Today is my last day at my temp job at Cal U. I can't complain about the way the department has treated me--they've been very happy with me, I've been happy with them, it's worked out nicely. I did the minimal work given to me and did it quickly and well, and they didn't bug me the other 5-6 hours a dayI spent playing online. Good deal. It's paid crappily, but that's not the department's fault, and it's to be expected anyway. I have somewhat of a complaint with the bureaucracy that's making me leave, but then it's probably a good thing not to build up too much inertia here anyway. Also, they may have another assignment for me here, so I shouldn't bad-mouth them too badly.

The department was nice enough to get a big Mrs. Fields iced cookie that said "Goodbye, Joe", and a gift card for Waldenbooks. That was sensible, since they've seen me with a book pretty much every day. (I read on my lunch break.)

Oh, and one of the professors was also nice enough to give me some batshit-crazy Christian pamphlets and tracts!

I got four pieces of "literature" from him. The least crazy one is something called "Ultimate Questions" and is a full-color brochure devoted to faith-related questions. The second-least crazy one is a pamphlet called "Can a Saved Person Ever be Lost?" This is maybe a bit nuttier, but still seems to fall more or less into mainstream Christianity. FYI, it turns out that, no, a saved person cannot ever be lost, so we all might want to look into this whole salvation thing since it is irrevokable.

Then we get into la-la-land with a 56-page booklet called "Strategies of the Spiritual Warfare Series I" by "Dr." F. Brett Ridgeway. This book has 5 chapters and 6 appendices--itself not a good sign, especially since one of the 5 "chapters" is a two-page chart of New Age/Occult Symbols--showing what they are and explaining their meaning. These include the peace sign, the pentagram, the upside-down pentagram, Yin/Yang, and the Mobius strip (which apparently integrates 3 sixes into its design!). The other four chapters are devoted to the four grave threats facing good Christians today: Animal Rights, The Earth (environmental) Movement, New Age Movement, and The Ozone Depletion Scam. Take my word for it, none of these things are up to any good and are more or less fraught with Satanism. (The Animal Rights movement may also be fraught with puppies; I'm looking into it.) All the appendices are wacko, but not all are equally funny, so I'll stick to my favorite, Appendix 6: "Quotes to Get Sick By". Here's my favorite "quote to get sick by":

Empower women, and many of the world's most fundamental social and environmental ills will begin to solve themselves...Jobs, education, women's health care, family planning and the environment are all linked in what is an underlying challenge to humanity. The common denominator is the status of women.
--Susan Q. Stranahan, "Empowering Women", International Wildlife, Vol. 23, No. 3, May-June 1993.

I apologize if I made any of you sick by reproducing the previous quote.

The final pamphlet is entitled, "Are We Going Full Speed Backward to Paganism?" As it turns out, we are. This is partially indicated on the cover, as the text of the title is slanted backward with lines indicating motion in that direction. If that is not convincing enough, we learn that paganism is infiltrating our society through the following: The Spread of Naturalism, "Enlightenment", Cafeteria Morality, Unbelief in the Churches, The Reincarnation Appeal, The Spiritist Appeal, Global Utopia, and World Brotherhood. The key to avoiding paganism is to understand that New Age-ism and Humanism are NOT NEW but throwbacks to "pre-Christian times when the world languished in sin and darkness" and not to by fooled by language designed to entice honest, unsuspecting people.

We also get a convenient chart called "Brief Comparison of Three World-Views"--Christianity, Naturalism (Atheism/Humanism), and New Age-ism. The comparisons range from the relatively accurate:

GOD: Christianity: "All-knowing, All-powerful Creator of man and the universe."
Naturalism: "NO Supernatural Creator; the God idea merely a myth created in primitive man's superstitious mind."
New Age-ism: "counterfeit "Creative Being." God is Everyone and Everything (pantheism or monism).

To the somewhat exaggerated:

AIM: Christianity: "to teach all of God and Jesus Christ, for the abundant life here and hereafter."
Naturalism: "to build a utopian society on earth through socialistic world government."
New Age-ism: "a utopian society through WORLD RELIGION and ONE-WORLD GOVERNMENT: everyone united."

This pamphlet is available from the Pro-Family Forum at very reasonable rates: 3/$1, 50/$7, 100/$12--although Texans have to add 6-1/2% sales tax, which of course we will ALL have to pay when New Age-ism imposes ONE-WORLD GOVERNMENT.

Have I mentioned that I received all of this bounty from a tenured, full-time professor of education?!?! The next time someone asks you what's wrong with education in this country, send them to me so I can show them Exhibits A-D.