Teaching Creationism Is ‘Child Abuse,’ Says Prominent Physicist

Teaching Creationism Is ‘Child Abuse,’ Says Prominent Physicist Lawrence Krauss (VIDEO)

By Deborah Montesano

Big Think, the online knowledge forum, released a video on Tuesday of theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss speaking on the idea of teaching creationism. In it, Krauss asserts that the notion of creationism defies reality and teaching it to children is tantamount to child abuse. The video is in reaction to Senator Marco Rubio who, in December, declared in an interview with GQ that he didn’t know how old the earth is. In Rubio’s words:

“I’m not a scientist, man. I can tell you what recorded history says, I can tell you what the Bible says, but I think that’s a dispute amongst theologians… I think parents should be able to teach their kids what their faith says, what science says. Whether the Earth was created in 7 days, or 7 actual eras, I’m not sure we’ll ever be able to answer that. It’s one of the great mysteries.”

Wrong, says Krauss. Evolution is accepted reality, the basis for all biological sciences. For someone like Rubio, who is presumably both intelligent and educated, to take the stand that anything goes in education–that it’s okay for any belief to be taught regardless of reality–is a terrible error. In the following video, Krauss says:

“Allowing the notion that the Earth is 6,000 years old to be promulgated in schools is like teaching kids that the distance across the United States is 17 feet. That’s how big an error it is… The purpose of education is not to validate ignorance but to overcome it… To overcome a situation where a United States Senator can speak such manifest nonsense with impunity is vitally important to the healthy future of our society.”

 

Here’s the video:

Krauss isn’t the first person to insist that teaching creationism is a form of child abuse. Various atheist and rationalist groups have maintained the same thing. But people of faith, like Anglican priest and theologian David Jennings, of Leichester Cathedral, have taken that stand also. Last fall, when asked whether creationism should be taught in the schools, Jennings said in an open forum:

“There are some people who believe the earth is actually flat… But do we teach that, do we actually suggest that to young people?… Whatever people want to believe in the privacy of their own home, in the privacy of whatever religion they practice, they’re free to do that. But to teach young people things that we know are not true is tantamount to an abuse of young people.”

Last August, Bill Nye the Science Guy weighed in on the subject, also for Big Think:

“Denial of evolution is unique to the United States…I say to the grown-ups, If you want to deny evolution and live in your world that’s completely inconsistent with everything we’ve observed in the universe, that’s fine. But don’t make your kids do it because we need them. We need scientifically literate voters and taxpayers for the future…we need engineers that can build stuff, solve problems.”

Here’s the video:

All of these men underline the point that we Americans are not only unique in our denial of science, but also in the degree to which that denial holds back our young people. As a society, we’re jeopardizing both our future and theirs. We battle over religious ideology–which seems to lurk behind every issue these days–rather than uniting to educate our young and insure that they maintain an edge when it comes to innovation and leadership in the world.

Related articles

• Lawrence Krauss on Theology – Quote of the Day (scepticalprophet.wordpress.com)
• Education should never validate ignorance (openparachute.wordpress.com)
• A Guide to Understanding Nothing (bigthink.com)
• It’s Time to Stop Validating Ignorance (bigthink.com)
• Physicist Lawrence Krauss on teaching creationism: It’s a form of child abuse (rawstory.com)
• Physicist Lawrence Krauss: Teaching Creationism Is ‘Child Abuse’ (alan.com)
• Teaching Creationism Is ‘Child Abuse,’ Says Prominent Physicist Lawrence Krauss (VIDEO) (addictinginfo.org)
• Lawrence Krauss: Teaching Creationism is Child Abuse (richarddawkins.net)
• Lawrence Krauss: ‘The Purpose of Education is Not to Validate Ignorance but to Overcome It’ (patheos.com)

Against The Herd, Minority Rebel Israelis Oppose Penile Mutilation

In Israel, Some Rebel Against Circumcision

By Maayan Lubell

JERUSALEM

(Reuters) – Circumcision is one of Judaism’s most important laws and for generations of faithful it has symbolized a biblical covenant with God.

But in Israel, more and more Jewish parents are saying no to the blade.

