When I last posted, I left it off that we had an evaluation scheduled for February. Liam was two and a few months old. He was not talking while playing, he was not talking at all. He had a few words, but he didn't use them to communicate. He didn't share his joy with me, he just rolled a car over and over and watched the wheels from the vantage point of the floor. He spent quite a good amount of time lying on the floor watching wheels of cars. He did engage a little with his sisters and brother, and me. He liked his dad the best. His dad sings, beautifully. And he has a wonderful pleasant voice, masculine. Liam loved being with his dad. Snuggling, not playing, just being. But, we had to make a huge effort. In every video taken at that time, we are calling, "Liam. Liam. Look here. Smile for me Liam. Liam. Liam, look up." and he doesn't or he glances up and then nothing. If I can figure out how to post a video, I'll post it. But, mostly Liam would play quietly. He would stay in his room, mostly alone. Liam loved anything with buttons, would press them for hours. He was content on very long car drives. He was content to be put to bed. He was content all the time, but rarely joyful or sad. His belly protruded like he was pregnant (not as bad as the starving children in Ethopia, but kind of the same thing.).
His diagnosis was certain. Moderate to High level of autism, or low functioning autism. They gave us folders full of material on how to get him to engage, on what therapies he would need, and what to expect for the next couple of years. We contacted our local school board, and they put us in contact with the speech therapists who would be working with Liam. He was now receiving speech therapy once a week and play therapy once a week. He didn't really mind. He sat there and watched, participated a little for about 30 minutes and learned a very useful phrase. "All Done, Bye" The speech therapists were patient and wonderful. They told me what I could expect, slow progress. they were making up an elaborate system of using velcro cards, with pictures on them. Communication would come slowly. I enforced the lessons for about 15 minutes twice a day, sometimes more. The children, our older children learned how to play with him on his terms, and how to engage him a little. All of this helped, but Liam was still mostly, voluntarily silent. He still played silently.
Liam saw his pediatrician twice before August after his diagnosis. He was rather healthy. They were pushing for us to begin vaccination. My husband is anti-vaccine, and has been since the birth of his first child in 1993. I have been cautious about vaccination. My ex-husband and I vaccianted one vaccine at a time starting at two years old. I planned on doing that with Liam. Liam's father insisted that we use the single-stored dosage vaccine for Polio as Liam's first vaccine. It took the hospital about an hour to get a vial. They keep them for cancer patients, but use the multi-dose packs for healthy children. The doctor didn't suggest anything we could do with lifestyle or diet that might help with the autism. Liam's only health concern was poop. He had loads of it, and it was not 'formed' and it was smelly. The doctor said that was common in Autistic Children like Liam. I remembered this from when my 1996 daughter was little, she had such a protruding stomach.
In August, I came across some material about probiotics while reading Jim Carey's stepson's information. I researched it further, and they were talking about using Diet to cure autism. There was a lot of very negative feedback. I read on. Eliminating wheat, it seemed was helpful to some children with autism, and milk. We couldn't try milk, because Liam was obviously allergic to soy. Without that, he had not milk.
I called a friend of mine who is a massage therapist and her husband is a chiropractor. They are sweet and helpful, and they have good rates. (He helped my stepson with both a severe neck pain and a fear of chiropractors) http://http://www.clearandcalm.com/ . They recommended the clinic in Concord, NH called the Center For Integrative Medicine, and a specific doctor who specializes in children with autism and their stomach problems. I called and made an appointment. They sent me the questionaire. One thing, if you seek treatment for your child with autism, you will answer the same questions so often you want to barf. But, these questions were a little different. They asked about detailed family history, illness history, digestion history.
We, Liam Will and I all went for the appointment. I've never given a more detailed interview to a doctor before. She wrote and took notes, and asked questions for hours! She examined Liam, and more importantly, she watched Liam. She watched him while she asked us a zillion questions about him, his siblings, us, our exes, our parents, our sibilings. She recommended that we take Liam off of Dairy (it is OK, there is Rice Milk, I didn't know that. There is also Almond Milk. Clever vegans.) for two or three weeks, and then take him off of wheat and all gluten products. We made an appointment for three months later when we would do the bloodwork to test for allergins.
Liam didn't care if his bottle had milk or rice milk. We switched, and then realized that Rumunto's Pizza was off the table, literally, until this experiment was done. After 36 hours of being off of dairy...
Liam's Dad comes in to the house after working that day. Normally, his Dad greets him. "Hi, Liam" and Liam looks up, then goes back to his play. That day! After Dad said, Hi, Liam. Liam looked up and said, "Hi, Dad." We were astounded. It was like it was the most normal thing in the world for him to do. He had been speaking now for a bit. No nouns, no verbs, but when we insisted and bugged him, Liam, say Mommy. He would say Ma. He didn't act like he knew what it meant, but he knew that it meant that we would leave him alone. He had just Greeted his dad. Really!
We wanted to start the wheat/glueten right away, but my parents were comming for a visit in a week for a few days, and we decided to wait until they left. This was the end of September 2008. Liam was almost three (December 22).
More later. It is late.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Sunday, November 2, 2008
On again, off again... autism
My son has autism. It is such a painful and hopeful statement to me.I have a daughter who was diagnosed with Autism, Asperger's Syndrome, and PDD-NOS. If you are familiar with the spectrum, all of these are familiar. And I am guessing that you are familiar with the spectrum, it is the new 'little black dress' of childhood.
My son, my Liam. I am heartbroken that he isn't the neurotypical child that I gave birth to. His birth was the end of a long and difficult pregnancy.
Long because I had a two month pregnancy which ended in a miscarriage in January, then became pregnant again in March. Liam was born in December 2005. The pregnancy was difficult because I had uterine fibriods and then a placental abruption which caused bleeding from month three until month seven. I was on very restricted bedrest (or couchrest) for most of the pregnancy. And for most of the time I was on the couch, I FELT GREAT! Feeling bad and having to sleep or rest is one thing, but having to rest and lie still when you feel energetic and great is an entirely different situation.
Liam was a wanted and planned for baby. We named him before we were even pregnant, hopeful that we would concieve and that it would be a boy. (We didn't put all of our eggs in one basket, though. We had a few beautiful names for girls too.) I had never given birth to a boy. Will, my husband, already had a son and a daughter, but with my two girls, we were definately girl heavy.
So, Liam was born. Healthy and strong. He could and did, on his first day of life, lift his head off of his father's chest and look him in the eye. He was lovely, and I recovered from my pregnancy. We weren't quite successful in the breastfeeding department, but we managed with supplimentation. We were happy.
Life went on, Liam was reaching most of his milestones early or on time. Even with Dagny's DXs, she met all of her milestones early. Liam was developing well, but he couldn't roll from his back to his stomach. He could easily roll from his stomach to back, and he had strong arms and legs. He could sit, and stand. But he still couldn't roll from back to front. We now know that he had trunk weakness. Otherwise, he was happy and joyful. He could talk, laugh, and he was usually in a good mood. We could already tell that he had a good ear, like his father. He got upset when I sang (can't stay on key for anything), and calmed when his sisters or father sang to him.
Liam talked sometimes, using words like "Ball" and "mom" "Dad" "Bot". He had the full range of facial expressions. He responded quite quickly to our emotions. On one occasion right before he got sick, Will, Liam and myself were in the basement and Liam got fussed at for ignoring Dad's directive to stop (hitting, throwing something, or some other such normal behavior for a one year old). He started crying when Will fussed at him, and he said, "I a bad boy". It was a complete sentence, and while I don't remember a lot of other occasions where he was using them, what struck me that day was the emotion, and where had he picked up that bit of "Bad Boy" stuff. It wasn't in my vocabulary, and my mental note from that day was to discuss with the older kids using terms like "bad boy" and "good boy" in front of him. That he had spoken so well wasn't standing out.
Then Liam got sick. My husband got a rash on his head, when he traveled to Las Vegas on buisness in May 2007. It got infected, and when he got home he went to see his doctor. His doctor suspected shingles, and that was confirmed when a week later Liam came down with Chickenpox. He was lethargic and feverish, sick for weeks. His doctor didn't want to see him, she said that with chickenpox, just mind the symptoms. Advil and Tylenol in rotation every four hours for the fever, and calamine lotion for the itching. He recovered, but then came down with a 'stomach flu' which lasted another week. When Liam got sick he was about 35 pounds, by the time he recovered, he was 28 pounds!He hardly ate any food during his stomach flu, just formula. He loved his bottles, and he rested until he started feeling better.
