible and other religious texts in the context of art, history or general world-religions courses: it’s non-instructional situations in schools that bother me.
Also, I agree that most kids nowadays would probably not turn religious upon reading the bible, as it is rather dry and dull, but I’d worry about teachers, other staff, in-class parent helpers, etc taking the opportunity of kids getting these books to try and indoctrinate students during class time.
I had a half-assed thought the other day - do you know how, in Notre-Dame de Paris, Frollo laments the printing press and the distribution of the bible and other knowledge via books as being the death of the church and of architechture (and architechture as art/storytelling/passing down of cultural beliefs and elements)? There’s a wonderful chapter that reads nearly as a standalone essay about the idea.
It occurred to me, while reading Reddit, that whatever damage the printed word may have had, it is nothing compared to what the electronic word (the internet) can do. Books were seen as a means to potentially disseminate “dangerous” knowledge, but communities and cultural/government leaders had, for many years, the ability to still control what books came into a community or to influence the narrative in local churches, schools, town halls, etc. The internet is different. The internet is everywhere and nowhere and, despite efforts like in China or the Middle East to censor it, there are always ways around it and all kinds of information - good and bad, perhaps - can be obtained by anyone at a moment’s notice. It’s fascinating… I was reading stories from young adults who became atheists because the internet allowed them to read arguments for and against their religions, and there are subreddits for people who need guidance, assisstance or even support for leaving their religious communities, etc. Or stories about how social media was part of the Arab Spring, or the idea of protesting government actions via things like #tellVicEverything and the organization of Occupy movements, etc.
If the printing press was the death of religious archetechture, the internet has the means to deliver a rather killing blow. It might be too diluted in cats, however.
Anyways, it’s sort of a half-thought out, unresearched “essay” and I haven’t bothered to go further with it, but I thought I’d share it anyways since it seemed to fit in with Malthus’ point about how modern kids would perceive the bible if they were to sit down on their own and read it.