“It’s such a taboo in Israel and in Judaism,” said Gali, nursing her six-week-old son, about the decision not to have him circumcised.

“It’s like coming out of the closet,” she said, asking to be identified by her first name only because she had not told her relatives yet.

Nearly all baby boys in Israel are circumcised. Be their parents ultra-Orthodox or totally secular Jews, it is by far the most common choice. Most Israeli-Arabs also keep with a practice that is widespread in the Muslim world.

Jewish circumcisions are done when the baby is eight days old. The majority are performed by a mohel, a religious man trained in the procedure carried out in a festive religious ceremony called a “brit“, Hebrew for covenant.

But an increasing minority fear it is a form of physical abuse.

“It’s the same as if someone would tell me ‘it’s our culture to cut off a finger when he is born’,” said Rakefet Kaufman, who also did not have her son circumcised.

“People should see it as abuse because it is done to a baby without asking him,” she said.

When Gali learnt she was carrying a baby boy it was obvious to her that he would be circumcised. But she started to think again after a conversation with a friend whose son was uncircumcised.

“She asked me what my reason was for doing it, was it religious? I said no. Was it for health reasons? No. Social? No. Then it began to sink in. I began to read more about it, enter Internet forums, I began to realize that I cannot do it.”

PHENOMENON GROWING

“The phenomenon is growing, I have no doubt,” said Ronit Tamir, who founded a support group for families who have chosen not to circumcise their sons.

“When we started the group 12 years ago we had to work hard to find 40 families … They were keeping it secret and we had to promise them we’d keep it secret,” she said. “Then, we’d get one or two phone calls a month. Nowadays I get dozens of emails and phone calls a month, hundreds a year.”

Tamir believes Jews in today’s Israel find it easier to break religious taboos.

“People are asking themselves what it means to be Jewish these days,” she said, and that leads some to question rules of all kinds, including circumcision.

In societies around the world who circumcise boys for non-religious reasons, out of habit or tradition or because of the perceived health benefits, the practice can be controversial.

Rates of circumcision in Europe are well under 20 percent, while in the United States, according to 2010 statistics cited by the Center for Disease Control (CDC), more than half of newborn boys continue to be circumcised.

The American Academy of Paediatrics said in August that the health benefits of infant circumcision – potentially avoiding infection, cancer and sexually-transmitted diseases – outweighed the risks, but said parents should make the final call.

But where the decision is ultimately a matter of personal choice for many families around the world, for Jews who question the tradition, it is more complicated.

“It is the covenant between us and God – a sign that one cannot deny and that Jews have kept even in times of persecution,” said one well-known mohel who has been performing circumcisions in Israel for more than 30 years. He asked not to be named to avoid being connected to any controversy.

He pointed to the Book of Genesis, where God said to Abraham: “And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins; and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.”

It is this covenant that, the mohel said, that “keeps the people of Israel together”.

The Bible goes on: “And the uncircumcised male child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

Scholars have differed over the years what this means in practice.

BEING DIFFERENT

Tamir is unswayed by the ancient verses.

“This edict is painful, irreversible and maims,” she said. The Internet was helping to spread the word, she said, allowing parents to find information about circumcision and seek advice anonymously.

Some Jewish groups in the United States which oppose circumcision offer alternative religious brit ceremonies that do not include an actual circumcision.

“There is definitely a growing number of Jewish families in the U.S. who are choosing not to circumcise,” said Florida-based Rebecca Wald. In 2010 she started a website to connect parents who are unsure about what to do.

“Since then, in phone calls, emails, and on social networking sites I have connected with hundreds of Jewish people in the U.S. who question circumcision.” she said in an email interview. “Many of them have intact (uncircumcised) sons or plan to leave future sons intact.”

Wald’s son was not circumcised.

“I have a very strong sense of Jewish identity and, believe it or not, having an intact son has only deepened it,” she said.

In Israel, where the vast majority are circumcised, the dilemma may be particularly difficult.

Although she is confident of the choice she and her husband made, Gali still has one concern.

“The main issue which still troubles me a little is the social one, that one day he may come to me and say ‘Mom, why did you do that to me? They made fun of me today’,” Gali said.

