It also stated such a link between pornography and sadistic violence

What link?

I have a headache. I have to figure out Christmas dinner, and Christmas breakfast, as the FiL is coming over for it, and I need Lisa's recipe for thumbprint cookies.

Is it possible the teacher is deliberately trolling in order to inspire students to argue about the ethics of porn and how it relates to theology in the message boards?

ETA: 'cause if this is not the case and it's not too late I think you should drop the class.

Okay, so I had been thinking that the knot in my stomach was some sort of reaction to the muscle relaxant but now I'm thinking that I'm just ill.

I have no doubt she is not trolling. And I only have one more week in the class and it is already the second time I've had to take it.

I'll tell her that my all-time favorite is "Barely Legal IV" and that the anal scenes are really worth watching.

I have been struggling with a proper way to respond to this post. Obviously, these are your morals speaking. Your values. And I appreciate you stating them. However, I think that one thing we run the risk of in showing our morals for all to see is that we take the chance of offending someone.

I, for one, am very morally offended by this post. My morals state that while I, personally, might find some behaviors immoral and repugnant, I don't judge other people for them.

While our personal morals do affect our critical thinking, in order to be better critical thinkers, we can not allow them to influence us 100%. Otherwise, what's the point of thinking critically at all?

Is my response.

In mememe news, I just paid off the last of my credit cards. I am, for the first time in 25 years, TOTALLY DEBT FREE. Hallelujia.

Fantastic Zenkitty. Congrats!

Also, Beej, good for you for quitting.

Critical thinking. WTF.

That's kind of funny, because for me the worst part of the statements are the lack of just that. I mean, with critical thinking, I would think you would need to tear apart the statement, asking about the types of porn, the context of the porn, and citations to back up her statements about its affects.

Also, perhaps she should provide some of this porn so you can evaluate it for yourself in the privacy of your own home. Although, that sounds a lot better in theory, as I'm now getting squicked at the thought of getting porn from a teacher like her.

ETA: Very well said but I wouldn't be able to let it go that she's drawing a correlation between porn and violence where none exisits... from the wikipedia article on porn:

Effect on sex crimes

It has been theorized that there may be a link between pornography, particularly violent pornography, and an increase in sex crime.[citation needed] There have been many studies done to validate or disprove this hypothesis. The results have greatly varied from study to study, which leads many to believe that there is no consistent relationship between the two, while others may believe that the research methodology used does not yield accurate results.[citation needed]

What has been seemingly overlooked is the lower per capita crime rate and historically high availability of pornography in many developed European countries (e.g. Netherlands, Sweden) leading a growing majority conclude that there is an inverse relationship between the two, such that an increased availability of pornography in a society equates to a decrease in sexual crime. [12] Indeed since the widespread adoption of the Internet as an unfettered method to distribute adult material, the United States crime rate nation-wide has consistently and steadily dropped by almost 50% from 1993.[13]

I changed my response to this:

I have been struggling with a proper way to respond to this post. Obviously, these are your morals speaking. Your values. You think that making, viewing, and distributing pornography is a sin and that it leads to abuse and violence. And I appreciate you stating them. However, I think that one thing we run the risk of in showing our morals for all to see is that we take the chance of offending someone.

I, for one, am very morally offended by this post. My morals state that while I, personally, might find some behaviors immoral and repugnant, I don't judge other people for them. I don't know anyone in this class well enough to say that they are sinners or lack reverence or respect for humans because they make, view, or distribute pornography.

Pornography is one of the largest industries in this country. I saw a report on how if pornography was completely eliminated, it would affect our domestic economy in such a way, that we would almost certainly throw us back into an economic depression. That's a lot of people affected. I have a hard time believing that every single one of those people is morally bad. Most of them are just making a living, trying to support their families and get by day-to-day.

While our personal morals do affect our critical thinking, in order to be better critical thinkers, we can not allow them to influence us 100%. Otherwise, what's the point of thinking critically at all?

I like your response, Aimee, especially the part that brings out the importance of being nonjudgemental. I think it's likely that many people with your teacher's opinion would be surprised that others would be offended by that opinion, even if they disagreed.

I guess I think that morals influence our thinking, but not so much the critical part. I think that the important part is to use the moral and critical thinking together, especially with people whose moral and ethical frameworks may vary.

I guess I think that morals influence our thinking, but not so much the critical part

Morals don't so much affect our thinking, they affect our behavior. Critical thinking is what leads us to develop our personal moral structure. From what Aimee's prof says, someone else did her critical thinking for her (God) and, therfore, she's imposing "her" morals on everyone else because obviously she's a better critical thinker than her students are. She's putting the cart before the horse and it don't work that way. Bleargh.