But, after Liam got better, he was different. He stopped talking, stopped using all of his facial expressions. He saw the doctor in March, and while he was beginnning to recover from his dramatic weight loss, he was different. The doctor, a seasoned resident who had seem Liam before, Dr. Nguyen, was concerned. She called her attending in to look at Liam (his head was large for age, and he still wasn't walking). The attending suggested that we keep an eye on the numbers (head circumfrence and weight) and we meet again in three months. Three months later, in June, Liam still wasn't walking and his head was roughly the same size. His attending was feeling more optimistic about Liam's prognosis. But, new concerns were starting. Liam had a strange gait. Liam had a rash. Liam was terrified of bathing, and of water in general.
We scheduled a physical therapist, who came over once or twice a week and played with Liam until he was too frustrated to go on. She showed us how to keep him from sitting in a W position. She encouraged us to play with him in an upright position at all times. I did what she asked, and by the time Liam was two, he was taking steps, again.
We saw his doctor a few more times during the physical therapy. It was what we were focused on, but we were all becomming more and more concerned about Liam's silence. He stopped talking alltogether with the exception of an occasional "OoooH" or "OK" or phrasing. He had lost all nouns. He had no verbs. He wasn't talking and he was almost two.
We went to Disney in November 2007 for a family vacation. When the people in my husband's family say family vacation, they meant everyone. We all went, even my father-in-law, who was finishing a round of chemo for his lymphoma. We had a great time, and Liam was wonderful. We got a chance to spend time with Mattew, Liam's cousin who is almost exactly one year older than him. Mattie was great. He played with Liam, and they were almost the same size! Matthew has loads of allergies, and his mother is constantly watching everything that goes into his mouth. No dairy, no wheat, all natural.. soy wasn't his issue, which we had discovered by that time caused Liam to have skin and stomach problems.
We scheduled an evaluation for February 2008.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
What a size Zero really looks like.
My prepuberty eleven year old daughter just outgrew her size zero skinny jeans. She is thin, athletic and beautiful, also she is 83.5 pounds (doctor visit last week) and five feet tall.
I've been watching the size zero models for quite a while now, envious of their thin arms, legs, behinds. They have small breasts and the cutest waists, but seriously... size zero. They are a smaller size than my daughter! Please, she hasn't even gone through puberty yet! She hasn't moved out of her training bra yet! And there isn't a bit of fat on her body. And they are smaller than her!
Forget it. Just be the size you are, be healthy, and be whatever beautiful you can achieve. Size zero is smaller than you think. While there are those women, who finish puberty and still have a thirty-two inch chest measurement and a thirty-two inch hip measurement without ever starving themselves, they are few. For most of us, at least for those of us in this family, that size is best left for those who are still prepuberty, still children.
Thanks Janet
I've been watching the size zero models for quite a while now, envious of their thin arms, legs, behinds. They have small breasts and the cutest waists, but seriously... size zero. They are a smaller size than my daughter! Please, she hasn't even gone through puberty yet! She hasn't moved out of her training bra yet! And there isn't a bit of fat on her body. And they are smaller than her!
Forget it. Just be the size you are, be healthy, and be whatever beautiful you can achieve. Size zero is smaller than you think. While there are those women, who finish puberty and still have a thirty-two inch chest measurement and a thirty-two inch hip measurement without ever starving themselves, they are few. For most of us, at least for those of us in this family, that size is best left for those who are still prepuberty, still children.
Thanks Janet
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Cognitive Development Theory
Cognitive Development in Adolescence: The Usefulness of Piaget’s Theory, Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Reasoning, and Fowler’s Stages of Faith in assisting children to reach their Potential
Janet Johnson
In this paper, I will compare the cognitive development of adolescences using the concepts of Piaget’s Theory, Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Reasoning, and Fowler’s Stages of Faith. In looking the different concepts of each of the theories, I will look for similarities, differences. I will look at how these concepts apply in helping to understand the overall development of the child and how this understanding might help those adults who interact with children assist children in reaching their potential.
The key concepts of each theory
Piaget’s Theory is based on the concept of a schema. A schema could be described as the path to understanding and knowing both the physical actions and the mental. Schemas are categories of knowledge. The breaking up into categories can assist us in interpretation and understanding the world. Piaget looked at a schema as both a category and a process of obtaining knowledge. Assimilation, the process of taking in new information into our previously existing schema is known as assimilation. Altering existing ideas to fit into categories is called accommodation, another part of adaptation. Trying to Balance assimilation and accommodation was described by Piaget as Equilibration. This accounts for new knowledge fitting into old behaviors. Either the knowledge must be changed to fit the behavior or the behavior must change to fit the knowledge. Piaget breaks learning into these three pieces, but he further breaks the pieces down into maturation levels. Sensorimotor Stage, birth to age 2, Preoperational Stage, between the ages of two and six, Concrete Operational Stage, age 7 to 11, and Formal operational stages, age 11 until adulthood. (Papalia, D.E., Olds, S.W., Feldman, R.D., 2008)
Kohlberg’s theory of Moral Reasoning is based on the idea that moral reasoning follows a predictable pattern, adjusting as the child learns information (schema) and assimilates that information. He describes three main levels of moral reasoning. Level 1 is Preconventional Morality, where children act under external controls (obey to avoid punishment or to get rewards. , ages 4-10). Level 2 is described as Conventional Morality, where people have internalized the standards of authority. They want to be good, please others and fit into social norms. (ages 10 until Level Three is reached or until adulthood) In Postconventional morality, children recognize conflicts between moral standards and make judgements on the basis of principles of right, fairness, and justice. (generally early adulthood). (Papalia, D.E., Olds, S.W., Feldman, R.D., 2008)
Fowler describes Stages of Faith with Stage 1 being Intuitive-Projective faith, fantasy-filled, imitative phase where a child can be permanently influenced by examples, moods, actions, and stories of the apparent faith of his family. (ages three to seven) Stage 2 is characterized by taking the stories, beliefs and observances that symbolize belonging to his community and giving them literal interpretations, Rules. Stage three, adolescence, is preceded by a realization that the stories don’t always match their experience or the experiences of others, then the relationship with God becomes a choice made, and therefore quite conformist. Stage three people have a personal myth of how they came to identify themselves with their faith. Finally Stage four, Individuative-Reflective faith, the burden of responsibility is taken for his own commitments, lifestyle, beliefs and attitudes. (Papalia, D.E., Olds, S.W., Feldman, R.D., 2008)
Major points of similarity:
All three of these break the development down into neat predictable steps. Generally, it is desired for one to flow from one step to the next in the stages of Piaget’s Higher Moral Reasoning, in Kohlberg’s Moral Stages, and in Fowler’s Stages of Faith. They use the normal progress of reasoning to explain and describe how intelligence, morality and religion evolve into the thinking and reasoning skills of a mature adult.
The first stage
Piaget’s Approach begins with the Sensorimotor stage, birth until age two, but for the purposes of comparison in this paper I will begin focus with the Preoperational Child, a stage which lasts from about ages 2 until about 7. Great expansion in the use of symbolic thought but still lack the ability to use logic is key in this stage. Also prominent is the egocentrism, where a child will assume that everyone thinks, perceives and feels exactly like he does. (Papalia, D.E., Olds, S.W., Feldman, R.D., 2008) In his moral development theory, Piaget called this stage rigid obedience to authority, he held that children at this age will be either right or wrong, an that all offense is deserving of punishment.
Kohlberg’s Level 1 is called Preconventional morality. From ages four to until about ten, children act the way that they do from external controls. The major motivational factors are avoidance of punishment, seeking rewards, or pure self-interest. (Papalia, D.E., Olds, S.W., Feldman, R.D., 2008)
Fowler’s cooresponding stage is Stage 1: Primal or intuitive-projective faith, about age 2 until 7 years. Children this age have a basic trust in the very powerful adults in their lives. They try to understand their world, fit their personal experience with the stories that they are told by their parents. They mainly think of God in terms of obedience and punishment. (Papalia, D.E., Olds, S.W., Feldman, R.D., 2008)
All of these stages follow the early development of the child’s reasoning skills, it assumes that the child will progress into some growth emotionally, physically and mentally, where reasoning will improve. Parents’ influence will be greatest at these early stages.
The second stage
Piaget’s Third Operational Stage (the second one we are utilizing for the purposes of this paper) is called the stage of concrete operations. It is defined as the stage in which they can use mental operations to solve concrete problems, but they still lack the abstract thinking of adults. Children in this stage have a better grasp of space, are able to find their way to and from locations. They can understand maps and models and can communicate about spatial relationships. Also prominent in this stage is the newly developed ability to categorize information. Children at this stage can use inductive reasoning, but not deductive reasoning. (Papalia, D.E., Olds, S.W., Feldman, R.D., 2008) In his moral reasoning stages, Piaget characterized second stage moral reasoning as increasing flexibility. This is based on the child’s sense of fairness and equal treatment for all. They can consider many aspects of situations and can make more subtle moral judgements.