The Health Ministry does not keep records on circumcisions but estimates about 60,000 to 70,000 are held in Israel every year, which roughly corresponds to the number of boys born in 2010, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics.

The ministry said it treats about 70 cases a year of circumcisions gone wrong, mainly minor complications such as excessive bleeding.

Kaufman said “people were shocked” to learn that her son is not circumcised.

“In Israel everybody does it, like a herd,” she said. “They don’t stop and ask themselves about this specific procedure which has to do with damaging a baby.”

Watching her son rummage through a stack of toys, Kaufman said: “The way he was born is the way his body should be.”

Related articles

• In some Israeli families, circumcision gets the cut (reuters.com)
• snipcock news (niqnaq.wordpress.com)
• New York, Orthodox Jews Clash Over Circumcision (npr.org)
• In Israel, More Jews Choose Not To Circumcise (failedmessiah.typepad.com)
• New York, Orthodox Jews Clash Over Circumcision (npr.org)
• In Israel, Some Rebel Against Circumcision (salem-news.com)

Follow German Court’s Lead And Ban Circumcision, Israeli Child Advocate Says

Eran Sadeh, the founder of the Protect the Child website, argues that Israel should follow a German court’s lead and ban infant circumcision.

Eran Sadeh, the founder of the Protect the Child website, argues in Ynet that Israel should follow a German court’s lead and ban infant circumcision.

Sadeh gives eight reasons why he believes that infant circumcision should be banned:

The following are eight reasons why the circumcision ritual should be abolished:

1. A whole member is more natural. Males and females are born with foreskin.

2. A whole member is more pleasurable. The foreskin is the most sexually sensitive part of the penis. Like the tips of the fingers and the lips, the foreskin contains a high concentration of blood cells and sensory nerve endings. The foreskin protects the glans and keeps its surface soft, moist, and sensitive.

3. A whole member is more protected. During infancy, the foreskin protects the glans of the penis and the urethra from irritation and infections. When the foreskin is removed, the glans and urethra are exposed to abrasion that can eventually cause scarring and urination problems. Ten out of every 100 circumcised children will have to undergo surgery to expand the opening of the urethra.

4. A whole penis is more common throughout the world. Some 80% of men are not circumcised (close to 100% in Europe, not including Jews and Muslims). In Israel, more and more parents are leaving their children’s members whole due to the massive amount of information that is available on the Internet on the subject.

5. A whole penis is more humane. Parents who do not circumcise their child spare him of a host of painful experiences: The pain of the knife cutting through the flesh and the pain of an open, bleeding wound which takes 7-10 days to heal. The trauma of the pain is etched in the infant’s mind and affects the way he reacts to pain in the future.

6. A whole penis is safer. Each year hundreds of babies are rushed to the emergency room due to various complications related to the removal of the foreskin: Constant hemorrhaging that requires surgical intervention or an infusion due to the massive loss of blood; dangerous infections; a distortion of the penis; pain during erection and more.

7. Parents who leave their baby’s penis whole are respecting their child’s basic right to grow up with a whole body, with the whole penis he was born with. Due to the availability of information on the subject, more and more men are aware of the irreversible emotional damage circumcision has caused them and feel violated.

8. A whole member is more ethical. A surgical procedure is considered justifiable – from a medical standpoint – when it meets two conditions: A – It is performed to treat a medical condition, disease or injury. B – It is the least invasive treatment available. Obviously, circumcision does not meet either requirement, as the procedure is performed on healthy babies.

I think point number three is demonstrably false. Point number six needs a comparison between the number of uncircumcised babies who get urinary tract infections and the number of circumcised babies who are damaged from the circumcision. Point number eight would be true if circumcision did not lower certain disease transmission risks and lower the incident rate of urinary tract infections and penile cancer.

This is a sloppy, poorly written, poorly supported piece – which is sad, because, agree with it or not,  a good argument can be made to ban infant circumcision.

Unfortunately, Sadeh lacks the tools, it seems, to make it.

