<p>^ Please show me the rule that the valedictorian MUST use a microphone while giving the speech. It’s not some hard rule. And I don’t know if you’ve read the article, but she was totally willing to give up the speech if she couldn’t record it. The school district SUGGESTED that she do it. She didn’t demand it like you’re making it out to be.</p>
<p>And you haven’t answered my question: She wore clothes to the graduation, and there is no rational reason to wear clothes, right? You won’t die or anything like that. The only example I can think of is if you live in a cold climate that poses the risk of frostbite, but that doesn’t apply here. So therefore, was she making a mockery of the education system by succumbing to some superstitious belief that she had to put random pieces of cloth on her body? What’s the difference between that and recording the speech? And don’t give me that “inconvenience” thing. How is it inconvenient to watch a prerecorded speech?</p>
<p>I’m with John Lennon: “imagine no religion”.</p>
<p>Thank you, vicariousparent, for your post #31. To me, also “every action taken in the name of God and every prohibition based on religious customs is misguided”.
I don’t mind the “quirky but harmless” practices - it’s all the other behaviors, practices, preaching, and hate that get to me…</p>
<p>FWIW, the mainstream LDS Mormon Church finds polygamy to be excommunication worthy offense and has for a relatively long time, relative to the age of the faith. Ass a Gentile (non-Mormon)–the terms has different meaning in Utah/Mormonism than it does everywhere else, I personally believe there was a good deal of politics behind that decision (or, to Mormons, revelation), but that’s my non-LDS take on it, and Mormons have the right to–and do–believe otherwise. Interestingly, as I understand it, celestial polygamy is still “allowed”/believed in (I suppose this comes into play if a man marries in the Temple more than once…?).</p>
<p>Lets just think about this possible scenario-
what if a valedictorian had a REALLY bad case of laryngitis, and asked that her graduation speech be read by another student, as she and all other attendees listened? Would her Religion matter? NO! Or lets pretend that she was a deaf/ mute Jewish student, and her speech was spoken by another, and signed, so that all would be able to share her accomplishments and joy? How is it RELEVANT to ANY others WHY SHE DID NOT SPEAK? And HOW would the method of delivery make ANY REAL difference whatsoever TO THOSE IN THE AUDIENCE , for whom the speech was written? The NET result was that her words were heard, with a little accomodation, willingly offered by her high school. Why would anyone consider this even worth bringing up on this forum? just because it showed up on the internet? My, my, my …
ANYONE who offers a high school graduation speech being delivered, for any reason, by any other means than being spoken, in real time , by the writer of the speech, as an example of “religious superstition” and/ or an example of a “less valuable” education, as the OP implied, is just looking for something petty to fight about.</p>
<p>The reason she didn’t give the speech is important. No one really cares about what she had to say. The point is, she did not have the sense and reason to realize that nothing bad would have happened if she just got up and delivered her speech. She is completely delusional and needs a psychiatric evaluation immediately because I do not trust her to make rational choices in her day to day life.</p>
<p>Religious practices are not equivalent to wearing clothes or having a particular haircut (these more or less come under ‘fashion’). If you are arguing that religious practice or custom is good because it makes you feel good as a member of a community (so a more attractive member of the same community will marry you, for example) then that may be quite rational.</p>
<p>But underlying all the religious practices is the belief that if you do something, your God will be pleased, and if you don’t he will be mad at you.</p>
<p>Atheism is affirmative. Any belief is inherently affirmative. And yes, if you want to believe something it’s up to you to have sufficient evidence to convince yourself. That seems like a basic principle of psychology.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Who says she didn’t realize nothing bad would happen? Who’s to say a failure to observe wouldn’t be, by itself, bad for her?</p>
<p>But not all religious people are superstitious or slave to religious practice. I know lot of people who practice different religion including Judaism who are not superstitious. They eat everything and keep their beliefs to them selves.</p>
<p>You won’t even make out the religious belief of the persons. That’s what you want the society to become. Practice what ever beliefs you have but don’t become a slave to it so that it become superstitions.</p>
