Sex education made easy

To counter the evangelical Christian right (ECR), mainstream America needs strategies that:

• Target realistic, practical goals based on reason rather than faith, and
• Demonstrate to sub-cultures the benefits of an inclusive society.

For example, public school sex education classes usually teach abstinence as the best way to prevent teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease, while also telling students about birth control. Teaching abstinence with birth control is not a mixed message; it is based on reason and practical experience. The goal of sex education is giving young people full information about sexual relations, so they can choose appropriate behaviors and understand the consequences of their actions. Fundamentalist Christians think only abstinence should be taught, presumably to preserve innocence and delay responsibility of youth deemed unable to control their behavior because of immaturity. Biblical references that support abstinence until marriage may be cited as the basis of their beliefs. Clearly, the opposing viewpoints of mainstream America and evangelical Christians are not reconcilable. The latter is committed to achieving its vision of god's plan and is unlikely to cede its position, thus insuring that schools either endure ongoing controversy or capitulate to bad policies.

Several strategies have been tried to deal with the sex education controversy. Studies have determined that abstinence only programs result in higher teen pregnancy and STD rates among those receiving abstinence only sex education, and this information has been widely disseminated, to no avail. Schools have permitted students to opt out of sex education classes during presentations on birth control, however self-exclusion is alienating and fails to achieve the educational objective for all students. Birth control information has been kept in sex education classes over objections of ECR parents, encouraging them to become single-issue school board candidates who, if elected, are ill-suited for a policy-making role in school governance. Other strategies that are variations of the foregoing attempts to deal with the controversy have also undoubtedly been attempted without resolving the issue.

A sex-education strategy based on reason would teach youth that self-control is beneficial, that knowledge - rather than innocence - is a defense against temptation, and that a responsible youth is a better adult. The strategy would combine character building with sex education. Sexual self-control, life-skills knowledge, and moral maturation are traits that enhance the ability of members of a sub-culture to function in a diverse, inclusive society. Training in methods of self-control, using knowledge in decision-making, and taking responsibility for one's actions should preface sex education topics like abstinence, birth control methods or sexual awareness. Surely, curriculum specialists could garner sufficient course content to prepare sex education teachers to present character-building information as a prelude to sex education.

The counter to the ECR's objection to information about birth control information is that students are taught the virtue of self-control by resolve over refusal, knowledge over innocence and responsibility over capriciousness. Remember that the Christian Right's policy positions are biblical and not reasonable. Therefore, no change will occur in their mind-set. However, members of mainstream American culture will understand that sex education is better when it is based on reason rather than scripture, and they will support fully informing students.

Culture War Strategy

In an earlier posting, I postulated evangelism (fundamentalism), messianic and persecution complexes, and money as motivating the evangelical Christian right (ECR) attempts to dominate mainstream America. However, identifying these behavioral influences does not explain how an individual ECR member acquires these traits. An individual's behavior is determined by the culture in which they are socialized, a process of personal development, involving family, peer pressure, education and other formative life experiences. The United States has many diverse lifestyles that form sub-cultures within the broad culture of American society. To attempt to list all of the distinct sub-cultures would amount to cataloging the diversity of the nation, a task beyond the scope of this essay. The socialization context of the sub-culture, rather than its process, determines the behavioral traits of its members.

Within mainstream American culture, Christian fundamentalism (and its extension, evangelism) forms a sub-culture with its own institutions. Fundamentalist churches, schools, political organizations, and media, and fields of art (Christian literature and music) and pseudo-science (creationism and intelligent design) exist in parallel with the institutions, arts and sciences of mainstream American culture. Socialization in this fundamentalist sub-culture produces members of the evangelical Christian right whose ethos provides the rationale for extending itself into mainstream American culture.

Christian fundamentalist sub-culture and mainstream American culture overlap in several aspects and differ in others. For example, overlap occurs in the economy and health care, while differences exist in entertainment and education. Fundamentalists work and shop in the same places as mainstream Americans, and use the same medicines and health care providers. Fundamentalists have special entertainment venues for vocal music and literature. Fundamentalist schools feature a curriculum that includes religious doctrine and pseudo-sciences. Of course, a few businesses in the general economy stress a sub-culture orientation, i.e. Christian bookstores and various tradesmen, professionals and service providers who advertise their Christian ethos. There are also artists and writers with a Christian identity who have mass appeal.

