The flaws of biblically-based sex education
(Originally published in PULP)
Its no shock that teen pregnancy and other related issues are a big problem in this community. Its been that way for a long time. Various people have offered ideas about why this is and what to do about it, but little ever changes. Children keep having babies, generation after generation raise little ones in poverty, grandparents step in as parents to grandkids and the nuclear family suffers because of it all.
Everyone seems to be on the same page about one thing: Our kids need some kind of education about anatomy, sex and sexuality. But as for when that should happen, how it should be accomplished and what should be included or kept out is incredibly divisive.
One of the biggest problems is the pressure to teach abstinence-only sex education. First off, thats not sex education. Its propaganda for a narrow social agenda that is in denial about reality. Generally, this approach goes hand-in-hand with conveying an aura of shame about ones body and sexual urges, and suggesting that if you act contrary to the just say no ethos, you are a failure, and maybe a sinful one to boot.
I agree that it would be just swell if all of our young people waited for that one lifetime monogamous relationship to come along to have sex, but this ignores some basic truths about how our culture treats sex. While a health teacher or pastor is telling you not to do it, the rest of the culture obsesses about how awesome sex is. Somebodys not being honest here.
Oh, and did I mention that comprehensive scientific studies have shown, with little room for ambiguity, that abstinence-only sex education hasnt worked and continues not to work?
Many people claim the moral authority of the Bible for the basis of their argument for abstinence-only sex education. But lets consider this in a little bit of a broader context.
For one, although women of the biblical eras were not allowed to have sex outside of marriage, there were lots of cases in which men had extramarital relations. So is it just girls were telling to say no? Do the boys get a free pass?
Also, the whole idea of no sex until marriage presumed a different way of life back when the Scriptures were written. Most young people were married off soon after they reached the age when they could reproduce. So the time between when most folks got the urge to procreate and when they had a chance to within the bond of marriage was not that long.
Nowadays, kids are not only are entering puberty at increasingly younger ages, but were also waiting longer and longer to get married, if at all. So whereas a young girl might have been matched up with a suitor within a year or so of being fertile in days of yore, now we often wait 10, 20 or more years to settle down.
So maybe the solution, if were so hung up on literal adherence to biblical rule, is to marry all of our kids off at age 13. Yeah, I didnt think so.
It seems to me that if leaders in faith communities focused much more on the Greatest Commandment, not just rhetorically, but also in modeling how to conduct our lives as individuals and as community, wed be much better off. For those who are unfamiliar, Jesus is asked (in an effort to frame him for blasphemy, mind you) which of the Judaic laws is the most important. His response: love God with all you have and all you are, and love your neighbor as you love yourself.
What Jesus lays out in this relatively simple statement is a blueprint for an entire way of living. If we remain focused on love for ourselves and for others, as fellow creatures of God, this daily practice of doing so will inform all of our moral decisions. We dont have to worry so much about checking off an exhaustive list of rules if we simply treat everyone else as if they were a precious gift from God.
Unfortunately this is not something we can simply drop on kids in a few hours when they hit seventh grade and hope it changes their worldview. They must be taught what it means to love their own bodies, and to love others bodies, hearts, minds and spirits, from the time they can speak, let alone have sex. We have to get over the shame and self-loathing for our bodies that many mistakenly seem to think equals piety.
The arguments about how to conduct sex education points to a deeper neurosis we have as a society about our lack of control over our children. Nothing no matter what the message can make kids not have sex. Ultimately its their bodies and their choices. Focusing on love, and on the responsibility that loving self and others carries with it, puts us at least in a healthier frame of mind for those heavy and important discussions.
Finally, if the Bible teaches us anything, its that people err. From Genesis on, were told one thing and then do another. But Gods response inevitably is to lean in favor of grace over condemnation. Wed be well served to follow such an example.The
This podcast explores the first question presented in the forthcoming book, BANNED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE BIBLE: Can I be a Christian if I dont believe the Bible is perfect, handed down directly from God to humanity without error?
To receive a 40% discount on pre-orders of both upcoming Banned Questions books, visit www.chalicepress.com, keyword search Banned Questions and at checkout, enter the promotional code BANNEDQB when prompted.