Kohlberg’s Second
Major points of difference
Piaget‘s focused on qualitative development. As children move from one level to another, they can see that there are fallacies and inconsistencies in their thinking and reasoning. Therefore the child will look for a better way of approaching the subject. Kohlberg‘s Theory, though, assumes at each level that the child sees and understands, without a doubt, that his perception is not only correct, but is shared by all, not just his same aged peers. Fowler‘s Theory sees the child moving through the steps in a choppy sometimes unconvinced manner. The nature of Faith, taking on a belief without having the facts to back it up, insist that a child take his newfound skills of reasoning and often suspend them. The only evidence he has at times is the observable behavior of his parents and community and the faith that more understanding will come later. Responsibility for choosing a faith, under most cultures, is put off until the final stage where acceptance and responsibility go along with the role in the Church and Religious community.
Discuss the interaction of cognitive, physical and emotional development on the overall development of the child.
Explain why the understanding of normal child and adolescent development is important in assisting each child to reach their potential.
These final two sections are as yet incomplete.
References
Papalia, D.E., Olds, S.W., Feldman, R.D. (2008) A Child’s World, Infancy through Adolescence, McGraw
Hill Company
Paulist, (1986), Stages of Faith, Women’s Spirituality: Resources for Christian Development, pp. 226-232
Steve Harlow, Rhoda Cummings, Suzanne M Aberasturi. (2006). Karl Popper and Jean
Piaget: A Rationale for Constructivism. The Educational Forum, 71(1), 41-48. Retrieved
July 28, 2008, from ProQuest Education Journals database. (Document ID:
1152484721).
Janet Johnson
In this paper, I will compare the cognitive development of adolescences using the concepts of Piaget’s Theory, Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Reasoning, and Fowler’s Stages of Faith. In looking the different concepts of each of the theories, I will look for similarities, differences. I will look at how these concepts apply in helping to understand the overall development of the child and how this understanding might help those adults who interact with children assist children in reaching their potential.
The key concepts of each theory
Piaget’s Theory is based on the concept of a schema. A schema could be described as the path to understanding and knowing both the physical actions and the mental. Schemas are categories of knowledge. The breaking up into categories can assist us in interpretation and understanding the world. Piaget looked at a schema as both a category and a process of obtaining knowledge. Assimilation, the process of taking in new information into our previously existing schema is known as assimilation. Altering existing ideas to fit into categories is called accommodation, another part of adaptation. Trying to Balance assimilation and accommodation was described by Piaget as Equilibration. This accounts for new knowledge fitting into old behaviors. Either the knowledge must be changed to fit the behavior or the behavior must change to fit the knowledge. Piaget breaks learning into these three pieces, but he further breaks the pieces down into maturation levels. Sensorimotor Stage, birth to age 2, Preoperational Stage, between the ages of two and six, Concrete Operational Stage, age 7 to 11, and Formal operational stages, age 11 until adulthood. (Papalia, D.E., Olds, S.W., Feldman, R.D., 2008)
Kohlberg’s theory of Moral Reasoning is based on the idea that moral reasoning follows a predictable pattern, adjusting as the child learns information (schema) and assimilates that information. He describes three main levels of moral reasoning. Level 1 is Preconventional Morality, where children act under external controls (obey to avoid punishment or to get rewards. , ages 4-10). Level 2 is described as Conventional Morality, where people have internalized the standards of authority. They want to be good, please others and fit into social norms. (ages 10 until Level Three is reached or until adulthood) In Postconventional morality, children recognize conflicts between moral standards and make judgements on the basis of principles of right, fairness, and justice. (generally early adulthood). (Papalia, D.E., Olds, S.W., Feldman, R.D., 2008)
Fowler describes Stages of Faith with Stage 1 being Intuitive-Projective faith, fantasy-filled, imitative phase where a child can be permanently influenced by examples, moods, actions, and stories of the apparent faith of his family. (ages three to seven) Stage 2 is characterized by taking the stories, beliefs and observances that symbolize belonging to his community and giving them literal interpretations, Rules. Stage three, adolescence, is preceded by a realization that the stories don’t always match their experience or the experiences of others, then the relationship with God becomes a choice made, and therefore quite conformist. Stage three people have a personal myth of how they came to identify themselves with their faith. Finally Stage four, Individuative-Reflective faith, the burden of responsibility is taken for his own commitments, lifestyle, beliefs and attitudes. (Papalia, D.E., Olds, S.W., Feldman, R.D., 2008)
Major points of similarity:
All three of these break the development down into neat predictable steps. Generally, it is desired for one to flow from one step to the next in the stages of Piaget’s Higher Moral Reasoning, in Kohlberg’s Moral Stages, and in Fowler’s Stages of Faith. They use the normal progress of reasoning to explain and describe how intelligence, morality and religion evolve into the thinking and reasoning skills of a mature adult.
The first stage
Piaget’s Approach begins with the Sensorimotor stage, birth until age two, but for the purposes of comparison in this paper I will begin focus with the Preoperational Child, a stage which lasts from about ages 2 until about 7. Great expansion in the use of symbolic thought but still lack the ability to use logic is key in this stage. Also prominent is the egocentrism, where a child will assume that everyone thinks, perceives and feels exactly like he does. (Papalia, D.E., Olds, S.W., Feldman, R.D., 2008) In his moral development theory, Piaget called this stage rigid obedience to authority, he held that children at this age will be either right or wrong, an that all offense is deserving of punishment.
Kohlberg’s Level 1 is called Preconventional morality. From ages four to until about ten, children act the way that they do from external controls. The major motivational factors are avoidance of punishment, seeking rewards, or pure self-interest. (Papalia, D.E., Olds, S.W., Feldman, R.D., 2008)
Fowler’s cooresponding stage is Stage 1: Primal or intuitive-projective faith, about age 2 until 7 years. Children this age have a basic trust in the very powerful adults in their lives. They try to understand their world, fit their personal experience with the stories that they are told by their parents. They mainly think of God in terms of obedience and punishment. (Papalia, D.E., Olds, S.W., Feldman, R.D., 2008)
All of these stages follow the early development of the child’s reasoning skills, it assumes that the child will progress into some growth emotionally, physically and mentally, where reasoning will improve. Parents’ influence will be greatest at these early stages.
The second stage
Piaget’s Third Operational Stage (the second one we are utilizing for the purposes of this paper) is called the stage of concrete operations. It is defined as the stage in which they can use mental operations to solve concrete problems, but they still lack the abstract thinking of adults. Children in this stage have a better grasp of space, are able to find their way to and from locations. They can understand maps and models and can communicate about spatial relationships. Also prominent in this stage is the newly developed ability to categorize information. Children at this stage can use inductive reasoning, but not deductive reasoning. (Papalia, D.E., Olds, S.W., Feldman, R.D., 2008) In his moral reasoning stages, Piaget characterized second stage moral reasoning as increasing flexibility. This is based on the child’s sense of fairness and equal treatment for all. They can consider many aspects of situations and can make more subtle moral judgements.
Kohlberg’s Second
Major points of difference
Piaget‘s focused on qualitative development. As children move from one level to another, they can see that there are fallacies and inconsistencies in their thinking and reasoning. Therefore the child will look for a better way of approaching the subject. Kohlberg‘s Theory, though, assumes at each level that the child sees and understands, without a doubt, that his perception is not only correct, but is shared by all, not just his same aged peers. Fowler‘s Theory sees the child moving through the steps in a choppy sometimes unconvinced manner. The nature of Faith, taking on a belief without having the facts to back it up, insist that a child take his newfound skills of reasoning and often suspend them. The only evidence he has at times is the observable behavior of his parents and community and the faith that more understanding will come later. Responsibility for choosing a faith, under most cultures, is put off until the final stage where acceptance and responsibility go along with the role in the Church and Religious community.
Discuss the interaction of cognitive, physical and emotional development on the overall development of the child.
Explain why the understanding of normal child and adolescent development is important in assisting each child to reach their potential.
These final two sections are as yet incomplete.
References
Papalia, D.E., Olds, S.W., Feldman, R.D. (2008) A Child’s World, Infancy through Adolescence, McGraw
Hill Company
Paulist, (1986), Stages of Faith, Women’s Spirituality: Resources for Christian Development, pp. 226-232
Steve Harlow, Rhoda Cummings, Suzanne M Aberasturi. (2006). Karl Popper and Jean
Piaget: A Rationale for Constructivism. The Educational Forum, 71(1), 41-48. Retrieved
July 28, 2008, from ProQuest Education Journals database. (Document ID:
1152484721).
Monday, July 7, 2008
The United States, a Christian Nation?
