Should Religious Beliefs be
excluded from Consideration of Public Policy?
à Yes
Justice Mary
Saunders, Opinion in Chamberlaain v.
How is Started:
o
1995:
Ministry of Education implemented the personal planning curriculum that
included a family life component
o
GALE
(Gay and Lesbian Educators) had developed a list of books that portray
homosexual and bisexual persons to be part of the prescribed list.
o
One
teacher in the
o
The
3 books were: Asha’s Mums, Belinda’s Bouquet, One
dad, two dads, brown dad, blue dad
o
GALE
list did not receive ministerial approval, but was widely distributed to
teachers and librarians in
o
Superintendent
of
o
The
community elected the school board to come up with the final verdict
v
Vote
of 4-2, passed a resolution declining to approve the books.
Points
to Consider:
q Justice Mary Saunders of B.C
Supreme Court pointed out that due to the British Columbia School Act
all school should be run “strictly secular and non-sectarian principles.”
(Independent of religious consideration)
q The School Act incorporates
parent participation in educational decisions, curriculum issues, and
consideration of parental views on sensitive issues is wise.
·
All
parties agree that the books required approval of the school board before a
teacher could use them for educational purposes
·
Parents’
freedom of religion
·
Left
for the Parents to deal with at Home
·
Tend
to confuse children and may interfere with parental education on religious and
moral matters.
q
Charter of Rights and Freedom states that it protects persons, not conduct, and
thus that it protects homosexual persons, not homosexual conduct.
q Pg 595 in Egan v.Canada by Mr. Justice Cory states that, “..So long as those preferences do not infringe any laws,
they should be tolerated.”
·
No
relevance to school curriculum
·
Justice
Saunders says the books/issue should be based on age appropriateness because
they would cause confusion and conflict.
·
Her
view on teaching of the subject of same-sex relationship allows a child to
validate beliefs that the relationship would be morally wrong from their
religious viewpoint.
Parents
Responses were:
Ø
Children
would be confused at the challenge to their own faith and family values.
Ø
Contrary
to one’s personal religious beliefs
Ø
Teach
our children according to religious, the homosexual lifestyle is wrong
Ø
My
and my wife would like to teach out children according to religious beliefs
without having the school teach them something at an early age
Ø
Not
to negate our rights as parents to teach out children
Ø
Contrary
to the teaching of the bible
Ø
Do
not want school to contradict their own teaching
Glossary
Statutory: Enacted by statute; depending
on statute for its authority; as, a statutory
provision.
Inculcate: To impress (something) upon
the mind of another by frequent instruction or
repetition; instill: inculcating
sound principles.
Sectarian: Of, relating to, or
characteristic of a sect
Clergy: The body of people ordained
for religious service.
Secular: Worldly rather than spiritual.
Not specifically relating to religion or to a religious body
Pluralistic: An adherent of social or
philosophical pluralism.
Ecclesiastical. A person who
holds two or more offices, especially two or
more benefices, at the same time.
Affidavits: A written declaration made
under oath before a notary public or other
authorized officer.
Negate: To make ineffective or
invalid; nullify.
Quashed: To set aside or annul,
especially by judicial action.
Indoctrination: To instruct in a body of
doctrine or principles.
To imbue with a partisan or
ideological point of view: a
generation of
children who had
been indoctrinated against the values of their parents.
Discussion Questions
1) Should it be
allowed for public policy officials to make decisions that are motivated in
part of religious beliefs?
2) Does the
Charter of Rights and Freedoms require that moral beliefs that originate from
religious belief be excluded from public debate?
3) In your opinion
do you think that “secular” essentially means “non-religious”?
4)
Public
School Act states:
5)
All
public schools established under the provisions of this Act, shall be conducted
upon strictly secular and non-sectarian principles…
6) What roles do
you think religious convictions should play in the public square?
7) Do you believe
that students in kindergarten and grade one should be introduced to same sex
relationships?
8) If this issue
was passed by a vote, what conflicts do you think would occur?
9) As you know
teachers play a key role in our society, which places them in a direct position
of trust and authority toward their students.
Do you believe that it is appropriate for teaches to teach their
students about sensitive issues like this?
10)
In current news now same sex marriages is now
legal. Will it be true that later on in
the years that the main issues will directly relate to gay and lesbian issues?
11)
On a scale of 1-10, 1 being the lowest and 10 being the
highest, what rank do you fall in the interest of this category?
12)
Now, are there anymore questions any one of you would
like to bring up?