A rchive Date
[ 13-09-2000 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Canada ]
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[Keep religion out of public schools
By LYN COCKBURN - Winnipeg Sun
September 13, 2000
Some parents at a Winnipeg 1 school want to hold lunch-hour Bible-study classes in the school.
Other parents each year ask school boards to initiate religious exercises in class.
On the other side of the schoolyard fence, a number of school board officials and principals are opposed to bringing religion in from the cold.
The Public Schools Act says religious classes may be held during school downtime such as lunch hour if the parents of 25 children enrolled in the school sign a petition.
As for prayer in the classroom, in schools with more than 80 students, there must be 60 whose parents want a prayer said, usually the Lord's Prayer.
Neither of these concepts speaks to the third issue of religious groups proselytizing next to school property. Winnipeg 1 board chairman Lori Johnson is concerned about evangelical Christian groups who stand just outside school property in an attempt to recruit kids.
So am I.
I have no problem with noon-hour or after-school Bible, Koran, Talmud or whatever classes, as long as they are voluntary and not limited to the Christian religion. In fact, I'd welcome the thought that my child could chose to learn about a number of religions during her lunch hours.
I do have a big problem with prayer in the classrooms of our public schools - as a student, a parent and a teacher. As a student, I do not wish to be told when to pray, as a parent, I do not want my children told when and what to pray and as a teacher I do not wish to have to lead children in prayer.
I especially do not want to institutionalize a prayer from a single religion.
Muslims, Jews, Catholics, Protestants, Hindus and Whomevers all believe they are right. Some, particularly Christians, believe they are so right they have the right to proselytize and convert people to their particular belief. Others, such as the Jews, also believe they are right, so right, in fact, that they have no interest in gathering others into their flock. Some, such as certain sects of Buddhists, believe they are right but leave the door open for others to be right, too - a concept foreign and distasteful to many Christians.
Worldwide, few seem able to grasp the idea that religion, like sexuality and a taste for sushi, is personal. And private.
I went to a private British Anglican girls school for two years of my elementary schooling. We sang rousing British hymns designed to clear the head and warm the blood; we studied the Bible, said the Lord's prayer and nobody got excited about it because it was a private school.
I taught at a girls Catholic school where the Sisters, aware of my Protestant proclivities, politely invited me to Mass with the cheery comment, "Don't be afraid, Lyn, we don't burn heretics at the stake anymore!"
I was asked to lead class prayers and my students politely reminded me at least four times a week that the Catholic Lord's prayer ends before the Protestant one. Several girls slipped off to the library during prayers as they were Jewish or Muslim or whatever.
Nobody got excited because it was a private school run by a religious order.
Public schools on the other hand are public; and the public is Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish, Hindu, atheist and whatever. And, yes, I do know that in those schools where classroom prayers are said (and those prayers are always Christian, never, say, Muslim), students may leave the room.
But they shouldn't have to - not in a public school.
Freedom of religion does not mean freedom for one religion only. That leads to theocracy, a form of dictatorship in which government is run by the leaders of that one religion, as in Iran or Afghanistan.
Freedom of religion means what it says - the freedom to practise the religion of your choice.
But does it mean the freedom to practice your religion in the public school system? I doubt it. The whole question of religion in our public schools falls apart when we say OK, let's do it. Protestant prayer on Monday, Catholic prayer on Tuesday, Muslim prayer on Wednesday, Jewish prayer on Thursday, Buddhist prayer on Friday and Hindu prayer on ... oops, ran out of days. No room for the atheists and Whomevers.
Somewhere here is a message for Stockwell Day: Canadians in all religions will respect your religious views but we'd prefer you to keep them to yourself. Keep them in your life, your church, at your dinner table, in your prayers, at home, within your family. Leave them out of your politics.
Especially if you'd like to be prime minister.
Lyn Cockburn can be reached by e-mail at lcockburn@wpgsun.com
 World Fact Book (CIA)]]
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