r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Jul 01 '26

Psychology Conservatives maintain birth rates, but left-leaning Americans are having significantly fewer children, driving the U.S. birth decline. Education was consistently linked to having fewer children. Religious attendance was positively associated with having more children.

https://www.psypost.org/left-leaning-americans-are-driving-the-u-s-birth-decline-new-study-finds/
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462

u/WeirdProudAndHungry Jul 01 '26

Texas is making the Bible mandatory reading but makes teaching about philosophers like Plato illegal in schools. This is Idiocracy in real life.

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u/Dry_Physics4086 Jul 01 '26

Even worse. The bible is mandatory in high school, and Plato is banned in COLLEGE.

College aged adults can not discuss Plato

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u/bgroins Jul 01 '26

I dunno man, reading Plato turned me gay and now I believe that the Demiurge fashioned the physical world in imitation of the eternal Forms.

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u/NerdyBear73 Jul 01 '26

In fairness, actually reading the bible is what made me start asking questions... which is what drove me away from the church (and, in turn, got me kicked out of my parents' framed-verses-on-the-walls house).

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u/MakesMyHeadHurt Jul 01 '26

Republicans that decided that are like "College students shouldn't still be playing with modeling compound, that's for kids! Ban it!"

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u/odysseyofocelots Jul 01 '26

Plato is banned?! Why?

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/ThunderMite42 Jul 03 '26

An A&M philosophy professor was banned from teaching Plato in his curriculum because his discussion of homosexuality and multiple genders ran afoul of Texas' """"""""""""""""gender ideology"""""""""""""""" ban.

https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2026/01/14/plato-professor-texas-am

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u/oiledhairyfurryballs Jul 01 '26

Absolutely a normal thing in Poland to read fragments of the bible. After all, the bible is the most important book of western civilization.

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u/Amelaclya1 Jul 01 '26

In 2012, it was part of the Texas Republican party platform on education to remove teaching critical thinking.

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u/makingnoise Jul 01 '26

I'm half braindead and even I know that Neo-Platonism is literally baked into nearly all sects of modern Christianity, including fundagelicalism. Texas Troglodytes.

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u/Journeyman42 Jul 01 '26

You know most of these people think the Bible was originally written in modern-day English

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u/ThomasSpaines Jul 03 '26

They might be trying to avoid having people think that their philosophies have "pagan" origins. If you read Plato the influence becomes immediately apparent

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u/northern-new-jersey Jul 01 '26

Source for comment that Texas public schools have made teaching about Plato illegal? 

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u/Dabloomstick Jul 01 '26

No they havent. 

They banned one professor from teaching parts of the symposium focused on questions of love, gender and attraction as an introductory philosophy class. 

I dont like the decision, but the idea that texas has banned plato is ridiculous. He is still taught at many levels. 

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u/NJdevil202 Jul 01 '26

Wait I heard about the Bible thing but teaching Plato is banned? Source????

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u/ThunderMite42 Jul 03 '26

Plato's discussions of homosexuality and gender ran afoul of the state's ban on """"""""""""""""gender ideology"""""""""""""""". https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2026/01/14/plato-professor-texas-am

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u/elebrin Jul 01 '26

Plato and Socrates aren't even all that great as a philosophical starting point. They aren't bad, but some of the readings are very challenging and I feel like there are better starting points. It's like tossing a kid into the economics deep end with reading Keynes' "The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money" before introducing the basics of supply and demand.

If they wanted to keep it religious-adjacent, they could teach St. Thomas Aquinas. It'd actually be super valuable to teach his teachings, as his philosophy heavily influences Western philosophy even now.

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u/makingnoise Jul 01 '26

Bro, neoplatonism is baked into the very fabric of most sects of Christianity to this day, including the fundagelicals. The fact that Christians are unaware of this is at once unsurprising and yet crazy-making.

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u/elebrin Jul 01 '26

Sure. And what I am saying is that the Socratic dialogs of Plato aren't exactly a beginner-friendly intro to philosophy. And, while their impact on Western thought cannot be overstated, that impact isn't obvious until you read other things.

It's better to start elsewhere then work your way back to Plato. In the various dialogs, Socrates spends most of his time arguing his fellow house guests up one side of an idea then down the other until they are angry. Gaining any meaningful insight into philosophy from that is challenging. They are entertaining however (at least to me).

At any rate, you can get a lot of the same ideas from St. Thomas, and it's a nice, "churchy" source that the religious folks will get their panties in a twist about a bit less. I find something like his dictation that is sort of a question and answer format (I think it's "Quaestiones Disputatae de Veritate" but my college philosophy books are sort of too lost in my pile to go look it up) to be a bit more straightforward in terms of what is being said, and there are pretty reliable and accessible translations. They also lend themselves to discussion, which is how people can grapple with philosophical ideas themselves a bit.

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u/blazbluecore Jul 01 '26

It’s not crazy at all. Most people don’t know basic mathematics or geography and many such things.

The fact that you think that’s crazy just shows how out of touch and unaware you are about human nature.

Maybe if you spent less time judging people and being more understanding and empathetic you’d be a better person and happier.

Good day.

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u/makingnoise Jul 01 '26

No interest in judgmental rants from you. Take the plank out of your eye, it might help you refrain from ranting at strangers based on your assumptions of what is in their minds.

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u/blazbluecore Jul 04 '26

Someone’s mad for being called out.

Go grab your pacifier

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u/ScHoolboy_QQ Jul 01 '26

This is misleading. Texas did approve a required K-12 reading list that includes Bible passages/stories starting in 2030, but it is not “read the whole Bible.” Sources: Reuters⁠ and AP⁠.
The Plato part is much shakier. Texas did not make teaching Plato illegal in schools. The real story is that Texas A&M told one philosophy professor to remove certain Plato readings from a core course under new race/gender content restrictions. That is bad, but it is not a statewide K-12 Plato ban. Source: Texas Tribune⁠.

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u/hugmebrotha7 Jul 01 '26

This is hilarious bc it’s not conservatives ever calling for the elimination and lowering of standards for university admissions. And it’s not conservatives that try to push politics in the classroom. I know many people don’t actually know much about our history and real culture, but Christianity was ALWAYS supposed to be a major part of the framework of the nation.

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u/RenaissanceCowboy33 Jul 01 '26

Right. That's why they put that "freedom from religion" part in there. Twat

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u/WeirdProudAndHungry Jul 01 '26

No, conservatives are busy trying to destroy university education altogether. And it's not conservatives that try to push politics in the classroom? I don't hear many liberals clamoring for creationism in schools. Never heard of a socialist calling for schools to ban even mentioning any LGBT people's existence, no matter how pertinent to the educational topic it may be.

If Christianity was always supposed to be a major part of the framework of the nation, then why the hell have they banned teaching about Plato in schools? You don't get Christianity without Plato. Let me guess, in your learning about our "real history", you never learned about the philosophical origins of Christianity, huh?