The United States, a Christian Nation?
Janet Johnson
SOC315 Cross Cultural Perspectives
Michael Mayo
July 7, 2008
The United States, A Christian Nation?
Summary:
This paper tries to look at the similarities of the methods used by the extremists in the Christian religion, the Religious Right, and in the Muslim religion, the Al Qaeda. Both of these movements are trying to obtain a purity and a consistency which is highly unlikely to ever exist for a large group. This paper further explores the success of these methods to raise money and bodies for the cause. Then the paper looks at how, with money and effort, the methods ultimately work or don’t work in achieving the lofty goals set out by these organizations.
Introduction, The Reagan Years
Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was the fortieth President of the United States and has been the vaunted hero of the religious right. (The Biography of Ronald Reagan, 2008) He is invoked at almost any political speech. His presidency is still proclaimed as the high mark of Christians in politics. Regan promised to use his morality and his religion to guide him in his presidency and he often sought the council and advice of religious leaders. (Marley, 2006) This popular view of the Reagan Era, according to the article by D.J. Marley, Ronald Reagan and the Splintering of the Christian Right, is actually backwards. He claims that it is best to view the Reagan administration as a period of growth, high profile, but little success. Regan spoke of his beliefs concerning abortion, his belief in the need for prayer in public school, his desire to move the government towards Christian values, but he did not use his considerable clout towards any of these issues. Marley even quotes an anonymous Reagan official as saying, "We want to keep the Moral Majority types so close to us they can't move their arms."
Thesis
During the Regan years, there was a connection between the religious of the United States and the Republican Party. In the last 25 years the religious right has changed how the Republican Party is defined. I will look at the connection between religion and government in the last 25 years and compare the methods and the progress of the self-described Religious Right in trying to remake the government into a Christian organization with those methods and the progress by Bin Laden.
Discussion
The Beginnings of the Religious Right
According to Rob Boston, in his article “Reconsidering the Religious Right” (The Humanist, 2008) the movement of the Religious Right would never have taken off had it not been for the books, “Whatever Happened to the Human Race?” and “How Should We Then Live?” written by Francis Schaffer (January 30, 1912 - May 15, 1984), a Presbyterian pastor and American Evangelical Christian theologian. (Hamilton, M.S., 1997) He and his son, Frank Schaeffer were activists. Francis, through his books after his death in 1984 continuing until today, and Frank, until 2006 when he left the Republican Party and became an Independent (Boston, 2008), both were activists against the spread of “secular humanism” and godlessness. Frank described his standard recipe for a speech (his emphasis): “Abortion is murder; secular humanism is destroying us; turn back to our Christian foundation; vote Republican.”
In an article written for The Humanist in 2007 titled “Down but Not Out: The Religious Right and Election ‘06” Rob Boston wrote that he saw a very non-American unifying theory in the Religious Right, one that hints, implies, and outright claims that the founders were wrong when they did not make the United States a “Christian Republic”. The basic foundation of the country as a secular government, a government indifferent to religion, is a basic “mistake” and is the premise from which bad laws are justified. In the New King James Version of the Bible, Luke 23:11, the verse is , “He who is not with me is against me, he who does not gather with me scatters.” A government is seen by the Religious Right, according to Mr. Boston, who is assistant director of communication for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, as either actively promoting conservative Christianity or it is hostile to that faith.
Who Is Up the Religious Right and Who Are Its Leaders?
Pat Robertson is a televangelist, host of “The 700 Club“, and unsuccessful 1988 Republican presidential nominee. He is considered a founder of the Christian Coalition and is also an advocate of Christian dominionism, the idea that Christians have a right to rule. (Shields, 2007) Tim LaHaye, coauthor of the Left Behind series and one of the original founders of the Moral Majority with his book, “The Battle for the Mind” published in 1980. He said that secular humanism was going to destroy America . (Boston, 2008) Jerry Farwell (August 11, 1933 - May 15, 2007), a evangelical Christian pastor, a televangelist, and a cofounder of the Moral Majority. He will be remembered for having said that the attacks of 9/11 were “God’s punishment” and further for saying on the 700 Club, “I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'“ He did later apologize on CNN and said that he only blamed the terrorists for the attack. (CNN.com, September 14, 2001) Dr. James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, is referred to as "a power-crazed political manipulator cynically abusing his followers," by Frank Schaeffer. (Boston, 2008) These men, among other, lesser known men, began the Christian Right in and around 1979 and 1980. Their combined political influence has been very strong in the House of Representatives and with the Presidency of George Bush. The financial contributions of the members of their respective groups, while not enough to guarantee the presidency, can get a Republican elected to the House of Representatives. (Boston, 2007)
The Conservative Republican Party 1970 and Now
Senator Barry Goldwater, conservative Senator from Arizona, once said of the religious extremists “Our problem is ... who want to destroy everybody who doesn't agree with them. I see them as betrayers of the fundamental principles of conservatism. A lot of so-called conservatives today don't know what the word means.” (1994, The Washington Post) Adam Bellow wrote in his article for World Affairs, “Skin in the Game: A Conservative Chronicle,” that when he worked for Bill Buckley, founder of the National Review and leader in the conservative Republican Party, that he had attended a dinner at Bill Buckley’s house when the author wrote for the National Review, and there was a seminar of sorts where the guests, all conservative Republicans, discussed and debated the topics of illegal immigration, late term abortion, and bilingual education with grace and wit. He compared that with how the conservatives now face intellectual collapse (his phrasing), going from a movement of ideas to a decayed hash of meaningless slogans and sound bites. (Bellow, 2008)
The Methods of the Religious Right
John Shields, writing for the Political Science Quarterly (2007), wrote “Between Passion and Deliberation: The Christian Right and Democratic Ideals. He spent a great deal of time looking at direct mailers from the Christian Right, the Christian Coalition and CWA, to their followers. He concludes that they use deliberate wording to arouse moral passion and to motivate into deliberative activism. He compares their methods with those of Islamic fundamentalism and skinhead groups. He quotes the findings of the Fundamentalism Project, a major interdisciplinary undertaking at University of Chicago that attempted to trace fundamentalism across major world religions. Half of the mail, he observes, explicitly compares contemporary moral conflicts to a war. He argues that while direct mail is a kind of public discourse, it is carefully targeted to those will be sympathetic. There is no need to change convictions of those reading the mailings, so the goal is to create a kind of unrest which hopefully the reader will address by either funding or acting in the interests of the Christian Coalition.
He looks at the specific wording of some of the mailings by The Christian Coalition, they used the strongest language available in one of its mailings: "NEVER AGAIN will we be subject to a government that dishonors our Lord." In 1992, after the elections, the Christian Coalition compared a Democratic led Senate with Moses’ years in the desert when leading the Jews from slavery, "Remember, God sent Moses and his people into the wilderness for a time before delivering them to the Promised Land."
The Methods used by Osama Bin Laden
In the article written by Dale Eickelman called “Bin Laden, the Arab “Street” and the Middle East’s Democracy Deficit” (2002), Eickelman describes Bin Laden as trying to motivate the alienated Arab youth. They are often unemployed and living in poverty and dire conditions. Bin Laden uses the vivid language of popular Islamic preachers. He uses his speeches broadcast on al-Jazeera satellite television to build on resentment against the West and the local powers who are identified with it.
Bin Laden quietly sits and narrates the flight of the Prophet Mohammed from Mecca to Medina, when the early Islamic movement was threatened. And he describes how Mohammed returned and conquered. Those who are not for the fight led by Bin Laden are called Zionists and crusaders. (Eickelman, 2002)
Desired Outcomes
If Roe v Wade is overturned and the decisions go back to the states, the debate will shift to making abortion illegal nationwide. If homosexual marriage is made unconstitutional, homosexual unions will be attacked. If it becomes legal to harm a person who burns the flag, the fight will switch to making it an impressionable offense. The fight is not about these particular issues. It seems that the desired outcome of the American Religious Right is more than to make homosexual marriage illegal, to make abortion illegal, to make flag burning punishable, to limit immigration. No matter the law passed, it will not be enough until the American Government is declared officially a Christian Government, one which rejects the religions of the East. This debate, or battle as it is rightly named by the Religious Right, is for more than any grouping of issues, it is for the control of the federal government.
Osama Bin Laden asserts himself and the image of the Al Qaeda terrorist network as guardians of Islamic values. His fundamental tenet is that Muslim is being poisoned, and that the only way the desecration can stop is if all the outsiders are driven out and strict Islamic rule is established everywhere Muslims live.
Conclusion
I set out to compare the similarities of the methods used by both of the extremist branches of the normally peace loving and reasonable religious organizations, the Christians and the Muslims.
