... for the first time.
Gideons authorized to distribute bibles in Nunavut schools
Sun, 2011-11-20 10:36
#1
Gideons authorized to distribute bibles in Nunavut schools
Sun, 2011-11-20 10:40
#2
Of course, it will be the New Testament only. You don't want to confuse young minds with all that Jewish or Muslim stuff - let alone other faiths and atheism:
[url=http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674arviat_dea_okays_bibl... DEA okays Bible giveaway in Nunavut schools[/url]
"This will allow us to have discussions in other communities because of this open door."
It is heartening to see the outcry against this attack on the youth - read the comments in Nunatsiaq Online, and CBC radio has begun to report the indignation of residents.
Apparently the first few centuries of attempted colonization of the Indigenous peoples haven't been enough. You can never be too careful.
Sun, 2011-11-20 10:52
#3
Boom Boom
The Gideons - just another remnant of colonialization. Heartening to see opposition to this.
Sun, 2011-11-20 12:13
#4
You never know. This may blow up in their faces:
[url=http://jonathanturley.org/2009/10/11/bible-battles-students-use-free-gid... Battles: Students Use Free Gideon Bibles in Texas Schools to Beat Jewish Students and Roll Joints[/url]
Sun, 2011-11-20 12:20
#5
My MPP, Cheri DiNovo, in her pre-ministerial days, smuggled drugs from Cali inside hollowed-out bibles - surely a more ethical use than their intended purpose.
Sun, 2011-11-20 14:00
#6
Who are you to comment on how they arrange their society? The people who live in Arviat are Christians and they support this. Why don't you all just mind your aown business.
Kay Stonechild.
Sun, 2011-11-20 14:11
#7
My comment is on the Gideons and their colonizing efforts, which I abhor and have every right to oppose. I make no comment on the sovereign decisions of the Indigenous people as to their own affairs. Similarly, when I condemn Canada for joining in the bloodlust in Afghanistan and Libya, it is not a comment on the wishes of the Afghan and Libyan people. It is always, precisely, the imperialists and their servants who invoke the "wishes" of their victims as a pretext for subjugation.
As for the people in Arviat being Christians, and as to what they do and don't support, I wouldn't even begin to dare to make comments on that. It's not my place (let alone being achingly difficult to determine).
Hope that clarifies my own intentions here.
Sun, 2011-11-20 15:36
#8
When it comes to 'arranging societies,' the Christian track record in that regard remains an open question for debate. As to the situations described in the link at post #3, I think its fair to consider the merits of any research offering evidence to suggest that the matching of idle hands with idle Bibles has had mixed results.
Sun, 2011-11-20 15:50
#9
My comment is on the Gideons and their colonizing efforts, which I abhor and have every right to oppose. I make no comment on the sovereign decisions of the Indigenous people as to their own affairs. Similarly, when I condemn Canada for joining in the bloodlust in Afghanistan and Libya, it is not a comment on the wishes of the Afghan and Libyan people. It is always, precisely, the imperialists and their servants who invoke the "wishes" of their victims as a pretext for subjugation.
As for the people in Arviat being Christians, and as to what they do and don't support, I wouldn't even begin to dare to make comments on that. It's not my place (let alone being achingly difficult to determine).
Hope that clarifies my own intentions here.
Gideons Bibles are in every hotel room in the world but the first time you complain about their "colonizing" efforts is when it involves a Native community. That indicates that really do intend to make comments on the soverign positions of their counsils.
You are a liar. I won't speak to you any more.
Kay Stonechild.
Sun, 2011-11-20 16:12
#10
Northern Shoveler
Wow. I think you should do some basic reserch before walking out on a limb and beginning to saw.
Screw these bastards who give "bibles" to children in public schools, censoring out the Jewish parts, and damn those who collaborate with them. The Jews and Muslims protested this activity, but your Christian friends (who no doubt are the full slate of trustees) had a democratic vote and are seeking legal opinions. They should be consigned to Hell for this. They are purveyors of ignorance and hate, and those who "vote against" and seek legal opinions - instead of at least having the decency to resign and condemn the shit-spewing haters - are to be damned.
If you think I'm not serious, George - or if you see this (as is your wont) as an attempt to attack the NDP (what a ludicrous perversion of reality) - then I will try very hard to feel sorry for you.
What kind of damned place do you live in, where such crimes against children are possible?
http://rabble.ca/babble/national-news/bible-distribution-classrooms-divi...
Sun, 2011-11-20 16:22
#11
Who are you to comment on how they arrange their society? The people who live in Arviat are Christians and they support this. Why don't you all just mind your own business.
Kay Stonechild.
If it's true, isn't that the result of colonialism?
Sun, 2011-11-20 16:30
#12
Thanks for finding that, NS. I feel far more passionate today than I was then 
.
The only difference of course is that I give myself no right or place to condemn the Arviat board. They are not answerable to anyone except the Indigenous people whom they represent.
Sun, 2011-11-20 16:46
#13
Catchfire
Buttonwood, thank you for making the important point that FN peoples have as much right to choose their faith as anyone--and theanks Unionist for your nuanced and sensitive explanation.
Last year, through some extraordinary circumstance, I stayed at a Mariott hotel. As one of the "services" offered free of charge (not including wireless, natch), they would provide you with any one of a list of "sacred" texts, including the Gideon's Bible, the Koran, and humourously (to me) some Scientology text (no, not an L. Ron Hubbard novel). I thought it was weird that you could "request" a Gideon Bible, which seemed to me to miss the point of it. I wondered how many requests for the Book of Mormon they received (also dutifully on offer).
Anyway. All this to say: maybe the Gideons should concentrate on the Mariott hotel chain, where there market share is seriously threatened (and there is no stench of colonialist residue undermining their intentions).
Sun, 2011-11-20 16:52
#14
Does this mean that Rocky Raccoon is now living in Nunavut?
Sun, 2011-11-20 16:57
#15
Oh, that's rich, Ken. Anyway, if memory serves, by the time Rocky arrived, Gideon had already checked out and left the bible to assist with Rocky's revival, no?
Sun, 2011-11-20 17:00
#16
Well yeah, but at least he'd been there.
Mon, 2011-11-21 00:37
#17
They can put those bibles in coffee shops, hand them out in the street and paper the walls with them for all I care.
But they have no place in schools.
The comments on the news article are well worth reading - from people who clearly have experience in that region and school district, and even from some repigious people who think it is a bad idea.
Mon, 2011-11-21 11:32
#18
Northern Shoveler
The King James version went with the British imperialists as they conquered the globe. It still had the Old Testament in it which is essentially the same "Good Book" of hate filled misogyny and homophobia as the Jewish and Moslem faithful adhere too.
The Gideon Bible appears to be the American Empires approved version. They make sure the Prince of Peaces's writings are in hotel rooms from Kabul to Tripoli.
I hope the electors in this community throw the trustees out at the next election but that will be their choice. Religion has no place in public schools unless it is being taught as a comparative studies course to promote understanding and tolerance of other peoples religions. There is no one true religion they are all human portrayals of the unknowable and thus by definition flawed.