Education and Religion

From: Dr. Samuel Conway <flogistn_at_netaxs.com>
Date: Sun, 2 Jun 1996 22:59:29 -0400 (EDT)



On Sun, 2 Jun 1996, DJ Clawson wrote:

> School, I imagine. Being they obviously have Christianity (ref: the
> Christmans Tree), whey probably have Judiasm, and if we're going to go that
> far I might say they have Islam. They probably have public schools and some
> private schools. Jake and Chance probably went to public school; can anyone
> picture them going anywhere else?

I think you are forgetting that the Christmas tree is not necessarily a
Christian symbol. In fact, it has only been in the past few centuries
that an evergreen tree has been associated with the Christmas holiday. It
was an important symbol in the ancient Celtic religions long before
Christ walked about, and thus to say that a holiday tree equates to
Christianity is really, really, really, really stretching.

Stretching further to say that if they have Religion-A, then they
probably also have Religion-B, Religion-C, etc. It's a very Americo-
centric assumption.

I think that the entire debate about what religions the people of MegaKat
City follow is an exercise in futility. Cartoons in the U.S. are, as a
rule, inherently non-denominational (holiday episodes of "Animaniacs"
and the annoying holiday-special cartoons notwithstanding). I don't think
you'll even hear a character exclaim, "Oh, my God!" lest someone be
offended.

No, there is nothing in the series that would even hint at a religion.
Can anyone recall seeing a church? Or a priest? Or any sort of musings
about the Afterlife?

As for schooling, I see no reason to imagine why...er...kittens do not
spend their early lives in school, just like we do. The question is,
can anyone recall any particular mention of "school" in the series?
Myself, I would submit that any of the numerous characters with the
title of "Doctor" in the series must by necessity have spent some time
in a classroom.

God knows I did.

------
Dr. Samuel Conway
Senior Natural Philosopher
Avid Therapeutics
Philadelphia, PA
flogistn_at_netaxs.com



Received on Sun Jun 02 1996 - 23:00:10 PDT

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