The Discipline of Proving Something to be False

In a recent Time Magazine letter to the editor the scientific approach toward truth is described in a helpful manner. The issue is over whether a scientist seeks to prove that a hypothesis is true or whether the effort is to prove that a hypothesis is wrong by subjecting it to every possible attack.

Paul G. FitzGerald of the University of California at Davis, Calif. says that in the scientific realm a new idea is not accepted until it has been tested over and again. If the idea survives it is likely to be "true" in scientific terms, at least for the time being. So try to prove the idea wrong.

This discipline of questioning is sometimes seen as antithetical to the world of religion. The assumption is that religion is a matter of revelation and and is beyond question or testing. I take another stance in saying that religious ideas are so varied and omnipresent that the need to question and test is even more necessary than in the scientific realm.

It can be said that life is not long enough to do all the questioning and that real people need answers in the here and now since the individual life span is brief. I agree. One has to choose ones belief system before all the information has arrived. However, the frame of mind that keeps religion alive for individual humans is one that chooses certain beliefs for the moment while being open to next experiences and insights that may clarify the religious vision.

Arriving in Tel Aviv

Two friends recently left for an extended visit to the environs of Jerusalem. They arrived on Saturday, February 16. Here is a brief snippet of an email received today, Monday the 18th.

"We arrived in Tel Aviv about 3:30AM and snoozed for a while in

the airport..van to Jerusalem, got our housing...napped a bit...visited with

a shop owner we know. ate a belated Valentine's day supper..Today, Sunday,

went to church at East Jerusalem Baptist..Tomorrow we start seriously

looking for long term housing and places to volunteer although there are

possibilities emerging...."

A rather normal trip to a world known scene of turmoil and danger - or so the reports would
lead us to believe. Balance is helpful in a world of instant reports on troubles that at one time would have been invisible to 99% of the rest of the world. One considers the need to have a
global perspective that goes beyond the assumption of dangers and paralyzing fears.

It is as if we return in imagination to the ancient times when life was a desperate daytime struggle to find food and night time fears of the creatures of the dark menacing life and limb. It is as if we long to return to the dynamics of that primitive life style in order to satisfy some ancient internal security system needed for survival. Although dragons and fateful curses are no longer present - other than on video games - the internal mechanisms built into the human operating system are on duty. If that be an accurate appraisal of our situation, we can benefit by taking charge of our situation and exerting personal control over irrational fears and depressing visions. Easy to say. Hard to do. Courage! Carry On!

First Amendment Rights and School Products Regulation

The promotion of unhealthy foods and drinks in public schools raises some surprising First Amendment issues. There is a basic difference between School District policies that regulate products and policies that regulate speech regarding unhealthy foods and drinks.

To attempt to regulate advertising for the products is where First Amendment can be challenging. Constitutional challenges can arise for a School District that attempts of be pro active about prevention of such advertising.

If the School negotiates a vendor contract prohibiting advertising that is not desired it would seem that the company surrenders their First Amendment rights. If several schools in a District negotiate the same kind of contract it may open the District to charges of having a de facto District policy which may be treated by the courts as a First Amendment issue.

It is my opinion that commercial speech has become an active legal field since there is an apparent tendency to commercialize as many aspects of society as possible. Public School education offers a captive audience to advertisers without parental or community interference. The School becomes a tool for advertisers in shaping the minds of consumers.

Apparently courts today wish school district public policy on foods and beverage advertising to apply the test of being both "reasonable" and "viewpoint neutral". Interesting and highly subjective tests.

Religion is barred from influencing the minds of students but apparently advertisers are to be permitted to shape mental attitudes. If one looks on materialism as one among many philosophies that give meaning to life, the school may become an agent of materialism with no interference from other meaning giving systems of thought.

Samantha Graff present the situation in the article "First Amendment Implications of Restricting Food and Beverage Marketing in Schools" in the January, 2008 edition of The Annals...