During the Regan years it became apparent that there was a branch of the more conservative leaning members of the Republican party which were aligning themselves with the money and power of the Christian evangelists who were gaining a large audience on television. As they gained power, their message has hardened from one which calls for certain things in our society to one which demands nothing but complete acceptance of those same things and more.
Can the extreme right of the Republican party be satisfied? This country was designed as one which separates church and state. It recognizes no religion, and will not grant power to those who also head religious organizations. The connections between the so called Ultra-Conservatives and the more middle leaning rest of the party are currently threatened, but there is no evidence that they will be broken or even weakened.
The stated desired outcome of Osama Bin Laden’s crusade is also one that seemingly will not be obtained. He wants a pure Muslim world, where the power is not challenged. The Al Qaeda terrorist network only gains in strength where unrest is there for another reason. (International, 2008) Can the Muslim extremists be appeased? It is impossible to finish the fight that Osama Bin Laden has waged for the last 30 years.
I conclude that the methods used by extremists in both the Christian and the Muslim religious organizations are effective and comparable. But, ultimately, neither will work. The Religious Right has waged an effective campaign against the pet issues of gay marriage, abortion, and flag burning amendments for the last thirty years, with seemingly unending financial support, but all ground gained has been lost again. Bin Laden and the terrorist network have tried for thirty years to ‘drive out the infidels’. In that time, the United States has invaded Iraq and Afghanistan. Peace is coming to the Middle East and he still has very little foothold in the sympathies of his own countrymen or that of the world.
References (annotated Biography)
Bellow, A. (2008). SKIN IN THE GAME: A Conservative Chronicle. World Affairs, 171(1), 26-38. Retrieved July 8, 2008, from Research Library database. (Document ID: 1504957911).
Summary: The "movement of ideas" I had joined (or into which I had been drafted) in the 1980s had decayed into a hash of meaningless slogans and sound bites. In twenty years of publishing on the front lines of the culture war, I had rarely stopped to ask myself this question.\n When that happens, as eventually it will, the intellectuals will be there to translate his or her political instincts into a new conservative ideology.
Boston, R. (2007). Down But Not Out: The Religious Right and Election '06. The Humanist, 67(1), 36-37. Retrieved June 23, 2008, from Research Library database. (Document ID: 1189109231).
Summary:
Rep. John Hostettler (R-IN), one of the most vociferous opponents of church-state separation in the House (he introduced the Public Expression of Religion Act which bars the awarding of attorney's fees in establishment clause challenges), lost his seat to Brad Ellsworth, a conservative Democrat, in a 39 percent to 61 percent loss. [...] on balance, the results can't be seen as anything but a disaster for the religious right which, since 1994, has used the House of Representatives as a playground for absurd, constitutionally questionable bills lauding the Ten Commandments, stripping federal courts of their ability to hear church-state cases, and curbing citizens' power to bring legal challenges under the First Amendment's establishment clause.
Boston, R, (Mar/Apr 2008), Reconsidering the religious right: Schaeffer and the new wave of theocratic apostates, The Humanist, Washington DC, vol 68, iss 2, p. 31, searched on June 23, 2008 on the ProQuest Database
Summary: For many years Schaeffer worked with John W. Whitehead, founder of the Rutherford Institute, a group that was one of the early pioneers of the religious right's legal movement. Whitehead's early books flirt with Christian Reconstructionism, a radical movement that seeks to impose a fundamentalist theocracy on America where the harsh codes of the Old Testament would be elevated to law. This paper explores the relationship that the religious right has had with the government since that movement began.
Eickelman, D.F. (January 2002), Bin Laden, the Arab “Street,” and the Middle East’s democracy deficit, Current History, Comparative politics 07/08, p 193, 3 pgs.
Abstract: Bin Laden speaks in the vivid language of popular Islamic preachers, and builds on a deep and widespread resentment against the West and local ruling elites identified with it. The lack of formal outlets to express opinion on public concerns has created a democracy deficit in much of the Arab world, and this makes it easier for terrorists such as bin Laden, asserting that they act in the name of religion, to hijack the Arab street.
Hamilton, M.S. (March 3, 1997), The Dissatisfaction of Francis Schaeffer, found on Christianity Today website with the search engine Christianity Today Library.com, http://ctlibrary.com/ct/1997/march3/7t322a.html
Summary: This article discusses the life of Francis Schaeffer and his death. The article tries to convey how thirteen years after his death, Schaeffer’s vision and frustrations continue to haunt evangelicalism.
International: When religions talk; Islam and the West. (2008, June). The Economist, 387(8584), 74-75. Retrieved July 8, 2008, from Research Library database. (Document ID: 1495458991).
Summary: Debates about Islam and the West can throw up unexpected tensions. That doesn't, and shouldn't, stop faiths from trying to talk to each other. Since Osama bin Laden launched the war he describes as the renewal of an ancient conflict between Islam and the Crusaders and Jews, there have been many initiatives to head off global confrontations involving religions and the cultures they have spawned. Al-Qaeda's war on the West is by no means the only religious or pseudo-religious dispute in the world. Recently, however, most of the high-profile efforts to stave off civilization war by talking about it have focused on Islam and the West--without ever answering the question of whether it is useful to treat Islam as a single block, or of whether the West is best defined as Christian, Judaea-Christian or secular. Perhaps al-Qaeda's proclamation of a civilisational war has been, in part, self-fulfilling: millions of Muslims regard their faith as being in a state of confrontation, along many fronts, with the West. Some Westerners, including prominent and influential ones, return the compliment.
Marley, D.J. (2006), Ronald Regan and the Splintering of the Christian Right, The Journal of Church and State, 48(4), 851-868, Retrieved June 23, 2008 from Research Library database. (Document ID: 12125921)
Summary: The earliest and still popular conception of the Reagan era marks it as the high water mark for the Christian Right and they went into decline after 1988; however the opposite is true. It is best to view the Reagan administration as a period of growth in which the Christian Right enjoyed a high profile, but had little tangible success in politics. While the president spoke of his personal dislike of abortion and the need for prayer in public schools, he was unwilling to expend any of his considerable political capital to move those issues forward. Many Christian Right leaders realized that being granted a meeting with the president was no substitute for having their agenda made into law. Ronald Reagan's presidency was hugely inspirational for religious conservatives and continues to be so. While he did very little for them, Reagan did give them a sense of belonging. The very fact that the president of the United States appeared to agree with the agenda of the Christian Right gave them tremendous power. This gift of rhetoric was inspirational and continues to fuel today's Christian Right. Reagan continues to serve as an example of the limitations of political influence and a reminder that it is better to be in power than to be a constituent. The Christian Right's understanding of this lesson can be seen in their early support of George W. Bush in the presidential campaign of 2000. In the end, Reagan's presidency was more important to the Christian Right as a symbol than as an era during which they achieved any of their political goals.
Biography of Ronald Reagan (2008), from the website of the White House, searched on July 7, 2008, www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/rr40.html
Summary: This website gives a brief history of President Reagan’s life and his presidency. Mostly it is a factual page, with dates and names. It also gives an optimistic summary of his actions as President of the United States.
Shields, J.A. (2007). Between Passion and Deliberation: The Christian Right and Democratic Ideals. Political Science Quarterly, 122(1), 89-0_10. Retrieved June 23, 2008, from Research Library database. (Document ID: 1256049341).
Abstract (Summary)
Shields discusses American democracy in relation to the Christian right movement, focusing on the fundamental tension within most Christian right organizations between the exigencies of mobilization and successful political activism. For this purpose, he examines how Christian leaders attempt to shape the public behavior of activists by analyzing a wide variety of elite communications in what have been the largest Christian right organizations over the course of the last two decades, especially the Christian Coalition, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), and Concerned Women for America (CWA). He further supplements the evidence with interviews of Christian right leaders. After briefly surveying scholarship on the right and discussing some of its shortcomings, he analyzes mobilization messages and then contrasts the strident exhortations with the deliberative messages particularly found in training seminars. Furthermore, he turns his attention to Christian radicals and highlight both their marginality and the grounding of their militancy in a bellicose reading of the Bible. The discussion then concludes by drawing out the larger normative implications of the findings by highlighting the deep tension between participation and deliberation.
Janet Johnson
SOC315 Cross Cultural Perspectives
Michael Mayo
July 7, 2008
The United States, A Christian Nation?
Summary:
This paper tries to look at the similarities of the methods used by the extremists in the Christian religion, the Religious Right, and in the Muslim religion, the Al Qaeda. Both of these movements are trying to obtain a purity and a consistency which is highly unlikely to ever exist for a large group. This paper further explores the success of these methods to raise money and bodies for the cause. Then the paper looks at how, with money and effort, the methods ultimately work or don’t work in achieving the lofty goals set out by these organizations.
