junkpoet Posted September 26, 2007 Posted September 26, 2007 today is meet you at the pole day. i teach at a high school in oklahoma. the kids are encouraged in the announcements to attend. then the youth pastors come in to the cafateria and ask everyone to come out. they all meet out at the flag pole (how appropriate, see george carlin, symbols for the symbol minded) and pray to their magic sky god. i dont know what they pray for. we also have a student lead prayer at the football and basket ball games over the P.A. the road goes on forever and the ignorance never ends.
L.B. Posted September 26, 2007 Posted September 26, 2007 Damn... in a PUBLIC school? Holy shit. Imagine if they tried that shit in a P.S. in New York City or Philly... fucking riots. I work in a church as a youth pastor (looooong story), and I would never even think of going to the public schools around me. Muslims, Jews, Buddhists and others abound. What fucking arrogance on one hand, and mindless lemming-like followerism on the part of the students that participate. Don't these people realize that See You At The Pole is a fucking program for SALE to youth pastors? Motherfuckers sell shirts and books and shit and they pump their regional and local events to the kids that are already trained to respond to the word "flagpole" or "pole"... I wish it were not true, but it is. They believe they are part of some big important movement, when all they are doing is subsidizing the careers and lifestyles of these social-engineering Bible-Nazis.
junkpoet Posted September 26, 2007 Author Posted September 26, 2007 social-engineering Bible-Nazis. nice.
Fweethawt Posted September 26, 2007 Posted September 26, 2007 I remember seeing this once at the local high school while taking my oldest son there in the morning. I think he was in the tenth grade at the time. And when we pulled in, he said with a giggle, "What the hell are they doing?" A chip off the'ol block, he is.
smellincoffee Posted September 26, 2007 Posted September 26, 2007 I'm a student at a public liberal arts university, and I saw three people holding hands and whispering to God this morning. I was coming back from breakfast thirty minutes late and thought it was a daily thing that I just hadn't seen before. Guess not! They looked at me as I passed them; I suppose they thought I was going to join them. They didn't say anything, though.
SilentLoner Posted September 26, 2007 Posted September 26, 2007 At my high school the xtian club met at the flag pole too (luckily no announcements over the PA). It always looked funny to me, like they were worshipping the flag pole. Now in college its a lot closer to home. Just a few nights ago I walk into the lounge room on my dorm floor to throw away a large trash bag and find an in-session prayer group (I just dumped the trash anyways).
Robbobrob Posted September 26, 2007 Posted September 26, 2007 Last time I remember praying in school was 6th grade, right around the time they banned teacher-led prayer in school. My teacher was an ex-nun (living with another ex-nun turned teacher....didn't get the sexual signifigance of that til much later).
Brother Jeff Posted September 26, 2007 Posted September 26, 2007 Religion is advertised often where I go to school at the University of Alaska Anchorage. This semester I have seen ads posted for a bible study and for some upcoming concert where some famous gospel singer is gonna sing glorious songs about mythological bullshit. My personal opinion is that religion has no place at institutions of learning. Universities (and high schools) are places of LEARNING and social and scientific and intellectual progress, not places where ignorance and superstition should abound or be encouraged in any way.
I Broke Free Posted September 26, 2007 Posted September 26, 2007 When they gather at the flagpole, do they hold hands around the pole? My mind just can’s shake the image of all the Whos down in Whoville (who like Chrismas a lot) standing around in a circle, (the tall and the small) holding hands and singing. I can just picture myself walking buy this event singing that song just to get a rise out of them. I am evil that way.
evergreen Posted September 26, 2007 Posted September 26, 2007 I remember going to a Meet You at the Pole when I was 15 or 16. It wasn't advertised by the school though, it was organized by our church's youth group. We went out and held hands around the pole (much like the Whos, IBF!) and prayed that god would save our friends and classmates and teachers who didn't know him, and that would inspire a revivial among the towns, blah blah blah. I totally forgot they did that though... Hm.
Piprus Posted September 26, 2007 Posted September 26, 2007 I'm REALLY glad I wasn't exposed to this crap when I was in school. Forced prayer ended for me in 1961, never to return, thanks to the efforts of Madeline Murray O'Hair. Damnation with faint praise to her, because she was considered a bit of a kook, but she made her point. Forced christian based prayers and devotions was, and is, unconstitutional, and she was right. As long as the christians do this stuff on their own time, fine...but I do have a problem with their attempts to lure other students into their cultish ritual.
