Quote n' query

“Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction” – Blaise Pascal

And so opens Chapter 12 of the book The Shack by Wm. Paul Young. How interesting a quote! This book, recommended to me well before I deployed, is having quite an impact on me. Would reading it stateside have had the same impact on me as it does now? I’ll never know. But, I do know that things happen for a reason in their own curious time. Without going into too much detail, I whole-heartedly recommend The Shack to you. Now, to the quote. How opportune! In this environment, in this war, is a quote never more appropriate?

Teachers and students: Research wars, conflicts, genocides, etc. that were started to justify a religious conviction? Recently, there was an incident where two girls on their way to school (a newly accepted concept in Afghanistan) were doused with acid by the Taliban for doing something we in the US take for granted daily - attend school. Read the CNN article here.

Consider a discussion about peoples' beliefs and the ramifications on others because of those beliefs. Ask students to find out what happened to the Afghani schoolgirls; follow their story. Are there other current event articles that reflect stories such as the one above? Getting back to the quote by Pascal, research who he was and why you think he believed what he said. What is he most famous for?