Peace,
Christian
My Lifelong Attraction to Magnet Schools
By Christian Piatt
(Originally published in PULP)
I grew up in Dallas, where the question, where did you go to school? meant something very different than it did in Pueblo. There was a sort of constant jockeying for positions on the status ladder, part of which was identified both by the grade school you attended (hopefully private, of course), and then by the caliber of school you went on to from there.
I was fortunate to have gone to one of the more prestigious schools in town. In addition to academic excellence, the school prepared you for life amid the tatsemakers of culture and power in the global community. But despite the fact that there were kids from all nationalities and faith backgrounds there, the socioeconomic sameness of the place was strangely stifling to me.
Halfway through my sophomore year in high school, I auditioned to get in to the arts and music magnet school in downtown Dallas. For those of you who have seen the movie or TV show Fame, yes. It was pretty much like youd imagine it. Bohemians, gay teens and eccentrics of every stripe roamed the halls, generating an energy I had never known existed in private school.
What had once been an all-black school in the slums of Dallas had been reinvented into a community that developed an appeal and a bond that transcended all other differences: the love of creativity.
From then on I was sold on the idea that a magnet school, done properly, could not only transform students lives, but that they also had the potential for reinvigorating an entire community.
So when Fountain Elementary of Pueblos east side became a magnet school as part of East High Schools International Baccalaureate (IB) system, we jumped at the chance to enroll our son, Mattias. He had gone to two different private schools in town before that, neither of which provided the integrated learning and social experience we desired for him. But our experience at Fountain has been quite the opposite.
Yes, we drive by some dilapidated properties to get to his school, and there have been more than a few shootings nearby. I even once found an unspent bullet on the playground of the school. But once inside, Mattias enters into community with children whom he might never come into contact with, absent of the opportunity the IB magnet affords.
The concept of a magnet schools is fairly simple. Its an entirely public school, run completely by the district, which is usually located in a racially and/or economically segregated part of the community. Aside from academic excellence and a unique curriculum of some kind, a magnet is established to do just what the name suggests; draw in people from other parts of town who would not otherwise be there. The concept first arose as efforts emerged to racially desegregate schools a couple of generations ago, and the model obviously still works today.
Our plan is to have Mattias stay in the magnet system throughout his primary and secondary school years, and for his sister, Zoe, who is almost two, to follow in his path. Every child should have such access to outstanding cultural, academic and social experiences. The good news is that kids in Pueblo do have such a choice.
Im happy to let you know that both BANNED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE BIBLE and BANNED QUESTIONS ABOUT JESUS are available for pre-order on Chalice Press website. The BIBLE book will be shipped later next month, and the JESUS book in June.
Heres a link to both books on the Chalice site:
http://www.chalicepress.com/search.aspx?k=banned%20questions
You can also go to www.chalicepress.com and search the keywords Banned Questions if the link doesnt work.
If you order either or both books between now and the end of February, you can get 40% off of the cover price by entering the discount code Banned QB when prompted. Its not until closer to the end of checkout that this pops up, so dont worry if you dont see it right away. There is no limit on the number of copies for which this discount applies, and you can share this code with other folks interested in pre-order.
Also, note that you will not be billed for the books until they ship, but you still get the discount for ordering in advance.
Next, Im excited to let you know that, so far we have endorsements from both A.J. Jacobs and Brian McLaren! Very cool to have bestselling authors behind the project.
And finally, keep an eye out for an upcoming promotion that Chalice may be running to give away a few of these books prior to release date.
Thanks for your interest in, and support of, the BANNED QUESTIONS series. I cant wait to hear what you all think of the books, and in the meantime, please help spread the word on your Facebook pages, blogs, podcasts, etc about this special promotion.
My publisher and I are hung up on a pair of designs for the BANNED QUESTIONS book series coming out next year, and we need your help. Take a second to check out the two different design options we have for the books and cast your vote for the one you like best:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7VMX8RF
Thanks,
Christian
Doing nothing does something
By Christian Piatt
I picked up a book recently by Walter Wink, one of my preferred theologians when it comes to putting action behind the rhetoric of faith. I have yet to read anything by Wink that has not rocked my world and caused me to reevaluate pretty much everything from my beliefs to the way I express them in daily life.
His book, Jesus and Nonviolence: A Third Way, was no exception.
