Check out this
article about Hassidic Jews getting PUBLIC bicycle lanes removed because Spandex-wearing bicyclists were a "threat to their religion." I've been told that OALCers have been successful in removing sports and theater programs from public schools their children attend. Is there a difference?
Sounds more like some 'Hasidic Lutherans' to me. The most successful people in America have been studied and the things that have made them successful have been incorporated into the American HS curriculum. Ideally a HS program includes 4 years of college prep math to include calculus, physics, chemistry and English as well as other courses. Sports are an integral part of the school activities as participation in HS sports has been shown to greatly improve life success stories as well as things like playing a musical instrument. Other after school activities such as theater, band and yearbook all have been shown to help a person mature and do better in college.
ReplyDeleteWell this alone makes a normal HS program automatically suspect in the Apostolic mindset as one is groomed to be a 'succesful member of a building trades oriented church.' I gave up counting the number of parents I knew who egged their children on to quit HS at 16 so that they would not become influenced by the world. So any attempt by the public school system to help prepare young people for success in life is automatically seen as a diabolical threat by the AP Lutherans.
Any healthy discussion about sex was off limits, much like the Hasidic Jews, as sex was something that just 'inflamed lustful desires' in people so the whole subject was sublimated. But it still came out as I saw plenty of 'spray on' jeans worn by church girls as well as hiked up skirts. Ever notice how the church guys sit in the hang out parking lot at Carrows with their stick shift hot rod? In reality the stick shift in these 'muscle cars' are subtly designed to be 'phallic symbols' signifying success and therefore virility.
There seems to be the same kinds of internal struggles such as the 'spandex moment' the Hasidics are having within all the AP groups (and others like the Amish) who live in a secular world yet keep trying to contain sensuality and the world's influence.
Anon, your description of the muscle car culture brings to mind the 50's and 60's. It could probably be said that this is a working class culture which exists not only within this church but everywhere. What the tight jeans, muscle car culture signified back in the day was rebellion against society's norms. What it seems to signify when it happens in the church is, once again, rebellion against society's norms and values. This is the culture their parents grew up in, and what separated them from their college-bound classmates..which as you said, was discouraged in many cases.
ReplyDeleteBut I do feel somewhat disconnected from your description because I know so few people who do not want their children to get an education, or participate in extra-curriculars. Maybe it would be more accurate to say this applies to some AP people, but not all. Another aspect is the homeschooling movement which places high value on education, excellence, and producing well-rounded kids, and which is very popular among many, including AP peeps.
As far as Hassidic Jews or the Amish, I agree that there are many fundamentalist churches which believe as they do in one way or another. And many who are dropping out of the world's system for non-religious reasons as well. Back-to-the-land, homesteading, homeschooling, home-centered living is very popular and growing.
We are living in interesting times. A friend who lives in Indianapolis said there are mainly two types of people and families in that area - kids who come from tough home situations with all the problems that come with it, and kids from conservative, homeschooling families..two extremes and not many in between. I wonder how things are in other parts of the country.....
ReplyDeleteNorah is right. From my experience, both the ALC and the IALC tend to be as well or more educated than the general population.
ReplyDeleteWhile I do not have any data other than qualitative observation, I suspect the percentage of OALC people with post high school education is far below the average. For the most part, even those who get a two year trade school education seem to be in the minority.
ReplyDeleteI think I missed the point of the original post..that these groups want to remove wholesome activities from public places such as schools and bike paths.. I don't agree with that at all.
ReplyDeleteAside from the senseless elimination of good programs and projects, what alternatives are these groups proposing? Do the OALC and conservatives in the other branches go out of their way or have ideas for positive experiences and other things to keep the kids busy? If they don't, there's the temptation to just roam the streets. I know this from personal experience. I was not allowed to do a lot of things, but by the grace of God I avoided falling in with the wrong crowd, and I tried hard not to make the same mistakes with my own.
(However, this college-bound gal fell for a guy with a muscle car way back in the late 60's, and the rest is, as they say, history, and I've never regretted it :).
Nora,
ReplyDeleteIn my exprience, there was no substitute or alternative proposed to eliminating "sinful" or "tempting" activities (ie wholesome physical activities like bike paths and school sports), except more youth gatherings (which consist of another serman sitting in the pews -or in the dark on someones lawn with your skirt hiked up far enough for the guy next to you to have his hand on your knee). I disagree wholeheartedly. The temptations are there and ignoring them will only make them more of a temptation with an added thrill.
Look away if your offended. Your eyes and thier actions belong to you... (not you specifically :) Stop trying to tell everyone what to do and stop measuring them up to your ideals.
Sorry, I dont have much patience for these types of silly situations lately and I think Im switching my "positive" and "negatives" around. Im more frequently adopting the mindset of "not arguing with fools"
but I think I would be quite angry if these fools effected my bike ride to work every day...
what a world we live in, eh?
;)
I think the education issue has been discussed before and if I remember correctly, the varying degrees of education encouraged or allowed varied greatly in all the different brances and experiences. Either way, I should think by now it could be easily proven, inside and outside any church, that the more sheltered and/or uneducated a person is, the more they are disadvantaged for functioning in society, for understanding other viewpoints and getting along with our fellow man in love instead of fear.
Hp3, I agree. Sometimes these things get carried too far.. everything is bad or evil, etc. The more I think about it the more confused I'm getting and my head is starting to hurt, so I better stop writing about this now. lol
ReplyDelete