Taiwanese minds
In his letter, Herbert Hanreich reacts to my letter, itself a reaction to Hanreich’s opinion piece (“Naive religious views,” June 15, page 8; “Religious provocation,” June 8, page 8; “Missionary positions in Taiwan,” May 30, page 8).
I think our dispute is not based on religious views — it was the editor who gave our letters titles suggesting this — but about the quality of young Taiwanese minds, the education they receive and the general culture that fosters that education.
Hanreich writes in his letter that he is simply stating his experience and that he accepts that mine might be different.
Yes, now he does, but Hanreich’s original point was categorical: Young Taiwanese minds are vitiated by an authoritarian culture that honors blind obedience and discourages people from thinking for themselves.
I realize that in an opinion piece, nuance can fall victim to argument, but by giving no scope at all to possible experiences outside of his own, Hanreich gets his argumentative way too much at a discount.
My experience, as I wrote in my letter, is that in every classroom there are a few bright minds in a majority of more humdrum ones. Without such spots of brightness being a teacher must be a truly dispiriting experience. I hope this is not Hanreich’s lot. I do not think it has to be.
Nearly all of Hanreich’s students agree with his portrayal of educational practices, he writes — but how happy can Hanreich be with such support, coming as it does from people who, according to his own view, are simply unthinkingly obedient to a teacher’s authority?
Given the force of Hanreich’s argument, you would expect that he would give more weight to the few dissenting voices. Perhaps those one or two students are unacknowledged bright minds in his classes?
As for our views of religion: I never used the word “naive” in my letter to characterize Hanreich’s view: It is a word he puts in my mouth.
I recognized in Hanreich’s view those of “New Atheists” such as Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins. I read those authors with fascination and they are anything but naive. Their argument is Hanreich’s: If the Bible is read literally, it is nonsense and dangerous to boot.
I take this largely to be true, but much of worth that has been written releases its value only when not taken literally — a closed chapter for anyone who cannot find other ways to read.
Rudolphus Teeuwen
Kaohsiung
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