Deceptively small at a compact 64 pages, every paragraph presents a compelling challenge not only to many common takes on Jesus approach to authority, but also to anyone who claims to be a champion of the oppressed, marginalized and neglected.
First, Wink quickly goes about dismantling the myth that Jesus was a pacifist. Far from it, actually. Things like turning the other cheek and walking the second mile, in the context of Winks nonviolent activist engagement, take on unexpected power, much like a black belt in aikido uses the energy of his attacker to overthrow them.
For example, it was legal in the Roman Empire for occupying centurions to force locals to carry their packs up to one mile along the road, but no further. Though taking the soldiers pack a second mile might seem a meek and nice thing to do, he argues its actually a nonviolent act of insurrection. The soldier actually could be jailed or otherwise punished for violating the law banning exploitation of the local people, but how ridiculous does he end up looking, begging for his pack back from a lowly peasant? And if you insist on carrying the burden further, he also runs the risk of appearing weak, empowering yourself with the very weight he once placed upon you as a symbol of his power and authority.
The great deception, says Wink, is that we Western-minded folks have bought the idea that we have two choices when faced with violence, injustice or oppression: fight back in kind or do nothing. What is required, he says, is a third option, as modeled by Jesus, one that too often Christians and other people of faith mistake as a call for non-involvement.
As Wink claims, doing nothing in response to injustice is to implicitly support the violence already being done.
Such creative nonviolent activism is certainly not limited to Christianity, either. Though Martin Luther King is the greatest modern example of this kind of engagement for Christians, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and others have practiced such world-changing commitment to nonviolence over the centuries.
Wink also effectively dispels the myth that violence, in any instance, has ever been a more effective tool than a nonviolent response. Ultimately more blood is shed and more people die, even if its in our nature to want an eye for an eye.
Sound absurd? Hard to imagine? Wink expects that. As he points out, many of us cant think of the way he understands the teaching and life of Jesus as really a possibility for us. But ultimately, it depends on how you measure success. If we consider the end of Jesus ministry to be his moment of crucifixion, alone, vulnerable and betrayed by those he continued to love, then his lifes mission was a failure.
If, however, we believe that one life perhaps even our own is worth giving up for a change that brings hope to thousands or millions of others, many of whom we may never meet, then Jesus third way begins to look like a path worth exploring.
Heres a new nonprofit Im working that endeavors to place AEDs in every public school and other public building nationwide, and also to provide CPR training to help save lives.
http://www.refresheverything.com/theviafoundation
Please take a minute to register your vote and to pass this along to your list of friends. Also, please consider posting this to your facebook page, blog, etc to help spread the word.
Thanks!
Christian
New series of books tackles questions, issues that challenge young Christians
CHIEFTAIN PHOTO/JOHN JAQUES Pueblo author Christian Piatt talks about a series of books he is collaborating on with a variety of authors from throughout the country.
BY LORETTA SWORD
Have you ever questioned the believability of the virgin birth of Jesus Christ? Ever wondered why, if Mary conceived as a virgin, the Bible traces Christs lineage through Joseph?
Chances are youve pondered these questions and many others about the Bible or Jesus, but never discussed them with other Christians and certainly never in church.
Thats what gave local author/editor Christian Piatt and partner Brandon Gilvin the idea for WTF (Wheres the Faith), a series of books that pose such questions to a wide variety of religious, agnostic, social justice and other leaders and thinkers some of them well-known in religious and spiritual circles. The books are published by Chalice Press. Gilvin is the associate director of Week of Compassion, an international relief and aid ministry of the national Disciples of Christ organization, based in Kansas City, Mo.
The books are aimed primarily at young adults a demographic that churches are struggling to hold onto as their congregations dwindle in all age brackets.
The first book in the series, OH God, Oh GOD, OH GOD! Young Adults Speak Out About Sexuality and Christian Spirituality, was released earlier this year and provides honest and open dialogue about the beauty and gift of sexuality while understanding it in a mature way, including the risks and consequences but without the moral and doctrinal overtones of most Christian books on the topic, Piatt said.
He and Gilvin edited the book, and Piatt contributed an essay about abortion.
Two more books, which address questions that many Christians ponder but rarely explore in depth or among each other, will be published next year the first, Banned Questions about the Bible, in February and the second, Banned Questions about Jesus, in August 2011.