The conflict between Christian fundamentalist sub-culture and mainstream American culture, the so-called culture war, occurs mainly within the institutions where the members of the former interface with members of the latter. In public schools, conflict occurs over the appropriateness of books read in literature classes, science education that contradicts biblically based pseudo-science, and abstinence teaching policies in sex education. In government, conflict occurs in areas such as the legality of abortion, judicial interpretation of the law and school finance. The ECR has the initiative in the culture war. Mainstream America is in a defensive posture, because of its ethos to respect diversity, and needs a strategy to counter the assault on mainstream American values. To be successful, the strategy must have realistic, practical goals based on reason rather than faith. The strategy must demonstrate the benefits of an inclusive society to all sub-cultures, including the members of the evangelical Christian right.

Favorite Butter Pound Cake

1 cup butter
2 cup sugar
4 egg yolks, unbeaten
3 cups sifted cake flower
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
1/4 cup almond
4 egg whites

Cream butter, add sugar, mix well.
Add egg yolks one at a time, beat well after each.
Sift flower with baking soda and salt.
Add flour alternately with milk.
Beat egg whites until stiff and fold in.
Pour into 2 buttered loaf pans
(7-1/2 in. long, 3-1/2 in. wide, 2-1/2 in. deep).
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Aggressive Driver Questionnaire

The following 20 questions relate to driving behaviors exhibited by some automobile drivers who might be labelled as aggressive. To respond to the questions, a simple 'yes' or 'no' answer is all that is required.

When approaching a yellow light, do you speed up to beat the red even if you could stop?
At a red light, do you drive past the stop line or into the crosswalk to wait for the green?
When turning right on red, do you turn without stopping to beat oncoming traffic?
Will you turn right on red before cross or opposing traffic can enter the intersection?
Do you change lanes constantly to move through traffic faster?
Do you enter a road with oncoming traffic if you have a clear lane?
Do you usually drive in the lane nearest the centerline or median?
Upon entering a street, do you take the inside lane rather than the curb lane?
On multi-lane roadways, will you cross one or more lanes when changing lanes?
Do you frequently exceed the speed limit to minimize your travel time?
Do you always drive 5 miles over the speed limit, assuming you won't get a ticket?
Do you speed up to keep another car from passing?
When traveling above 20 mph, do you follow the car ahead within one to two car lengths?
Do you tailgate, flash your lights or honk the horn to indicate that you want to pass?
Do you pass other cars on the right?
Do you disregard traffic lane or parking space markings?
When turning left, do you always try to reduce your turning radius?
Do you use a center two-way left-turn lane as a merge lane?
Do you use a center two-way left-turn lane to pass other cars?
Do you use a center two-way left-turn lane to enter a left-turn storage bay early?

How many times did you answer 'yes'? How many 'yes' answers does it take to say that a questionnaire respondent should be classified as an aggressive driver? Perhaps, a scale is needed. Let's say a driver with 16-20 'yes' answers is an Idiot; 11-15 'yes' answers, a Maniac; 6-10 'yes' answers, a Jerk; and 1-5 'yes' answers, a Dunce. One thing for sure, if you have answered no to all 20 questions, you're a Liar.

Can you think of any other driving behaviors that may be called aggressive? If so, pass them along.

Motivators for the Evangelical Christian Right

What motivates evangelical Christian right (ECR) members to propagate their beliefs? Irrespective of the issue, the answer is found in four areas.

First among ECR motivating factors is a psychotic condition called the messianic complex. It is defined as a delusion of having a mission from god to save the world. Intrinsic in Christianity is evangelism. Messianic belief goes beyond evangelism. It is rooted in a personal relationship with a god who has told the believer to accomplish god's plan for humankind. I suspect leaders of the ECR movement would admit to both messianic and evangelic motivations. To do less reduces the fervor and validity of their roles.