<p>That’s just out right stupid. The Jews that don’t practice everything (including myself though I still go to temple) aren’t just not practicing superstitions, but don’t have the strength to do so. It’s not that she is estranging herself from Judaism, it’s that I and many others who are not Orthodox are also doing. It also depends on the way that you interpret the laws, whether you are ashkenazi or sephardic. The effects of not saying is not that something bad will happen, but it is the same to her as it would be as cheating on a test with out getting caught. Though nobody else around her might know what she’s doing, breaking her jewish laws, she is still breaking the codes that have been passed down to her from Mt. Sinai, thousands of years ago, before Christianity and Islam even existed. The fact that she can keep such a custom going, if nothing is important for cultural anthropology. You want everybody to conform around each other in public, but it’s our diversity that defines our nation. Though I do notice a turban when I see an islamic man walk past me, I have no problem with it because I know it’s his right to be islamic, just as I feel the same way as I see Orthodox men walking to temple on a saturday wearing payis. You are all ignorant.</p>
This thinking is just so bizarre, POIH. How does the playing of a pre-recorded speech while the val is standing there keep parents and classmates from enjoying the ceremony? Did people listening to the pre-recorded inauguration music of Yo-Yo Ma and Itzak Perlman (the quartet also included Gabriella Montero and Anthony McGill) prevent the hundreds of thousands of listeners from enjoying it? In contrast, did the fans of Milli Vanilli not initially enjoy the music, but later become bothered when they found out the duo was lip-syncing in concerts? It was because Milli Vanilli wasn’t up front about it and fessed up that it wasn’t even them singing, which led fans to feel duped. The val at this HS isn’t duping anyone. She is honest, true to both her school and her convictions, and able to participate actively in her graduation ceremonies. It was a win-win situation for all involved. Get over it, POIH. I hope the graduation ceremony was lovely.</p>
<p>That is what YOU want society to become. It is not necessarily what everyone else wants.</p>
<p>I live in a very multicultural part of the country. I like the variety – including the people who dress in special ways because of their culture or religion; the different houses of worship, holidays, and festivals; the many kinds of food; and the many languages I hear when I walk down a street or through a shopping mall. It’s more interesting that way.</p>
<p>I don’t want people to feel that they have to hide their religious beliefs. They’re part of what people are. A doctor that I go to wears a turban. The scientist who led a meeting I attended recently wore a veil. I have colleagues at work who wear crosses and others who wear yarmulkes. I have no problem with any of that, and I don’t know anyone else who does, either. </p>
<p>I believe in equality and the rule of law over the rule of man. Many of the framers of the US constitution believed in “Natural law.” Remember the premise “all men are created equal?” Are any of these verifiable? I don’t think so. In fact, at many levels they are verifiably incorrect.</p>
<p>Would I want everyone to keep these superstitions to themselves? No. Do I want people to espouse these beliefs and impose them on others? Actually, yes.</p>
<p>“The reason she didn’t give the speech is important. No one really cares about what she had to say. The point is, she did not have the sense and reason to realize that nothing bad would have happened if she just got up and delivered her speech. She is completely delusional and needs a psychiatric evaluation immediately . . .”</p>
<p>That is exactly how she would have been treated in the Soviet Union.</p>
<p>But underlying all the religious practices is the belief that if you do something, your God will be pleased, and if you don’t he will be mad at you."</p>
<p>No, no, NO. Can we please not apply the rules of other religions to O Judaism? They do not do it because they think God will be mad at them, or that indeed God is mad at the millions of Jews who eat ham and watch TV on Saturday, or because they think they will break a leg or perish in a fire if they don’t.</p>
<p>For all the idolizing of MIT and SAT scores and the like that you do, POIH, it’s pretty amazing that people who likely “only” went to unimpressive local universities managed to have creativity in problem solving that you don’t.</p>
<p>“But when some one provide it as reason to bend rules then it becomes a superstition.”</p>
<p>Out of curiosity, how do Sikhs who wear turbans put on the mortarboard cap, or do they just not wear them? Isn’t that a “rule”?</p>
<p>Part of being intelligent is figuring out core issues. Here, the core issue wasn’t that a microphone had to be personally used by the speaker; the core issue was that the speech made had to be audible to a large crowd. Smart people focus on solving the core issue, not blindly adhering to how it’s been done before.</p>
<p>^At my son’s CMU graduation a kid with a turban pinned the tassel to his turban and didn’t bother with the mortarboard. I have to say it was a more attractive look than those dumb mortarboards! (And I supposed he “broke the rule” about wearing mortarboards at your graduation. The horror!)</p>
<p>A young woman with a head scarf wore the mortar board on top of the scarf, which to my eyes, looked a bit awkward.</p>