All of the books take a more emergent-church approach. Theres no focus on denominations or creeds so much as on content and providing a variety of information, including other sources to study, to help people make up their own minds. Were trying to present multiple perspectives so people can choose for themselves. Its about seeking your own understanding of various issues through prayerful seeking, and trusting that if you take the first step, God will meet you halfway and help you find the answers youre seeking, Piatt said.
Churches are dying everywhere, and I believe its because theres been a disconnect between the lives of most people and what they hear in church on Sunday.
These books are intended to break down the taboo of We dont talk about that in church. In a healthy church, there should be no boundaries, no limitations about what is explored. Were supposed to bring our whole, human selves to the church and to our faith.
Another book due out this August, Split Ticket: Independent Faith in a Time of Partisan Politics, addresses the interconnectedness of faith and politics and explores how Christians can be part of the process without violating their faith or turning their backs on social justice issues and the political process for fear of conflict. Piatt is a contributor as well as co-editor of this volume.
You People: Faith and Race, will follow Split Ticket. All of the finished books are available through the Chalice Press website or its catalogs, at Amazon.com or through Piatts website. Some also are available by special order online from Barnes & Noble and smaller national booksellers, and all are stocked at Cokesbury Christian book stores nationwide. The works in progress will be as well after publication.
Piatt, who founded Pueblos Milagro Christian Church six years ago with his wife, Amy, who is pastor there, said the Oh God book already has sold more than 1,500 copies to individuals and to churches that are using them in youth groups and young-adult book-study groups.
The content is heavy enough that we wouldnt recommend just throwing these books in a teens lap and saying have at it. It needs to be navigated with the help of an adult leader, Piatt said.
Despite brisk sales and many positive reviews in Christian and mainline publications, negative reaction from some conservative Christian groups has surfaced, too, Piatt said, but his response is always the same: Why is it that sexuality cant be discussed in the context of faith unless the whole focus is abstinence, which we all know doesnt work?
He gets few responses to that question, he said, and doesnt worry about the criticism because the people who react that way arent the target audience for our books.
The same critics no doubt will see the banned questions books, and Split Ticket, as too frank and not nice, he predicts.
But we believe its more important to be authentically relevant than it is to be nice. Jesus wasnt always nice. He challenged the status quo and he didnt tolerate injustice. He encouraged frank discussion about difficult issues. But some Christians cant tolerate controversy or confrontation at all, and others only get involved often in an angry, intolerant way with all the things they are against.
Piatt said he and his partner in the WTF series, and authors who contributed responses to questions or essays despite their widely divergent religious beliefs all believe that our responsibility is to get actively involved in these things were afraid to talk about so that younger Christians, especially, will be more inclined to form deeper commitments to their faith and to service than to abandon their church, or religion altogether. They can only do that if theyve reached their own conclusions rather than having beliefs force-fed to them.
At the end of life, Piatt said, what will matter most is not how many souls someone has saved or how many foreign missions were conducted, or how big and beautiful the church is because believers were willing to give cash but not their time.
What Jesus will want to know of every individual, he said, is What did you do for the poor, for the oppressed, for the imprisoned for the least among us?
Doing nothing, he said, only condones the suffering and injustices that humans inflict upon each other.
Not getting engaged, not dealing with these issues, is not an option if you consider yourself a person of faith.
For more information about the WTF series, upcoming books, or past titles by Piatt, go to: www.christianpiatt.com, which also provides links to videos of Piatt and some of the other authors and a link to his blog.
NewSpin
by Christian Piatt
(Originally published in PULP)
It seemed, while Cesar Chavez and its affiliates remained in the stratosphere with remarkable results on standardized tests, the administration was untouchable. Though criticized for such unorthodox practices as offering gift cards to new students, and as rumors of test tampering and misogynist treatment of staff bubbled to the surface, it was hard nonetheless to argue with the results Dr. Lawrence Hernandez and company were yielding.
It seems the power went to his head, though.
In a recent press release from the Colorado Department of Educations communications office, Commissioner of Education Dwight D. Jones expressed deep concern about the networks egregious financial practices and dubious leadership after a formal review of the Cesar Chavez School Networks organizational and financial systems.
