One specific ad for Liberty University which was founded by Rev Jerry Falwell and is attended by fundamentalist Christians throughout the world had a line that read " Education with Value". Personally, I don't find anything " valuable" about the " education" that this institution provides. It's basically just another way re- enforce fundamentalist Christian religious beliefs in it's students. I highly doubt that Liberty University students are taught critical-thinking or comprehensive sex education. Scientific inquiry is also not something that Liberty encourages. You cannot be a fundamentalist Christian and be a critical thinker at the same time. Obedience to one's religious commands in the prescribed Bible and to their clergyman is a fundamental rule.
I saw a little bit of an episode from the " Wife Swap" reality TV show from 2006. A wealthy mother who dresses snappy trades motherly roles with a religious woman who homeschools her children. The religious family, especially the dad are not open to anything that goes against their religious or " moral" views. The dad is not in agreement with the wealthy woman sending his children to a public school as he doesn't want them exposed to things like sex education. BTW, the religious family are fundamentalist Christians whom I believe ( though I am not entirely sure) are involved in the evangelical movement. I strongly disagree with the father preventing his children from learning sex education even though he has the legal right to. Despite the fact, it is legal for him to do this, it is still morally wrong and irresponsible. He is reinforcing the stereotypical notion that sex is " only" reserved for heterosexual couples who are legally married for the purpose of having children. He's also just ensuring his children engage in risky sexual behaviors without the proper education on how to protect themselves. He's also implying to his children that sexual behavior is " dirty" and " evil" with his attitudes. I hope that since this episode was aired that his kids have had proper sex education. I would tell this man that like it or not, unmarried couples, polyamorous couples and same-sex couples engage in sexual behavior with their partner, people watch porn films, look at pornographic magazines, use sex toys, some people have anal sex, missionary-style sex, oral sex and other sexual behaviors that oddly freak people out.
The father didn't like his the wealthy mother having his daughter dress in what could be called "flashy outfits " that show a bit of breast and the religious mother felt the same way about these outfits while staying with the wealthy family. The religious mother dresses like a Puritan woman from the 16th century and that is okay, but I think she is entirely wrong about fancy-outfits that show cleavage as being a " bad thing" which is essentially how she viewed them. Sure, a young teenage girl shouldn't show her breasts to people but it is different for an adult woman to do so.
The religious family want to shelter their children from the public school and they seem to think that their religious views are more important than anything else in the world and they won't let their children decide what they believe for themselves. If the kids want to be fundamentalist evangelical Christians that is their choice, it's probably not the best choice but it would be their OWN choice that they chose to make regardless of their parents' influence. Anyways, these are type of religious people that really made me rethink about the role that organized religion plays in the lives of individuals and society. It is this type of mindset and behavior that made me question what beliefs that I held. I was raised as a Jehovah's Witness and left that denomination at 22 years old and was involved with 19 other religious groups both Christian and non-Christian for the next 30 years after leaving the WBTS.
I disagreed with many of the beliefs and practices of the JW's growing up and ended up disagreeing with most other religious groups that I belonged to. I don't think it is wise to believe in a god or an afterlife or cling to religious texts with some very immoral passages promoting prejudice, hate, slavery, anti-intellectualism, authoritarian political systems ( which usually happens to be a theocracy in such religious texts where a deity appoints clergy to the highest levels of political office which sometimes may be a monarchy), anti-sexual attitudes and genocide that were written by fallible human beings when there is no concrete or conclusive , testable proof that there is a deity, an afterlife or for the claims written in the religious texts. It also unwise if you ask me, to act on the practices written in the religious texts, especially when many of them are capable of causing harm to other human beings. This has all contributed to my becoming an atheist.
I don't claim to KNOW that there isn't a deity or an afterlife but I cannot believe in such concepts without testable and conclusive evidence or without making sure that the said deity is a moral entity worthy of worship or that the afterlife is a worthwhile place to be.
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