That's just creepy to me.We need a civic confirmation that treats democracy as its own ethical and even spiritual experience.
The whole thing sounds creepy to me too. It could be good but like so many things it has the power to cause tremendous damage too... much like religion. mike, have you any experience with this in Norway?The program in Iceland, like similar ones in Norway, Denmark, and Germany, is called a “civil confirmation.” It grows out of the 19th-century humanist and “ethical culture” movements that self-consciously resisted organized religion and particularly state-established religion. The programs are meant to replace a church confirmation. In Norway, nearly 15 percent of young people now choose to do it.
Kind of sounds like replacing instead of overthrowing, doesn't it? One's "civic confirmation" should be merely graduating from high school. But, sadly, that doesn't really guarantee that one has learned much of anything. The democratization of learning has some real drawbacks.