If there was optional Christian prayer class, or optional Bar Mitzvah preparation, but created, offered, sponsored and advertised by administration, wouldn’t you have an issue with it? I think in this case the parents were wrong and the yoga class was fine because this particular version of the class was not religious…

Depending on how it is taught that makes total sense. If it’s a literature elective, alongside African-American Poetry of the 20th century, or a history or religions elective alongside Buddhism’s Rise or The Influence of Shakespeare on Modern Language? That is perfectly appropriate and makes sense for high school,…

If there was an optional ‘prayer to Jesus’ class sponsored by the shool in the same way, for the purpose of calming moods, even if optional, everyone on this comment board would be just as incensed as the parents, and it would be unconstitutional. In this case I agre with the courts that the version of yoga being…

I’m in a serving type of profession, where the people I interact with are sometimes in a rough spot (sick, sad, wanting my approval or needing my help, etc.) and I really struggle with how to respond to sexism in that context. I want to BAMF be totally clear about what’s not ok, but also have to recognize that they…

Here is the big one for me: being asked to take notes. I work in an extremely diverse field, where everyone is a leader independently and then comes together to work on big projects. Despite the fact that we all have the same title and responsibilities, and a great deal of attention is paid to having people with…

I find him dynamic and watchable, but a lot of the most interesting things he has said about America to me have been outsider-stance and broad - like "the difference between South Africa and the U.S. is..." etc. That's a helpful perspective I like, but for me, the Daily Show specifically would be more interesting if…

It both never would have occurred to me to try and flush dental floss, and never would have occurred to me that that would be bad. How does it mess with the plumbing when it's so skinny and small?

Uber has lots of problems, but people do get raped in regular old taxicabs and by the logic of the statistics and conviction rate there must be many serial rapists who have never been caught and so their background checks are clean. I think they need to beef up their policies, but I don't get the "taxis are amazing!…

Then why would WBC even be relevant to a conversation of this scope? Genuinely curious, not accusing, I am honestly confused/misinterpreted what you were trying to convey with the question if it was not applying an eye of suspicion to P's general defense of religious people via the narrow exception of Westboro.

You mean 25 or so individuals out of the approximately 6.4 billion religious people on Earth? I think human brains can hold in them that there are a variety of allowances, complexities, and things that need to be accounted for when talking about a group that big. Let's not descend into the most un-useful arguments we…

You seem to really believe that most religions have a clearly stated doctrine which everybody agrees on, and that people aren't regularly changing and shaping those doctrines as apart of their relgiious practice. That's just not true for the vast majority of people, except where it is claimed to be (still barely)…

I think the issue with this questions is that "mainstream religious doctrine" isn't a thing - most religions don't have a cohesive unified doctrine to which they are accountable, including most branches of Christianity. They have a shared set of laws, Scriptures, or practices which are interpreted in literally…

I've been a part of churches (largely Methodist or UCC personally) where it's policy to use only gender-neutral or multi-gendered language for God, where there are requirements to have all-gendered representation on leadership committees (including trans, agender, etc.) to the extent possible, where there's political…

I think there are two kinds of technical ultimatums - "Either x is going to happen, or I am going to feel/do this because of an honest articulation of my needs. Respond to that how you choose given your needs." and "Either x is going to happen, or you are going to be punished by me doing/feeling this because of your…

This also confuses me so deeply - some of these stories it seems like there was enough entanglement (houses, pets, kids, whatever) that I get on a logical level why people go with secret cheating even though it's unacceptable and wrong. But when you're just dating, or you're not into the person any more, WHY for the…

With you on seeding, and people should understand seeding - but I think the source of my surprise and of others is that some things made the bracket at all. If 'anti-social' brackets are supposed to be bad things, why is binge watching on there at all? It is fun. If they are supposed to be good things, why are sexual…

I hear that that must have been a frustrating experience for you, but it sounds very much like not the pregnant woman's fault - it's the fault of a company that thought in that situation they should give one guy two full time jobs instead of hiring a competent replacement during the maternity leave that it sounds like…

You are definitely not a horrible person - and in my experience, awareness of our internal prejudices is the first step to making sure they don't manifest themselves in discriminatory behavior. So good job knowing yourself! Everybody has their weird thing that freaks them out.

This is such a good point. And to me the other critical difference is 'special in some way' or 'special in general.' Tell a kid that they are special in general, they develop entitlements. Tell a kid that they are special in some specific way, and weak in some specific way, just like everyone is ("I know you have a…

This is why my Mom is always harping on me to only go to Yoga if it's a really experienced teacher - she practiced for a long time and saw several emotional breakdowns related to specific muscle groups, and one that really stuck with her where a person remembered and totally freaked out over a childhood trauma during…