Introduction, The Reagan Years
Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was the fortieth President of the United States and has been the vaunted hero of the religious right. (The Biography of Ronald Reagan, 2008) He is invoked at almost any political speech. His presidency is still proclaimed as the high mark of Christians in politics. Regan promised to use his morality and his religion to guide him in his presidency and he often sought the council and advice of religious leaders. (Marley, 2006) This popular view of the Reagan Era, according to the article by D.J. Marley, Ronald Reagan and the Splintering of the Christian Right, is actually backwards. He claims that it is best to view the Reagan administration as a period of growth, high profile, but little success. Regan spoke of his beliefs concerning abortion, his belief in the need for prayer in public school, his desire to move the government towards Christian values, but he did not use his considerable clout towards any of these issues. Marley even quotes an anonymous Reagan official as saying, "We want to keep the Moral Majority types so close to us they can't move their arms."
Thesis
During the Regan years, there was a connection between the religious of the United States and the Republican Party. In the last 25 years the religious right has changed how the Republican Party is defined. I will look at the connection between religion and government in the last 25 years and compare the methods and the progress of the self-described Religious Right in trying to remake the government into a Christian organization with those methods and the progress by Bin Laden.
Discussion
The Beginnings of the Religious Right
According to Rob Boston, in his article “Reconsidering the Religious Right” (The Humanist, 2008) the movement of the Religious Right would never have taken off had it not been for the books, “Whatever Happened to the Human Race?” and “How Should We Then Live?” written by Francis Schaffer (January 30, 1912 - May 15, 1984), a Presbyterian pastor and American Evangelical Christian theologian. (Hamilton, M.S., 1997) He and his son, Frank Schaeffer were activists. Francis, through his books after his death in 1984 continuing until today, and Frank, until 2006 when he left the Republican Party and became an Independent (Boston, 2008), both were activists against the spread of “secular humanism” and godlessness. Frank described his standard recipe for a speech (his emphasis): “Abortion is murder; secular humanism is destroying us; turn back to our Christian foundation; vote Republican.”
In an article written for The Humanist in 2007 titled “Down but Not Out: The Religious Right and Election ‘06” Rob Boston wrote that he saw a very non-American unifying theory in the Religious Right, one that hints, implies, and outright claims that the founders were wrong when they did not make the United States a “Christian Republic”. The basic foundation of the country as a secular government, a government indifferent to religion, is a basic “mistake” and is the premise from which bad laws are justified. In the New King James Version of the Bible, Luke 23:11, the verse is , “He who is not with me is against me, he who does not gather with me scatters.” A government is seen by the Religious Right, according to Mr. Boston, who is assistant director of communication for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, as either actively promoting conservative Christianity or it is hostile to that faith.
Who Is Up the Religious Right and Who Are Its Leaders?
Pat Robertson is a televangelist, host of “The 700 Club“, and unsuccessful 1988 Republican presidential nominee. He is considered a founder of the Christian Coalition and is also an advocate of Christian dominionism, the idea that Christians have a right to rule. (Shields, 2007) Tim LaHaye, coauthor of the Left Behind series and one of the original founders of the Moral Majority with his book, “The Battle for the Mind” published in 1980. He said that secular humanism was going to destroy America . (Boston, 2008) Jerry Farwell (August 11, 1933 - May 15, 2007), a evangelical Christian pastor, a televangelist, and a cofounder of the Moral Majority. He will be remembered for having said that the attacks of 9/11 were “God’s punishment” and further for saying on the 700 Club, “I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'“ He did later apologize on CNN and said that he only blamed the terrorists for the attack. (CNN.com, September 14, 2001) Dr. James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, is referred to as "a power-crazed political manipulator cynically abusing his followers," by Frank Schaeffer. (Boston, 2008) These men, among other, lesser known men, began the Christian Right in and around 1979 and 1980. Their combined political influence has been very strong in the House of Representatives and with the Presidency of George Bush. The financial contributions of the members of their respective groups, while not enough to guarantee the presidency, can get a Republican elected to the House of Representatives. (Boston, 2007)
The Conservative Republican Party 1970 and Now
Senator Barry Goldwater, conservative Senator from Arizona, once said of the religious extremists “Our problem is ... who want to destroy everybody who doesn't agree with them. I see them as betrayers of the fundamental principles of conservatism. A lot of so-called conservatives today don't know what the word means.” (1994, The Washington Post) Adam Bellow wrote in his article for World Affairs, “Skin in the Game: A Conservative Chronicle,” that when he worked for Bill Buckley, founder of the National Review and leader in the conservative Republican Party, that he had attended a dinner at Bill Buckley’s house when the author wrote for the National Review, and there was a seminar of sorts where the guests, all conservative Republicans, discussed and debated the topics of illegal immigration, late term abortion, and bilingual education with grace and wit. He compared that with how the conservatives now face intellectual collapse (his phrasing), going from a movement of ideas to a decayed hash of meaningless slogans and sound bites. (Bellow, 2008)
The Methods of the Religious Right
John Shields, writing for the Political Science Quarterly (2007), wrote “Between Passion and Deliberation: The Christian Right and Democratic Ideals. He spent a great deal of time looking at direct mailers from the Christian Right, the Christian Coalition and CWA, to their followers. He concludes that they use deliberate wording to arouse moral passion and to motivate into deliberative activism. He compares their methods with those of Islamic fundamentalism and skinhead groups. He quotes the findings of the Fundamentalism Project, a major interdisciplinary undertaking at University of Chicago that attempted to trace fundamentalism across major world religions. Half of the mail, he observes, explicitly compares contemporary moral conflicts to a war. He argues that while direct mail is a kind of public discourse, it is carefully targeted to those will be sympathetic. There is no need to change convictions of those reading the mailings, so the goal is to create a kind of unrest which hopefully the reader will address by either funding or acting in the interests of the Christian Coalition.
He looks at the specific wording of some of the mailings by The Christian Coalition, they used the strongest language available in one of its mailings: "NEVER AGAIN will we be subject to a government that dishonors our Lord." In 1992, after the elections, the Christian Coalition compared a Democratic led Senate with Moses’ years in the desert when leading the Jews from slavery, "Remember, God sent Moses and his people into the wilderness for a time before delivering them to the Promised Land."
The Methods used by Osama Bin Laden
In the article written by Dale Eickelman called “Bin Laden, the Arab “Street” and the Middle East’s Democracy Deficit” (2002), Eickelman describes Bin Laden as trying to motivate the alienated Arab youth. They are often unemployed and living in poverty and dire conditions. Bin Laden uses the vivid language of popular Islamic preachers. He uses his speeches broadcast on al-Jazeera satellite television to build on resentment against the West and the local powers who are identified with it.
Bin Laden quietly sits and narrates the flight of the Prophet Mohammed from Mecca to Medina, when the early Islamic movement was threatened. And he describes how Mohammed returned and conquered. Those who are not for the fight led by Bin Laden are called Zionists and crusaders. (Eickelman, 2002)
Desired Outcomes
If Roe v Wade is overturned and the decisions go back to the states, the debate will shift to making abortion illegal nationwide. If homosexual marriage is made unconstitutional, homosexual unions will be attacked. If it becomes legal to harm a person who burns the flag, the fight will switch to making it an impressionable offense. The fight is not about these particular issues. It seems that the desired outcome of the American Religious Right is more than to make homosexual marriage illegal, to make abortion illegal, to make flag burning punishable, to limit immigration. No matter the law passed, it will not be enough until the American Government is declared officially a Christian Government, one which rejects the religions of the East. This debate, or battle as it is rightly named by the Religious Right, is for more than any grouping of issues, it is for the control of the federal government.
Osama Bin Laden asserts himself and the image of the Al Qaeda terrorist network as guardians of Islamic values. His fundamental tenet is that Muslim is being poisoned, and that the only way the desecration can stop is if all the outsiders are driven out and strict Islamic rule is established everywhere Muslims live.
Conclusion
I set out to compare the similarities of the methods used by both of the extremist branches of the normally peace loving and reasonable religious organizations, the Christians and the Muslims.
During the Regan years it became apparent that there was a branch of the more conservative leaning members of the Republican party which were aligning themselves with the money and power of the Christian evangelists who were gaining a large audience on television. As they gained power, their message has hardened from one which calls for certain things in our society to one which demands nothing but complete acceptance of those same things and more.
Can the extreme right of the Republican party be satisfied? This country was designed as one which separates church and state. It recognizes no religion, and will not grant power to those who also head religious organizations. The connections between the so called Ultra-Conservatives and the more middle leaning rest of the party are currently threatened, but there is no evidence that they will be broken or even weakened.