Secondly, the evangelical mission itself provides a motivational framework for adherents to support the ECR position on issues. Evangelical characteristics are found at http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Evangelical-Christian:
1. Being a "born again" Christian.
2. Using the Bible (God's revelation) as the ultimate religious authority.
3. Sharing one's beliefs in the gospel with others to convince them to convert.
4. Focusing on Christ as the means for salvation and the forgiveness of sins.
5. Describing God as the all-knowing, all-powerful, perfect deity who created the universe and still rules it today.

Being "born again" stresses a personal relationship with god much like a messianic complex, although for the former hearing god's voice is not needed, merely an indwelling of god's spirit. Justification for many ECR issue positions is based on scriptural interpretation. Beyond sharing the gospel, the ECR broadcasts its worldview as an extension of the gospel. For them, Jesus is not only the way, failure to accept their position, as supported by Jesus' teachings, is a denial of god's truth. And, since ECR beliefs hold that god is without error and omniscient, their belief in god is a mandate for action.

Third, the Christian persecution complex reinforces ECR motivations. Being persecuted for their beliefs can be taken as a badge of honor for Christians. The gospel includes admonitions about persecution, that believers should expect it. When ECR members experience opposition to the worldview they espouse, disagreement with their position is taken as an attack on them as followers of Christ. Just like Christ's death on the cross for his teachings was ultimate persecution, so the opposition they receive is found to be without merit, merely a fulfillment of the scriptural expectation of persecution. A member of the ECR is motivated to achieve the full Christian experience and emulate Jesus by adhering to the issue positions of the ECR, even if it means ridicule or worse.

Finally, money is a motivator of the ECR. The multitude of radio stations, television networks, evangelists, fundamentalist mega-churches, Christian bookstores, home-school products, lobbying groups, political action entities, etc. all depend on money, and vast amounts of it, to sustain and expand their existence. The money stream supporting the ECR's efforts is provided by believers who are energized to be donors or customers by the propaganda disseminated by the ECR mass-communication infrastructure. Maintaining an aroused constituency requires old issues be reiterated with fresh tenets and new issues raised to fuel the ECR propaganda machine. The large salaries and extensive perks enjoyed by the ECR juggernaut leaders motivate them to hone the infrastructure and keep their issues in their constituent's attention.

The messianic and persecution complexes, the tenets of evangelism and the need for financial resources all motivate the Evangelical Christian Right in their efforts to dominate political and social thought in the United States. What will motivate opposition to the Evangelical Christian Right? I suppose visiting the Focus on the Family Web site might do it. Perhaps the words of John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1958) will help motivate opposition to the religious right:

"There is an old saying that the course of civilization is a race between catastrophe and education. In a democracy such as ours, we must make sure that education wins the race."

Fanning the Fires

The following, captioned "Intelligent Design", appeared in the KC Star on May 19, 2005:

For all those apologists who claim there is no controversy about evolution, either keep drinking the Kool-Aid or read Francis Hitching's book, The Neck of the Giraffe: Where Darwin Went Wrong or Michael Denton's book, Evolution: a Theory in Crisis.
Evolutionists have fobbed on us all kinds of lies (Java Man, Peking Man, Nebraska Man, Haeckel's drawings, primordial soup, etc.) and leaps of faith (amino acids can easily group into proteins, scales can easily turn into feathers, morality evolved easily from animal culture, etc.). I say keep the debates alive.
John Lagle
Kansas City

It is beyond me why the Star prints such tripe. Perhaps, exposing the letter's fantasies will get the Star to quit printing such junk or immunize readers from the letter's distractions. More than likely, nothing will happen. Anyway, here goes, point-by-point:

Apologists(?) If one doesn't accept the idea of a "controversy about evolution", how are they tagged "apologists". People who see no controversy between religion and evolution need not apologize.

Drink the Kool-Aid or read(?) I suppose the "Kool-Aid" reference suggests that either one blindly follow authority down a perilous path to perdition or be saved by the grace of the written word. Well, let's look at the texts cited. The first, Hitching's The Neck of the Giraffe, is discussed in http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/hitching.html, thusly:

Research on Hitching turned up the following: Hitching is basically a sensational TV scriptwriter and has no scientific credentials. In The Neck of the Giraffe, he claimed to be a member of the Royal Archaeological Institute, but an inquiry to that institute said he was not. He implied in the "Acknowledgements" of The Neck of the Giraffe that paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould had helped in the writing of the book, but upon inquiry Gould said he did not know him and had no information about him. Hitching also implied that his book had been endorsed by Richard Dawkins, but upon inquiry Dawkins stated: "I know nothing at all about Francis Hitching. If you are uncovering the fact that he is a charlatan, good for you. His book, The Neck of the Giraffe, is one of the silliest and most ignorant I have read for years."