The report makes clear that the leadership of the network prioritized its needs over the students and disregarded both basic business practices and common sense, says Jones. The leaders of Cesar Chavez School Network squandered taxpayer money, ignored basic legal requirements, over-compensated senior staff, engaged in nepotism and failed to provide accountability over the resources entrusted to them. The results demand swift action.
I fully encourage Pueblo City Schools to use this analysis in any way it sees fit to hold Cesar Chavez School Network accountable, says Jones. Taxpayers, teachers and parents across Colorado will find that reading the report is a deeply troubling experience on many levels. I anticipate that Pueblo City Schools, the authorizers of the original charters, will be even more disturbed.
Pueblo City Schools own news release echoed the scathing criticism from the CDE, detailing nearly 40 separate findings of fact that support misappropriation and mismanagement of funds and resources at CCA schools primarily by the three principal staff members: Lawrence Hernandez, CEO; his wife Annette Hernandez, COO; and Jason Guerrero, CFO. It also finds that some of the Board of Directors at CCA and DHPH were complicit in conflicts of interest that directly benefited them financially.
The apparent magnitude of egregious misappropriation and mismanagement of the publics money is shocking, said Stephanie Garcia, president of the board for Pueblo City Schools, per the release. This pervasive and perpetuated abuse of taxpayer funding at the hands of the founders of the CCA schools, explains their years of aggressive and antagonistic efforts to keep Pueblo City Schools and other authorizing agencies from actually seeing what was going on.
As the authorizer of the charters for these schools, we take the suggestions of Commissioner Dwight Jones very seriously and will be looking at our options very closely. We will be examining all legal remedies at our disposal to address the inappropriate actions of those responsible for this obscene abuse of tax payer monies.
Following these damning statements, I followed up with Ms. Garcia with the questions below, followed by her responses.
Is the district pressing any charges against CCA/DHPH staff? If so, who and what charges? And if not, why?
The district does not have the authority to press charges against CCA/DHPH. We have however contacted the local district attorney, the Internal Revenue Service and the Attorney Generals office. They are the entities that will determine if charges are in order.
Have any civil suits been considered, and again, if so, against who, for how much and on what grounds?
CCA/DHPH has 11 current civil suits pending. They are being sued by former CEO Lawrence Hernandez. I understand the suits are about alleged wrongful termination and acts of discrimination.
How, if at all, do you feel this experience has changed the districts outlook on Charter schools?
The district has been very pleased with our relationship with our other Charter Schools. YAFA and PSAS have always responded to the districts requests for information regarding governance, finances and instruction. I believe the audit results clearly uncovered the real reasons why CCA and DHPH continually challenged our request for this information.
I do believe that the Board of Education will have clear qualifications and standards written into future contracts with any new charter and also when we renew existing charters. I believe this will affect charter contracts for all schools across Colorado, if not the Country. There has also been new legislation presented this year that would also tighten controls over Charter conduct.
What do you expect will change about CCA/DHPH governance moving forward?
Clearly, governance will have to change and accountability will need to be in place. That being said, we are still not certain if the two schools are recognized as being nonprofit entities. They were not able to produce their 2008 or 2009 990 (IRS revenue document) or other evidence that they are still recognized by the IRS. Also, given the audit results, if they have not already lost their nonprofit status, they may.
Beyond the over 15 million dollars in bond debt and lack of reserve as required by the State, tax payers may also be owed repayment of other State and federal funds that were clearly misspent. The Board is still meeting with local State and Federal law enforcement entities and representatives with the Colorado Department of Education.
At this point, we do not know if the situation is beyond repair regardless of new leadership.
Finally, I asked District Attorney Bill Thiebaut if they were considering any charges of their own, especially considering the Districts hands were effectively tied with regard pressing legal charges.
In addition to receiving a copy of the final report (audit) presented to the Colorado Department of Education by MGT of America, Inc., says Thiebaut, over several months we have received voluminous information from a variety of citizens regarding the operation of the Cesar Chavez School Network. Our office has been in communication with, among others, the Attorney Generals Office as well as School District 60 officials (Pueblo City Schools) regarding this information.
Our staff is reviewing this information, continues Thiebaut. For now, that is all I am at liberty to say.”