The stated desired outcome of Osama Bin Laden’s crusade is also one that seemingly will not be obtained. He wants a pure Muslim world, where the power is not challenged. The Al Qaeda terrorist network only gains in strength where unrest is there for another reason. (International, 2008) Can the Muslim extremists be appeased? It is impossible to finish the fight that Osama Bin Laden has waged for the last 30 years.
I conclude that the methods used by extremists in both the Christian and the Muslim religious organizations are effective and comparable. But, ultimately, neither will work. The Religious Right has waged an effective campaign against the pet issues of gay marriage, abortion, and flag burning amendments for the last thirty years, with seemingly unending financial support, but all ground gained has been lost again. Bin Laden and the terrorist network have tried for thirty years to ‘drive out the infidels’. In that time, the United States has invaded Iraq and Afghanistan. Peace is coming to the Middle East and he still has very little foothold in the sympathies of his own countrymen or that of the world.
References (annotated Biography)
Bellow, A. (2008). SKIN IN THE GAME: A Conservative Chronicle. World Affairs, 171(1), 26-38. Retrieved July 8, 2008, from Research Library database. (Document ID: 1504957911).
Summary: The "movement of ideas" I had joined (or into which I had been drafted) in the 1980s had decayed into a hash of meaningless slogans and sound bites. In twenty years of publishing on the front lines of the culture war, I had rarely stopped to ask myself this question.\n When that happens, as eventually it will, the intellectuals will be there to translate his or her political instincts into a new conservative ideology.
Boston, R. (2007). Down But Not Out: The Religious Right and Election '06. The Humanist, 67(1), 36-37. Retrieved June 23, 2008, from Research Library database. (Document ID: 1189109231).
Summary:
Rep. John Hostettler (R-IN), one of the most vociferous opponents of church-state separation in the House (he introduced the Public Expression of Religion Act which bars the awarding of attorney's fees in establishment clause challenges), lost his seat to Brad Ellsworth, a conservative Democrat, in a 39 percent to 61 percent loss. [...] on balance, the results can't be seen as anything but a disaster for the religious right which, since 1994, has used the House of Representatives as a playground for absurd, constitutionally questionable bills lauding the Ten Commandments, stripping federal courts of their ability to hear church-state cases, and curbing citizens' power to bring legal challenges under the First Amendment's establishment clause.
Boston, R, (Mar/Apr 2008), Reconsidering the religious right: Schaeffer and the new wave of theocratic apostates, The Humanist, Washington DC, vol 68, iss 2, p. 31, searched on June 23, 2008 on the ProQuest Database
Summary: For many years Schaeffer worked with John W. Whitehead, founder of the Rutherford Institute, a group that was one of the early pioneers of the religious right's legal movement. Whitehead's early books flirt with Christian Reconstructionism, a radical movement that seeks to impose a fundamentalist theocracy on America where the harsh codes of the Old Testament would be elevated to law. This paper explores the relationship that the religious right has had with the government since that movement began.
Eickelman, D.F. (January 2002), Bin Laden, the Arab “Street,” and the Middle East’s democracy deficit, Current History, Comparative politics 07/08, p 193, 3 pgs.
Abstract: Bin Laden speaks in the vivid language of popular Islamic preachers, and builds on a deep and widespread resentment against the West and local ruling elites identified with it. The lack of formal outlets to express opinion on public concerns has created a democracy deficit in much of the Arab world, and this makes it easier for terrorists such as bin Laden, asserting that they act in the name of religion, to hijack the Arab street.
Hamilton, M.S. (March 3, 1997), The Dissatisfaction of Francis Schaeffer, found on Christianity Today website with the search engine Christianity Today Library.com, http://ctlibrary.com/ct/1997/march3/7t322a.html
Summary: This article discusses the life of Francis Schaeffer and his death. The article tries to convey how thirteen years after his death, Schaeffer’s vision and frustrations continue to haunt evangelicalism.
International: When religions talk; Islam and the West. (2008, June). The Economist, 387(8584), 74-75. Retrieved July 8, 2008, from Research Library database. (Document ID: 1495458991).
Summary: Debates about Islam and the West can throw up unexpected tensions. That doesn't, and shouldn't, stop faiths from trying to talk to each other. Since Osama bin Laden launched the war he describes as the renewal of an ancient conflict between Islam and the Crusaders and Jews, there have been many initiatives to head off global confrontations involving religions and the cultures they have spawned. Al-Qaeda's war on the West is by no means the only religious or pseudo-religious dispute in the world. Recently, however, most of the high-profile efforts to stave off civilization war by talking about it have focused on Islam and the West--without ever answering the question of whether it is useful to treat Islam as a single block, or of whether the West is best defined as Christian, Judaea-Christian or secular. Perhaps al-Qaeda's proclamation of a civilisational war has been, in part, self-fulfilling: millions of Muslims regard their faith as being in a state of confrontation, along many fronts, with the West. Some Westerners, including prominent and influential ones, return the compliment.
Marley, D.J. (2006), Ronald Regan and the Splintering of the Christian Right, The Journal of Church and State, 48(4), 851-868, Retrieved June 23, 2008 from Research Library database. (Document ID: 12125921)
Summary: The earliest and still popular conception of the Reagan era marks it as the high water mark for the Christian Right and they went into decline after 1988; however the opposite is true. It is best to view the Reagan administration as a period of growth in which the Christian Right enjoyed a high profile, but had little tangible success in politics. While the president spoke of his personal dislike of abortion and the need for prayer in public schools, he was unwilling to expend any of his considerable political capital to move those issues forward. Many Christian Right leaders realized that being granted a meeting with the president was no substitute for having their agenda made into law. Ronald Reagan's presidency was hugely inspirational for religious conservatives and continues to be so. While he did very little for them, Reagan did give them a sense of belonging. The very fact that the president of the United States appeared to agree with the agenda of the Christian Right gave them tremendous power. This gift of rhetoric was inspirational and continues to fuel today's Christian Right. Reagan continues to serve as an example of the limitations of political influence and a reminder that it is better to be in power than to be a constituent. The Christian Right's understanding of this lesson can be seen in their early support of George W. Bush in the presidential campaign of 2000. In the end, Reagan's presidency was more important to the Christian Right as a symbol than as an era during which they achieved any of their political goals.
Biography of Ronald Reagan (2008), from the website of the White House, searched on July 7, 2008, www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/rr40.html
Summary: This website gives a brief history of President Reagan’s life and his presidency. Mostly it is a factual page, with dates and names. It also gives an optimistic summary of his actions as President of the United States.
Shields, J.A. (2007). Between Passion and Deliberation: The Christian Right and Democratic Ideals. Political Science Quarterly, 122(1), 89-0_10. Retrieved June 23, 2008, from Research Library database. (Document ID: 1256049341).
Abstract (Summary)
Shields discusses American democracy in relation to the Christian right movement, focusing on the fundamental tension within most Christian right organizations between the exigencies of mobilization and successful political activism. For this purpose, he examines how Christian leaders attempt to shape the public behavior of activists by analyzing a wide variety of elite communications in what have been the largest Christian right organizations over the course of the last two decades, especially the Christian Coalition, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), and Concerned Women for America (CWA). He further supplements the evidence with interviews of Christian right leaders. After briefly surveying scholarship on the right and discussing some of its shortcomings, he analyzes mobilization messages and then contrasts the strident exhortations with the deliberative messages particularly found in training seminars. Furthermore, he turns his attention to Christian radicals and highlight both their marginality and the grounding of their militancy in a bellicose reading of the Bible. The discussion then concludes by drawing out the larger normative implications of the findings by highlighting the deep tension between participation and deliberation.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
What is and is not a democracy.
The assignment in question asked us to read an article by Philipe C. Schmitter and Terry Lynn Karl titled, What Democracy Is... and Is Not, and to Compare what some of the possible procedures are that make Democracy possible versus those that make it feasible. Provide examples from your experience and compare those experiences with those of the authors.
Here is what I came up with. I try to reference the article so as to minimize confusion of reference.
The article, What Democracy is and Is Not states that there are many types of democracies. Generally that diverse practices will produce similar results. “Modern political democracy is a system of governance in which rulers are held accountable for their actions in the public realm by citizens, acting indirectly through the competition and cooperation of their elected representatives”. This is a lovely and concise definition which encompases the spirit of democracy.
The article lists seven (then two more) procedures that make democracy possible. If the above definition is true, then all of these are well met.