Related articles

• “10 out of 10 babies oppose circumcision” (offoxesandhedgehogs.wordpress.com)
• The Circumcision Conspiracy (lunaticoutpost.com)
• In Israel, Some Rebel Against Circumcision (salem-news.com)
• In some Israeli families, circumcision gets the cut (reuters.com)
• German legislators propose law barring circumcision under age 14 (jta.org)
• ‘Circumcised radio host: It is Pure Torture’ (justasnip.wordpress.com)
• Intactivists Push for State, Federal Bans on Infant Circumcision (prweb.com)
• B.C. dad who circumcised son on the kitchen floor loses high court appeal (vancouversun.com)

Jewish Cults Child Sex Abuse Coverup Begins To Be Exposed

Chabad’s Coverup Of Child Sex Abuse Begins To Be Exposed

The head of Chabad in Australia told a man whose son had been allegedly sexually abused by a youth group  leader at a Melbourne Jewish school that the child would not need  counselling because he was under eight years old, court documents say.

Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner

Rabbi ignored warnings on sexual abuse, say parents Jewel Topsfield • The Age
ONE of Australia’s leading rabbis told a man whose son had been allegedly sexually abused by a youth group leader at a Melbourne Jewish school that the child would not need counselling because he was under eight years old, court documents say.
David Samuel Cyprys, a former security guard at the Yeshivah Centre in St Kilda East, has been charged with 53 offences, including six counts of rape, allegedly committed against 12 boys between 1982 and 1991.
He is contesting the allegations at a committal hearing in the Melbourne Magistrates Court.
In court documents, the parents of two separate boys said they went to Yeshivah Centre director Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner in the 1980s to complain about alleged molestation.
The parents of both boys said no action was taken, with one woman saying her son was abused for another three years after her complaint.
One father said he told Rabbi Groner in 1984 that Cyprys had ”interfered” with his son. ” He told me that [the boy] wouldn’t need counselling because [he] was under eight years old,” the man said in a statement.
”Rabbi Groner told me he had spoken to psychologists before and they had told him because the children are so young counselling would not be necessary. Since that day I never heard another word.”
The mother of another boy said she called Rabbi Groner in 1987 after being ”shocked out of my brain” to learn of alleged abuse of her son.
”I recall when I mentioned David Cyprys’ name to Rabbi Groner he replied, ‘Oh, no, I thought we cured him’. By this I was sure that Rabbi Groner meant this sort of thing had happened before with David Cyprys,” the woman said in a witness statement.
Rabbi Groner, who was Melbourne’s most senior Chabad rabbi, died in 2008.
The court documents say Cyprys, who owns a locksmith business, has been affiliated with the yeshivah for many years. He was employed as a security guard, was a co-leader of a Jewish youth group there and was a martial arts instructor who recruited students from the school.
Cyprys, 44, of Balaclava, also supervised young males at the mikvah baths attached to the Yeshivah Centre, which are used for the spiritual cleansing of Jewish males.
”The accused was seen as a role model by members of the Jewish community who trusted him in the company of their children,” the summary of charges says.
The alleged victims, who were aged between seven and 17, say they were abused by Cyprys at locations including the mikvah bath house, Elwood houses, his van, Gan Israel youth camps and Yeshivah College.
”He was known as the ‘key master’. People knew this, and still do, and we were afraid of his reputation as being able to access everybody’s houses and also because of his martial arts prowess,” one alleged victim said in his statement.
”Cyprys was never shy about touching up kids. He was never violent, but you were scared, because he had the keys to everything, and he was a black belt at karate.”
Another alleged victim said Cyprys was ”a lot bigger and stronger than me at the time”. ”He had me pinned and cornered. I felt sick to my bones and wanted to die, I was so afraid.”
The man said that in the US, paedophiles in the Jewish community were reported to the police and dealt with accordingly. ”For some reason, the Jewish community in Melbourne covers things up,” he said in his statement.
Rabbi Abraham Glick, who was the principal of Yeshivah College between 1986 and 2007, said he had no recollection of any child or parent making a complaint to him about Cyprys molesting children.
”More recently it became known that the students did talk about David allegedly molesting children, but amongst the children there was a code of keeping this in ‘their world’,” Rabbi Glick said in his statement.
”The children did not discuss these issues with adults.”
Rabbi Glick, who still teaches at Yeshivah College and is the head of student wellbeing, said ”attitudes at the time were very different to current attitudes”.
”In those times it was a general practice that parents would not discuss these type of issues with anyone other than Rabbi Groner in his capacity as rabbi of the community and director of the colleges.”
The committal hearing is continuing before Magistrate Luisa Bazzani.