The seconded text named as a source of enlightenment, Denton's Evolution: a Theory in Crisis is discussed in http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/denton.html, thusly:

Evolutionary pattern and process stands vindicated from Denton's assault. It does not win out by default, being implausible but socially established and lacking a superior alternative - rather, it is a plausible process with no contenders, and is backed up strongly by empirical evidence. There is debate within evolutionist circles about systematics, tempo, and the roles of genetic drift and preadaptation, and still plenty of work to be done fleshing out stories about the development of certain structures, but none of this in any way puts macroevolution and the pattern of non-teleological common descent in a crisis situation. Rather, they are indicators that evolutionary biology is still a field which offers work to be done, just like any other field.

In a later book, Nature's Destiny, Denton himself refuted his contentions in Evolution. See
http://home.wxs.nl/~gkorthof/kortho29.htm.

Lies and Leaps(?) In the letter's second paragraph, it is alleged that evolutionists have "fobbed" us with "lies…and leaps of faith". Again, point-by-point:

1. Java Man. See the following Web sites: http://www.eastjava.com/books/mystery/html/search.html and http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/java.html.
A recent book, Java Man: How Two Geologists Changed Our Understanding of Human Evolution, University of Chicago Press, has the e-word in its title. No lie there.

2. Peking Man. See http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/peking.html.

3. Nebraska Man. See: http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/a_nebraska.html. The following quote from this URL is not that of an apologist.

"Nebraska Man should not be considered an embarrassment to science. The scientists involved were mistaken, and somewhat incautious, but not incompetent or dishonest. The whole episode was actually an excellent example of the scientific process working at its best. Given a problematic identification, scientists investigated further, found data which falsified their earlier ideas, and promptly abandoned them (a marked contrast to the creationist approach)."

4. Haeckel's drawings. See http://zygote.swarthmore.edu/evo5.html. The following quote from this site shows the ability of science to police its ranks, another contrast to the creationist or intelligent design approach.

"Interestingly, this knowledge appears to be "old hat" among German biologists. Haeckel's drawings were not trusted (see Goldschmidt, 1956), and Haeckel was accused of scientific fraud by a university court in Jena, where he worked and by other embryologists, as well (see Hamblin, 1997; Richardson et al., 1997b)."

5. Primordial Soup. See http://www.accessexcellence.org/WN/SUA02/primordial_soup.html.
Whaddaya know! A laboratory trial replicates what could have occurred on early Earth.

6. Amino acids. Leap of faith: "Amino acids can easily group into proteins?" Basic chemistry tells us that proteins are composed of amino-acid molecules. Without the grouping of amino-acid molecules into proteins, easy or not, we'd still be in the soup primordial.

7. Scales into feathers. Leap of faith: Scales can easily turn into feathers? Perhaps scales and feathers have both evolved since the reptile to bird transformation. How does easy matter?

8. Morality and animal culture. Leap of faith: morality evolved easily from animal culture? Linking morality to animal culture transcends evolutionary biology, but if animals have culture, couldn't they also have morals?

Rather than keeping the debates alive, perhaps it would be better to let leaping dogs lie. As for making points about the "controversy", the letter fails. Scientists have better pursuits.

Lemon Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 cups flour
• 2 tea spoon baking powder
• 1 tea spoon salt
• 1 table spoon milk
• 1/2 tea spoon vanilla
• 1/2 tea spoon lemon extract

Roll dough and cut.

Bake @ 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

Lemon flavored icing optional.

Note: The above recipe is from Grandma in her hand-writing. I added the bit about the icing.

Hello!

KansasRealPolitik refers to the politics of the real world, not politics based on theoretical, moral, religious, or idealistic concerns. In other words, in a world where knowledge is power, the term refers to the politics of knowledge. Besides political topics, other interests will be included: art, recipes, quizzes, photos, etc.