So, awhile back, I posted that the Canadian Civil Liberties Union had intervened in Waterloo, and had to stop Gideon's International from giving Bibles to Grade Five children. Of course, they have not backed off, because it is so IMPORTANT to push your religion on innocent and impressionable children. Now, the kids are coming home with consent forms for their parents to sign after claiming religious discrimination. Never mind that giving a child a Bible is an act of exclusion toward other religions, which is in itself a form of religious discrimination. Man, are they lucky no kids of mine are in this school district. So, the Civil Liberties Union is back on them, along with petitions. I smell the Supreme Court coming their way. Here it is, check it out;
http://ccla.org/2010/12/15/freedom-of-relgion-in-the-schools-distributing-the-gideon-bible/
I take it you're talking about government schools here. I disagree that giving a child a Bible is a form of religious exclusion and is therefore discriminatory. Even if children have Bibles, nobody is forcing them to read them. My parents never did. I remember the Gideons visiting my high school a couple of times, and if my classmates were any indication, from memory only a handful of the Bibles they handed out made it home safely. :(
ReplyDeleteRoss, Christians object to giving kids facts in schools, like the origin of mankind or how to avoid pregnancy... why are Christians so intent on not only suppressing the truth, but also pushing lies?
ReplyDeleteThis is pure ignoranity (again, my word: ignorance x insanity).
ReplyDeleteAnyway, congrats on completing your degree! May I ask what it's in? You can message me on Facebook if you want to maintain anonymity.
Yes....
ReplyDeleteWhy would they not choose this approach.... What is wrong with placing signs, or brochures in the school saying something to the effect of "If you would like a free Bible, call this number". Or, maybe even something as RADICAL as this- "Why don't you ask your parents?" Or, better yet, stay the hell out of schools. It is exclusion if you also do not hand the kid a copy of the Torah, or the Quran, the Hare Krishna Manifesto and the Satanic Bible alongside that "free" New Testament. Singularity is discriminatory; it neglects to include that there are other points of view in the world. We managed to get the Lord's Prayer out of our province's house of commons on this premise- either you start the day by saying every prayer to every religion, or you do not say any at all. It is that simple.
Thanks Tristan!!! I will FB you the details.
At Ginx- Good point. Facts are objected to....
I agree, singularity of message x agenda is often exclusionary.
ReplyDeleteFor example, what does the little Buddhist girl, whose parents are second generation Japanese-Canadian, think when somebody throws a Christian Bible in her face?
She probably wonders why are these people saying that my religion is wrong and wanting me to believe theirs... and here's the freakin' manual!
That is as exclusionary as it gets.
The only way to avoid making it exclusionary, however, is coutner-intuitive to the way religion proselytizes. Religion tries to convince you that it has an important message, a one of a kind, divine revelation which can only come from it's very own source! Therefore all other messages are false. By the religious person's reckoning, this bias, generates a sort of confidence that (since all other messages are undeniably false) they must be the only religion to ever have the truly inspired truth. Therefore, who wouldn't want that?
But as we saw with the example above, this is clearly a case of faulty reasoning.
Yes Tristan... Absolutely correct.
ReplyDeleteThe Bible is only one point of view. There are many, many, many other points of view out there. Legally, they all need to be included.
As an interesting side point tonight. I was watching Jeopardy with my BF this evening. I never watch that, just happened to do it tonight. One of the contestants was a teacher. She told the host that she taught a "Biology and Morality" course in highschool. I looked at him, and I said, "She is teaching in a Christian school. They are the only ones who think that it is acceptable to teach that crap." Sure enough, she said that she taught at a Catholic highschool. Thought that you would like that.