Ro-bear Posted September 26, 2007 Posted September 26, 2007 today is meet you at the pole day. i teach at a high school in oklahoma. the kids are encouraged in the announcements to attend. then the youth pastors come in to the cafateria and ask everyone to come out. they all meet out at the flag pole (how appropriate, see george carlin, symbols for the symbol minded) and pray to their magic sky god. i dont know what they pray for. we also have a student lead prayer at the football and basket ball games over the P.A. the road goes on forever and the ignorance never ends. Same shit at my high school. I have no problem with them having their meeting announced; secular groups have the same right. However, I think that student-led prayer over the P.A. at football games goes too far. Why are these kids allowed to commandeer the mike? Would an atheist be granted this? Hell no! What about the Jews and Muslims? Student-led prayer shouild take place in the stands or on the field with no expectation for others; if I want to slurp my coke, sing a song, or talk to my friends, no one should hassle me about it. You do your thing, and I'll do mine. Stop expecting government to echo your silly superstitions.
woodsmoke Posted September 27, 2007 Posted September 27, 2007 When they gather at the flagpole, do they hold hands around the pole? My mind just can’s shake the image of all the Whos down in Whoville (who like Chrismas a lot) standing around in a circle, (the tall and the small) holding hands and singing. I can just picture myself walking buy this event singing that song just to get a rise out of them. I am evil that way. Dennis, have I told you lately you're my favorite person in the world?
L.B. Posted September 27, 2007 Posted September 27, 2007 Da-hoo Doray, Da-hoo Doray Welcome Jesus, if you're real. Da-hoo Doray, Da-hoo Doray Get abortion laws repealed. Just like the Whos. Singing imaginary songs to an imaginary sky deity who somehow allowed the Grinch to screw their ChristMess up, even though SkyMan is supposedly all-powerful. Yawn.
Mike D Posted September 27, 2007 Posted September 27, 2007 Wow is meet you at the pole day some kind of nationwide thing? I don't remember this ever happening at my high school, although I went to school in California so that might explain it. The jesus freaks (as they were called) were just a small group, and they had to compete with jocks, cheerleaders, partiers, preps, geeks, punks, stoners, surfers, rednecks skaters, sluts, rich kids, rockers, etc. for any attention, which they usually didn't get unless it was to be made fun of
Amethyst Posted September 27, 2007 Posted September 27, 2007 Same shit at my high school. I have no problem with them having their meeting announced; secular groups have the same right. However, I think that student-led prayer over the P.A. at football games goes too far. Why are these kids allowed to commandeer the mike? Would an atheist be granted this? Hell no! What about the Jews and Muslims? Student-led prayer shouild take place in the stands or on the field with no expectation for others; if I want to slurp my coke, sing a song, or talk to my friends, no one should hassle me about it. You do your thing, and I'll do mine. Stop expecting government to echo your silly superstitions. The problem is that the current government does echo their silly superstitions, so it's only natural they expect it to. I can only hope that in '08, we'll have a more reasonable leader.
Robbobrob Posted September 27, 2007 Posted September 27, 2007 Doesn't this smack of paganism (not bashing the pagans, just pointing out a similarity). If this happened in the beginning of May, it would be denounced as a satanic ritual. All the Christians are missing is the ribbons tied to the top of the pole. Course, the phallic symbolism of the Horny God is too easy not to pass up. Especially if they hold hands around it forming a giant ring, or hole.
bush country Posted September 28, 2007 Posted September 28, 2007 This semester I have seen ads posted for a bible study and for some upcoming concert where some famous gospel singer is gonna sing glorious songs about mythological bullshit. Lmao Haven't seen you around in a while Brother Jeff. Good to see you posting again. Glory!
R. S. Martin Posted September 28, 2007 Posted September 28, 2007 Religion is advertised often where I go to school at the University of Alaska Anchorage. This semester I have seen ads posted for a bible study and for some upcoming concert where some famous gospel singer is gonna sing glorious songs about mythological bullshit. My personal opinion is that religion has no place at institutions of learning. Universities (and high schools) are places of LEARNING and social and scientific and intellectual progress, not places where ignorance and superstition should abound or be encouraged in any way. Hmmm. Learning about myth, as you pointed out that it really is, can be educational. A people's myths tell you something about the people. I struggle with the logic of a people who have mastered the universe and know how to land on the moon and take photographs of the other side of the universe and can also take apart and put back together the human brain so that the body works as good as new, but insist that it makes sense to believe that human happiness resides in a myth. At the very least, I would like to understand the logic of that before I die. A thought occurs to me. Might it be that this people has so far exploited the left-brain that the right-brain is nearly depleted for lack of use? Therefore extreme illogic is excercised in the form of religion? This allows adults to lay aside their responsibilities and participate in childlike repetitious behaviour for a brief time on a regular basis.
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