Teaching Creationism is teaching Religion
Extending funding of schools to include all religions and not just Catholics seems fair to me. But if someone teaches Creationism as an alternative “theory” to Evolution, they are teaching Religion. There is absolutely no scientific basis for it. So of course it is not in the Science curiculum laid down by the Province. I disagree with many of the religious teachings taught in Religious schools but I also believe in freedom of religion. People teach kids at home about their beliefs including some whacky ones. So teaching these things in school is not so terrible. But it absolutely must be made clear when the kids are taught that it’s a religious belief and not science.
Then when kids grow up and get a mind of their own (usually around 25 - 30 - sorry students!), they can decide for themselves.
Teaching Creationism as an alternative science theory is plain bad science and wrong. I trust John Tory understands this point - but then I trust him to understand this more than I trust the news reporters to quote him correctly.
John Draper
September 7th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
You’re preaching to the choir (so to speak). If this line is ever crossed, we will be the laughingstock of the world along with Kansas.
September 11th, 2007 at 8:31 am
Religious schools are just thinly disguised ethnic schools. Immigrants should leave their ethnicity behind when they come to Canada. Trying to pass on their culture to the next generation(s) is futile anyway, since the kids everywhere just want to be like Americans.
In the meantime, if immigrants believe that their children will somehow be polluted by sitting next to Canadian kids in a public school classroom, they have a few things to learn about tolerance.
September 11th, 2007 at 9:06 am
I believe what makes Canada so great is that people can grow up expierencing their own culture, as well as be a part of Canada’s culture as a whole.
Tolerance is a two way street. We as Canadians must be tolerant of their culture and ideals, while they must be tolerant of our social and political framework, such as are already existing public schools.
To say that it is futile to even attempt to try and pass on ones culture to the next generation is not the right attitiute at all. We have the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms so that comments like that do not become reality.
September 12th, 2007 at 7:51 am
OOOOh, how politically correct!
The facts, however, are that religious/ethnic schools discriminate on the basis of religion and race although the Charter specifically prohibits “discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability”.
You will find no Jewish teachers in Moslem schools or vice versa. Similarly the life of a Hindu kid in a Moslem schoolyard would be no picnic.
The religious/ethnic schools are institutionalized discrimination and to sanction their status with public funds should be abhorrent to anyone who wants a tolerant, multicultural Canada.
Religious instruction of any kind belongs in Sunday schools or whatever their equivalent is in other faiths.
September 12th, 2007 at 9:13 am
I’m not disagreeing with you regarding any religious instruction being a part of Sunday school, in fact, I fully agree.
What I do disagree with is what you said about people “trying to pass on their culture to the next generation(s) is futile anyway, since the kids everywhere just want to be like Americans”. Thats it.
Otherwise, we’re right on the same page.
September 12th, 2007 at 5:07 pm
The Curmudgeon concurs.
Same hymnbook, same page.
Next topic, unless anyone else is in need of enlightenment on this topic.
September 13th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
For some time I have tried to understand the broader term of “culture”. I suspect that term will become ever more complex and too difficult for me to grasp fully. Having said that, I think that culture is a conglomeration of ideals and responses to the multitude of conditions that result from living in a particular environment created by the continuous interaction of many influences (temporal, climatic, geographic, social, political, religious, ethnic, etc.). If just one of those conditions changes significantly, the cultural identity, or DNA, is also changed. By extension then, I think it is impossible to pass on, or teach, one’s culture to the next generation because the conditions that produced that culture do not remain unchanged. Perhaps then while we try to pass on or teach our various cultures, we only partially succeed in maintaining an awareness of our past cultures and in providing the written or recordable elements that helped to define that culture in the minds of those living it at the time. Perhaps culture is just a formalized version of folklore. I also think it is impossible to bring your culture with you when you immigrate. It follows then that I do not agree with protecting “foreign” cultures in a new land because, as I wrote, the conditions required to support a “foreign” culture do not exist anywhere else in enough strength to do so successfully. All of this then results in a confusion of cultural vs religious beliefs. Religious tenets are not subject to the same vagaries as cultural ones. Therefore I think that “culture” based schools are actually more religion based. To me it seems that the education discussion must take place within that understanding for it to be meaningful and productive.
September 13th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
By the way, mr or ms curmudgeon, the enlightenment you offer appears to be more of your own perspectives than of the factual specifics of the subject matter. But then, enlightenment is meant to be a positive thing, regardless of the subject matter. I certainly aspire to be as successful as you in this regard.
March 11th, 2008 at 11:24 am
Unfortunately, I can’t open this. My Apple is too outdated. Apparently it’s called ‘Jesus Camp’.
Maybe somebody could describe it to me. You know, by tapping on the back of my hand the way Annie Sullivan did with Helen Keller or something….
http://youtube.com/watch?v=c94b1_dx9Q8