What Do You Think About The Stomp-on-Jesus Professor?

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   jamesrkposted 10 years ago

   What Do You Think About The Stomp-on-Jesus Professor?
   
   Florida Atlantic University professor Deandre Poole recently asked his class to stomp on a picture of Jesus. I consider him an intolerant coward despite his claims. What do you think?

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   f_hruzposted 10 years ago

   You didn't offer an explanation why this scholar ASKED  his students to stomp an a picture of a catholic religious symbol ... maybe he wanted them to experience the feelings it would create in them so they could write an assay about it and discuss their emotional reaction during and after this symbolic act ?
   
   Why should the learning process not include such acts of self analysis and discovery ? Maybe he wanted them to relate their own experience to what others may feel when they see american soldiers burning the Quran ?

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   junksellerposted 10 years ago

   If you took some time to find out what the exercise was about, you'd know that the intention was to make a point about the significance we often attach to symbols. The fact that you are here calling him an "intolerant coward" kind of proves his point.
   
   I can only guess that your single source of information is something like FOX News. The reality of the exercise is that students are asked to step, not "stomp," on the paper and the expectation is that most of them will not do it. This therein is the foundation for generating a conversation about symbols and communication. That conversation is a good one and an important one, as evidenced by the fact that the professor in question has received death threats, and there are of course plenty of other examples of real or threatened violence being directed at individuals who have desecrated such symbols.
   
   It's also really important to point out the context. We aren't talking about high school kids. These are adults and part of the point of college (hopefully anyway) is to provide a challenging environment. That is sometimes difficult. That's a good thing. None of them were forced to be there, forced to write on the paper, or to step on it. No one was disallowed from objecting or from shouting their dismay at such a suggestion.
   
   I don't know, perhaps you'd prefer good little puppets who walk around dutifully following the word of whatever God you believe in. Not everybody does. Some of us want adults who think for themselves. Some of us want adults who will step on that paper and say, "it's just a piece of frickin' paper." Some of us want adults who will say, "heck no it isn't just a piece of paper." The point is we should all want adults who understand the world is full of lots of different people who need to learn how to sit down, have a conversation, and then together get where we are going.
   
   It might also interest you to know that the professor is a Christian and the exercise comes from a textbook written by a professor who teaches at a Catholic university.

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      Ben Blackwellposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you for pointing out the reality of the situation.  I am religious, but I do not believe in those who are blindly religious.

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      CalebSparksposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      junkseller, you seem like a very bitter person. It comes out in most everything you write. You must be very miserable. I'm sorry for you.

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      junksellerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      If you want fluffy answers and smiles go watch a beauty pageant. Your ad hominem attack says something about you, not me, so save your sorry feelings for your own inability to formulate an argument.

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   lone77starposted 10 years ago

   I don't know anything about this, except what you've told us.
   
   It's sad that someone who knows so little, thinks they know so much.
   
   Too many seemingly intelligent people have stuck their proverbial "feet" in their mouths when talking about spiritual matters and the subject of Christ or his miracles. Take for instance the story of Doron Nof, an oceanographer, who in 2006 said that Jesus may have walked on a block of ice instead of water. In his rush to dismiss the idea of a miracle, he committed several logical fallacies that make him look less than intelligent. For one thing, a block of ice floating in water is a difficult platform to walk on. When it gets wet, it becomes slippery. How would Jesus have maneuvered the block for several miles to the boat where the disciples were? And a block of ice floating in a storm tossed sea is doubly difficult to balance on. What Mr. Nof proposed is nearly as much a miracle as simply walking on water.
   
   Intolerance? Yes. Coward? Perhaps. Arrogance? Definitely. Laziness? Most assuredly.
   
   Having faith to perform miracles shows us that miracles are effortless. Any effort would be less than faith. There is no "struggle" when one creates.
   
   But we need to show love for our brothers and sisters. We need to heal the separation which wounded us so long ago in the original sin.

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      junksellerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Seriously? Lamenting about "someone who knows so little, thinks they know so much" directly after admitting "I don't know anything about this (other than what some guy on the internet said about it.)" Wow! And then you accuse others of laziness...

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