1. Constiutionally vested control over government policy.
2. Frequent and fairly conducted elections
3. All adults have the right to vote.
4. All adults have the right to run for office
5. Citizens have a right to express themselves on political matters
6. Alternative sources of information exist and are protected by law
7. Citizens have the right to form independent interest groups
And then
8. No overriding opposition from unelected officials
9. Must be able to act independently from outside political systems.
I once read, though I don’t remember where, that the United States became a democracy when John Adams took office. Had Washington not stepped down, the United States would have been another country which elected a monarch. This principle is basically what the article says makes a Democracy feasible. The power baton must be able to be passed along to another, even to one’s opponent.
I felt a definite tension when, in 2000 the election between Gore and Bush hung in limbo for over a month. While I still feel like the election was stolen (exit polls are a good predictor of actual voting, and it has before 2000, generally been a very accurate measure of how elections have gone), I was relieved when the presidency was awarded to George Bush. That particular flavor of tension flared again, with Ohio in the next election.
While we, the USA still meet, in spirit, the 7(or 9) of the requirements of a democracy, we must safeguard our elections and keep the power out of the constant hands of either party.
Thank you,
Janet Johnson
reference:
Schmitter, P.C, and Karl, T.L., 1991, What democracy is... and is not, Journal of Democracy, National Endowment for Democracy and the Johns Hopkins University Press
Here is what I came up with. I try to reference the article so as to minimize confusion of reference.
The article, What Democracy is and Is Not states that there are many types of democracies. Generally that diverse practices will produce similar results. “Modern political democracy is a system of governance in which rulers are held accountable for their actions in the public realm by citizens, acting indirectly through the competition and cooperation of their elected representatives”. This is a lovely and concise definition which encompases the spirit of democracy.
The article lists seven (then two more) procedures that make democracy possible. If the above definition is true, then all of these are well met.
1. Constiutionally vested control over government policy.
2. Frequent and fairly conducted elections
3. All adults have the right to vote.
4. All adults have the right to run for office
5. Citizens have a right to express themselves on political matters
6. Alternative sources of information exist and are protected by law
7. Citizens have the right to form independent interest groups
And then
8. No overriding opposition from unelected officials
9. Must be able to act independently from outside political systems.
I once read, though I don’t remember where, that the United States became a democracy when John Adams took office. Had Washington not stepped down, the United States would have been another country which elected a monarch. This principle is basically what the article says makes a Democracy feasible. The power baton must be able to be passed along to another, even to one’s opponent.
I felt a definite tension when, in 2000 the election between Gore and Bush hung in limbo for over a month. While I still feel like the election was stolen (exit polls are a good predictor of actual voting, and it has before 2000, generally been a very accurate measure of how elections have gone), I was relieved when the presidency was awarded to George Bush. That particular flavor of tension flared again, with Ohio in the next election.
While we, the USA still meet, in spirit, the 7(or 9) of the requirements of a democracy, we must safeguard our elections and keep the power out of the constant hands of either party.
Thank you,
Janet Johnson
reference:
Schmitter, P.C, and Karl, T.L., 1991, What democracy is... and is not, Journal of Democracy, National Endowment for Democracy and the Johns Hopkins University Press
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Tony Blair and his Legacy
The article that I decided to dissect is, “A Revised British Constitution: Tony Blair’s Lasting Legacy?” by Donley T. Studlar. Originally the article was a 1998 Taft Lecture to the Political Science Department of the University of Cincinnati. It was printed in the International Review, Spring 1999, and revised in November, 2006.
The article begins with a brief discussion on when Tony Blair will resign (June 27, 2007, according to CNN.Com) and a brief statement on the platform of constitutional proposals from which Tony Blair originally ran. These were as follows:
1. Devolution to Scotland and Wales
2. An elected mayor and council for London and potentially other urban areas
3. Removal of the voting rights of hereditary peers in the House of Lords
4. Incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights into British Law
5. Electoral reform at various levels of government including a referendum on changing the electoral system for Members of Parliament.
The article was subdivided into six main points.
Traditional British Constitutional Principles is the first subheading. In this section, he describes a bit of British history and current design.
1. There are political elites in British government who give lip service to making the government less incestuous, but are loath to share power.
2. Simple voting majority of the House of Commons can change any law, including those rights of individuals. There is no “Bill of Rights”.
3. There is a sharing of power between the executive and legislative branches, the judicial branch has little to no power in the organization of the government.
4. Only Parliament guarantees civil liberties.
5. British government has been secretive and hides most of its’ workings.
6. Large cities do not elect mayors or governing councils.
Labor’s Constitutional Promises
This section discusses the goals of the constitutional proposals outlined above, mainly participatory British citizenship.
Developing a Program for Constitutional Change
This section tried to describe the position that the Labor party was in when it was decided that constitutional change was going to be its new agenda. Particularly, it points out that after losing four consecutive general elections, it decided to unite the groups in Brittan that were already interested in constitutional change.
Constitutional Change Under Labor
Under this section, he outlines how much of the goals outlined above were met and how that was achieved.
1. There are legislatures with devolved powers in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.
2. All of 92 hereditary peers have been removed from the House of Lords.
3. The European Convention on Human Rights has been incorporated into British law.
4. London has her own elected Mayor.
5. The Freedom of Information Act creates an independent Information Commissioner’s office and allows some public access, but it is still one of the most secretive governments in the democratic world.
6. There have been some changes in the electoral process, but not as much as was indicated when Mr. Blair was trying for the office.
In what was most likely an addition during a recent revision, there is a section on the joining of the United Kingdom with the European Union. UI law now supersedes British law, including judicial review by the European Court of Justice. Brittan still won’t adopt the Euro as its currency.
Last in this subsection is an subtle attack on the monarchy as outdated and elitist.
Conflicting Views on the Constitutional Changes
This is the section that I found most confusing. He attempts to describe the reaction of the British people to the reforms. Most of these reforms are more than five years old, and have been integrated into the British public.
Further Constitutional Changes on the Horizon?
In this section, he describes an England which is still adjusting to some of the broad changes made under Tony Blair. The Conservatives have now picked up the government and are trying to help Britain find the changes it likes and wants to keep and which should go aside. In addition, a larger issue of changing the electoral process is still in debate.
Thanks,
Janet Johnson
The article begins with a brief discussion on when Tony Blair will resign (June 27, 2007, according to CNN.Com) and a brief statement on the platform of constitutional proposals from which Tony Blair originally ran. These were as follows:
1. Devolution to Scotland and Wales
2. An elected mayor and council for London and potentially other urban areas
3. Removal of the voting rights of hereditary peers in the House of Lords
4. Incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights into British Law
5. Electoral reform at various levels of government including a referendum on changing the electoral system for Members of Parliament.
The article was subdivided into six main points.
Traditional British Constitutional Principles is the first subheading. In this section, he describes a bit of British history and current design.
1. There are political elites in British government who give lip service to making the government less incestuous, but are loath to share power.
2. Simple voting majority of the House of Commons can change any law, including those rights of individuals. There is no “Bill of Rights”.
3. There is a sharing of power between the executive and legislative branches, the judicial branch has little to no power in the organization of the government.
4. Only Parliament guarantees civil liberties.
5. British government has been secretive and hides most of its’ workings.
6. Large cities do not elect mayors or governing councils.
Labor’s Constitutional Promises
This section discusses the goals of the constitutional proposals outlined above, mainly participatory British citizenship.
Developing a Program for Constitutional Change
This section tried to describe the position that the Labor party was in when it was decided that constitutional change was going to be its new agenda. Particularly, it points out that after losing four consecutive general elections, it decided to unite the groups in Brittan that were already interested in constitutional change.
Constitutional Change Under Labor
Under this section, he outlines how much of the goals outlined above were met and how that was achieved.
1. There are legislatures with devolved powers in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.
2. All of 92 hereditary peers have been removed from the House of Lords.
3. The European Convention on Human Rights has been incorporated into British law.
4. London has her own elected Mayor.
5. The Freedom of Information Act creates an independent Information Commissioner’s office and allows some public access, but it is still one of the most secretive governments in the democratic world.
6. There have been some changes in the electoral process, but not as much as was indicated when Mr. Blair was trying for the office.
In what was most likely an addition during a recent revision, there is a section on the joining of the United Kingdom with the European Union. UI law now supersedes British law, including judicial review by the European Court of Justice. Brittan still won’t adopt the Euro as its currency.
Last in this subsection is an subtle attack on the monarchy as outdated and elitist.
Conflicting Views on the Constitutional Changes
This is the section that I found most confusing. He attempts to describe the reaction of the British people to the reforms. Most of these reforms are more than five years old, and have been integrated into the British public.
Further Constitutional Changes on the Horizon?
In this section, he describes an England which is still adjusting to some of the broad changes made under Tony Blair. The Conservatives have now picked up the government and are trying to help Britain find the changes it likes and wants to keep and which should go aside. In addition, a larger issue of changing the electoral process is still in debate.
Thanks,
Janet Johnson
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