Protesting Muslim Prayers in Public Schools

This past week a group of concerned parents and community church groups got together to protest Muslim prayer services being held in a Toronto public school.  Allow me to add my voice to their discontent.

An open letter to Dalton McGuinty: 

Dear Sir,

     I’m writing to object to your encouragement of school board trustees and individual communities to create policy regarding the participation of religious groups in the public school system of Ontario. Under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom, the faith based belief system of one individual or group may not supersede those of another, and it is the civic and moral responsibility of our elected government officials to ensure that the right of all citizens to their own belief system is respected and upheld. It would be a very dangerous precedent for you to abdicate this public trust.

     Allowing the participation of Christian interest groups, such as the Gideon’s and Key Bible Club, in public schools, either to distribute their written material or to conduct “instructional” meetings, marginalizes non-Christian children and is an implicit endorsement of Christianity that lends legitimacy to its rhetoric. This would be true of any religious group of any denomination allowed to function in such a fashion, and is a violation of the spirit of public education, and a disservice to our youth, by not providing them with a balanced, secular education.

     I understand that participation is these programs is considered “voluntary”, although the scope of that word as regards the indoctrination of children is open to a wide variety of interpretations, however it must be stressed that faith based “education” is the commission of individual parents and their chosen sects, not the public school system. Historical reasons for the existence of publicly funded religious schools, such as the Catholic school system, are no longer relevant, the time has come for Ontario to stop segregating her children based on religious beliefs. It doesn’t serve them well, either as citizens of our increasingly global community, or as progenitors of humanity, and using public dollars to fund this inherently contentious division boarders on the obscene. Public school education on the topic of religion is very important, and should be strictly limited to a non-judgemental, non-indoctrinational, presentation of all world religions, conveying their history and the general nature of their beliefs and traditions. It is vital to instil our children with deep respect for another individual’s beliefs, but it would be a serious error for us as a society to hold out any particular religion as a model of truth, morality and righteousness.

     Complete separation of church and state is imperative for true freedom, and I implore you to do your duty, to protect our public school system and the freedom of the children of this province.