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To: Alamo-Girl
I'm sorry; I jumped to the wrong conclusion. After doing a bit of search on the subject, it appears to me that Dini did not necessarily quit the Catholic church when he quit the order he was associated with. Whether he is still Catholic or active, I don't know.

It is really hard to tell. Reading his "Teaching Philosophy" page is kind of revealing to his thinking on education and religion. Here's an excerp:

Undertaking a college education is not without risks. These can be as superficial as wasting time and money on a worthless course, or as enormous as losing one’s entire value system. Just because one pays tuition, one is not guaranteed success or happiness. Nor is one guaranteed that his/her most cherished beliefs will go unchallenged. Indeed, many students find it difficult to communicate with friends and family after completing a college education because they no longer share the same beliefs and values. College has introduced them to new knowledge and new ways of thinking. For many, especially those raised by parents who were not college-educated, college is a time of "de-acculturation," wherein one gives up the culture in which one was raised, and subsequent "re-acculturation" wherein one takes on a new culture. My hope for all of my students is that they will become acculturated in "the life of the mind." This means that they will take responsibility for the quality of their education and for the quality of their thinking. They will base their actions on what they know to be true, rather than on what they wish to be true. They will see learning as its own end, not done for the purpose of passing a test or getting a good grade or getting into a particular career. They will dedicate themselves to their own lifelong education.

He really puts down uneducated people throughout the page which is more typical of an atheist liberal elitists than a devote Christian, and seems to think it is a good thing that students lose their value system, which I would take as their religious upbringing. I may be reading things into what he says, but I wouldn't want this guy teaching my child. Then again I am not the one who determines whether this guy is a good Christian or not.

1,172 posted on 02/08/2003 3:30:25 PM PST by Always Right
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To: Always Right
Its funny how two people can read the same thing and get totally different meanings from it!
I've only read the piece you've quoted, but to me he is praising the fact that people are exposed to different opinions and encouraged to think for themselves while at college. That doesn't seem like a bad thing to me. Its good to have one's opinions and values questioned. When they're questioned, you're forced to defend them, which encourages you to think critically about both them and opposing opinions. There's nothing wrong with that.
1,173 posted on 02/08/2003 3:43:45 PM PST by Youngblood
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To: Always Right
Thank you so much for sharing your views!

I have known several people who became "intellectual agnostics" as a result of their public education. There is a tendency to believe everything a teacher says. After getting out in the real world, getting "mugged" by responsibilities and finding out that the teachers, like the parents, really didn't know everything after all - some want answers.

Those are the ones that move from being spectators to being players and actually engage in the research and debate. The "intellectual agnostics" I've known who became players, are now Christian.

1,177 posted on 02/08/2003 10:48:30 PM PST by Alamo-Girl
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