RE: “Religion and publicly funded education,” Jan. 26 Brant News Viewpoint.
Religious education today is vital. As the details of the Shafia case emerge, we wonder as a society how these people lost their moral compass.
We can look to their religion as one aspect of what shaped their thinking. We can also, instead of judge them, extend forgiveness, as we are led by a moral authority. After all, “he who is without sin should cast the first stone.”
Religious instruction in the separate school system is priceless. Catholic schools offer open debate about all moral and ethical points of view. It is open to free debate, unlike the public counterparts.
In order to combat ignorance, every student should know about the various religions, what it is that they believe and what causes them to act as they do. How else can we avoid past mistakes made by the church and avoid future ones?
Education is not indoctrination. True indoctrination happens every time we turn on the television.
Knowing how to behave in a society is also essential for all human progression. Any scholar will tell you the reason a society falls is its lack of morality, as seen through the lens of Jeudo-Christian ethics. The fall of the mighty Roman Empire is only one example. Students need to be taught about morality, ethics and to really love others, even if they don’t act very loving toward them.
Can you imagine a society without forgiveness, charity and love?
Lack of moral education comes with a price tag. Societies can not survive the economic fallout of sin.
“Teen childbearing in the United States cost taxpayers (federal, state and local) at least $10.9 billion in 2008, according to an updated analysis by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.”
That is only one of the many social ills we face. Therefore, in response to Nancy Husley’s letter, even though the law may be on your side, the truth is not.
R. Taylor
Dear R. Taylor,
Where does one begin to respond to such a logically flawed collection of random points you set forward in apparent rebuke to Nancy Husley’s letter? Here’s a question that demonstrates the problem with your logic and exhibits your prejudice. If your contention is A: the reason societies fall is because of its lack of morality, and B: your Jeudo-Christian Morality is the only solution to ailing societies, how did societies rise and fall before your Judeo-Christian (ask any scholar and they will tell you it’s Judeo-Christian, not “Jeudo”) morality came into existence? Perhaps you believe there was no society before? Perhaps you believe there was no religion before? Perhaps you don’t believe there was a world before 3000 years ago when your Judeo-Christian morality started ? Or may I suggest, what humans did in the name of Judeo-Christian morality was just as much a cause as it was a solution to the rise and fall of societies. I believe you are a good hearted person; you are as sincere as any other supporter of publicly funded Catholic “Education” I have encountered. Unfortunately you see the world through an admitted Judeo-Christian lens and ironically, you suffer the same flawed biased attachment to a version of “truth” similarly displayed in the Shafia case. You actually dismiss Nancy’s argument as valid under the “law” (which I assume you are referring the Canadian/Ontario Law – Education Act), but then tell her that “TRUTH” negates “LAW” . You are telling her that the Law and your “truth” are not the same in this case. You know, Mr. Shafia said the exact same thing when his “truth” came into opposition with Law, that’s why Canadian’s put him in Jail. Do you not like Canadian law R. Taylor? Are you saying your “truth” should permit you and the Catholic School board from adhering to Canadian Law? Are you saying Mr. Shafia shouldn’t be allowed to disobey the law, buy you can? Where that stops and starts is exactly the point of Nancy’s argument. I am in no way implying your belief system would lead you to the same type of acts personally. You are saying that illegal actions taken by the Catholic School board are justified by “truth”. You also ignore the history of the Catholic Church and all it has perpetrated over its 1900 year history, and further imply your faith is unique or superior to another faith ignoring both the historic brutality (or more so, what humans have done to it)and intrinsic beauty of all faiths. However, it is your right to believe and teach your children whatever you want. Your right to “choice” is one fundamental that distinguishes Canadians from some parts of the world who do not have that. It is also at the heart of the Catholic Funding debate in Ontario. What we all have to understand is freedom to live by a belief system ends where that choice infringes on someone else’s right to live, love and learn under a democratically developed Canadian law (insert morality?). Yes, our Canadian morality has it’s roots in religious doctrine, but it has become greater as we strengthen it with a diversity and a more inclusive and global perspective. Without going much further I am somewhat comforted that we could strip most everyone’s “moral compass” of religious leanings, we would have much more in common than distinguishes us. I find friends and family of all faiths (or none) believe in some version of your “Golden rule”. Religion is not evil, but what you and others do in the name of religion is. Religion is a part of our local and global society, but public funding should teach it in that context only because you and others are limited to believing that “moral education” and “Catholic Church education” is the same thing. Therefore a singular religious based moral education has to be separate from publicly funded institutions and left to the privacy of the home or privately funded organizations. I think we have waited long enough to see if Quebec, Newfoundland, Labrador and Manitoba skirted the wrath of your Judeo-Christian God and not ”fallen” as a result of their dismantling the publicly funded Roman Catholic school system. I think we’ll be ok.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
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Amen! Kyletn. Well said.
However, this issue really has nothing to do with religion. The issue here is that Catholic Boards across Ontario have been lying (translation…bearing false witness) for 25 years. Religion courses just happen to be what they were lying about. If the board offered courses in basket weaving or turtle stacking and said these courses were mandatory when the law said they were not…the issue would be the same. Religion courses are not mandatory in publicly funded Catholic high schools in Ontario. That’s the law. Check with any of these schools in person or on their websites and they will tell you that religion is mandatory…Lies! These websites must be changed to better reflect students legal rights regarding this exemption.
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“Religious instruction in the separate school system is priceless.”
Not quite. The Ontario public today is forced to spend about $1 billion each year on the duplicate administration costs to run a parallel, overlapping school system. Every Muslim, every Hindu, every Jew, every Baptist, every Mormon in the province pays for Catholic schools. And the Roman Catholic Church pays… zero.
Does that make sense to a morally upright person such as yourself, R. Taylor? Or do you conveniently put down your Bible right before you get to the “Do unto others” part?
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