Groner’s brother was the Rebbe’s, Menachem Mendel Schneerson‘s, assistant.

Related articles

• Chabad’s Coverup Of Child Sex Abuse Begins To Be Exposed (failedmessiah.typepad.com)
• Australia to ask US to extradite alleged child molester (timesofisrael.com)
• Child Sex Abuse Case In Australia Comes To America (lukeford.net)
• Publicity Mad Egomaniacal Rabbi Shmuley Boteach (theageofblasphemy.wordpress.com)

Catholic diocese forced to deal with more allegations

- January 13, 2011

The Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Petersburg is again being forced to respond to allegations of misconduct in its clerical ranks.

Thursday, a representative of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, held a news conference in front of the diocese’s headquarters to talk about a $75,000 settlement with an alleged victim of sexual abuse by a longtime priest. The group also spoke about alleged abuse by two other priests who are now dead. The three priests, the group said, all served at Christ the King Catholic Church in Tampa.

SNAP, which claims membership of more than 10,000 in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Europe, also addressed the ongoing controversy at the Cathedral School of St. Jude in St. Petersburg. Parents are upset about the way they say a priest handled the sacrament of confession with their children in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

Diocese spokesman Frank Murphy confirmed a $75,000 settlement in July to man who claimed he was abused by Monsignor Norman Balthazar, who was working at Christ the King at the time of the abuse in 1980.

“We don’t know that anything did occur,” Murphy said.

“But yet they paid $75,000,” countered Martha Jean Lorenzo, the Tampa representative of SNAP, at the news conference.

“Given the cost of investigation and legal fees and you’re dealing with someone who wants to settle, it is easier to provide a settlement,” Murphy said.

Between 1996, when Bishop Robert N. Lynch took over the diocese, and 2006, the diocese paid out $2.8 million in settlements. Some of that was covered by insurance, Murphy said.

SNAP accused Lynch of keeping silent about allegations against Balthazar and the settlement. Murphy said that since the alleged abuse happened to an adult, not a child, the diocese did not have to make it public.

MORE: http://www.tampabay.com/news/religion/catholic-diocese-forced-to-deal-with-more-allegations/1145359

Related Articles

• Wilmington diocese offers $74 million abuse settlement (reuters.com)
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Horrific Haredi Child Abuser Guilty On All Counts

Elior Chen found guilty of all charges against him
Self-styled rabbi convicted of perpetrating sadistic attacks on the children of a couple who became his followers; sentencing at later date.
By DAN IZENBERG • Jerusalem Post

Jerusalem District Court Yoram Noam on Tuesday afternoon convicted Elior Chen of all charges against him. Sentencing will be at a later date.

In the meantime the self-styled rabbi’s lawyer, Ariel Attias, has already said that his client is innocent that that he will appeal the lower court decision to the Supreme Court.

Chen was found guilty of perpetrating sadistic attacks on the children of a couple who became his followers.

Attias charged that Noam had not allowed him to question the children who were victims of Chen’s acts. He also said that he had been given only five weeks to read all of the evidence involved in the case, whereas it had taken the court five months to do the same.

Last week, four of Chen’s disciples were sentenced to up to 20 years in prison for taking part in the brutal attacks against the children, one of whom has been in a coma ever since.

On November 23, Jerusalem District Court judge Nava Ben-Or sentenced David Avraham Kugman to 20 years in jail and a one-year suspended sentence and ordered him to pay NIS 200,000 in compensation to the children. Avraham Maskalchi and Shimon Gabai were each sentenced to 17 years in jail, a one-year suspended sentence and ordered to pay NIS 100,000 in compensation.

Roi Tzoref, who spent only part of the time during which Chen was in control of the children, was sentenced to 30 months in jail, six months suspended and ordered to pay NIS 10,000 in compensation.

The mother of the children, identified as M., has already been sentenced to five years in jail for her role in the affair. She turned state’s witness and testified against her former “teacher.”