Mar 12
31
The author of the special article below for the Montreal Gazette, a teacher of Quebec’s religion-culture course, illustrates how dangerous the curriculum is. Not because he sounds like an evil, subversive man. On the contrary, I take his message here at face value, and it is a respectful plea for cooperation. But the point is that he completely misrepresents the nature of the course and its impact on those who sit under it. I’m not saying he does so intentionally. I think this is the result of a blind spot inherent in Humanism. He talks about how such a course is consistent with people’s multicultural experience today in many Quebec communities. But that’s not the point.
He also says that students want to learn respectfully about other religions and belief systems, and that this curriculum facilitates that desire. The program may well be respectful, at least in its tone.
But Mr. Watts also says that “understanding each other’s cultures will eliminate xenophobia and move us toward peace.” That’s where the problem lies. As Christians have noted, the curriculum is not truthful about Christianity. It does not teach Christianity’s own position that it is exclusively true; that peace with God and eternal life are only accessible through Jesus Christ. And if the curriculum is not truthful, then it cannot, by definition, foster understanding about Christians. Humanists seem to lack the intellectual categories necessary to comprehend this concept of exclusivity, this despite the dogmatism and militancy with which some of them hold their views, whether on origins, abortion, homosexuality or socialist medicine. They are moral relativists, so they can’t seem to get their mind around Christianity’s exclusive claims, even simply to teach them as historical curiosities. As a result, this curriculum does not foster understanding of Christians. Rather it is more likely to promote bigotry while leaving Christians marginalized and disenfranchised.
Mr. Watts also interestingly seems to have aligned himself with one of the most radical and irrational fringes of modern Humanism, the cultic Supreme-Court-Black-Robe sect. I don’t know if anybody has yet given this cult a particular name. It’s the small but perhaps growing body of people who believe that Supreme Court judges are gods; that they, by the power of their words, can speak reality into being; elite men and women who can redefine reality simply be declaring it so. These judges can say things no matter how irrational, foolish or false, but because they are Black Robed elites, their statements are accepted as fact. Citing Mr. Watts’ statement of obeisance to his gods: “Some parents and schools took the government to court, but recently the Supreme Court of Canada pronounced that the new course ‘does not constitute indoctrination’ and that there is no infringement on anyone’s religious rights or freedoms.”
Canada’s Humanist Supreme Court judges made a statement that is false, foolish and transparently at odds with the facts. Nevertheless, because these Black Robed elites are perched at the top of Humanism’s centralised system of social order in Canada, Humanists treat their statements as the voice of their god, declarations of final authority that they can appeal to as apparently self-evident truths requiring no explanation and allowing for no dissent. Turn off your brains and bow to the Black Robes.
Yet a person who holds such religious convictions can be so blind that he can simultaneously convey sincere concern for Quebec’s youth and social peace, convinced that the Humanist provincial government’s ecumenical, multiculturalist plan is the best model for advancing civilization. Scary stuff. But this illustrates why superficial consideration of such things is inadequate. There is absolutely no such thing as neutrality in law, education and “public policy.” Christians need to understand what is involved in these theological and moral controversies; they need to understand the serious implications for their children – the next generation – if they compromise on such matters. These are fundamental Gospel matters because they have to do with the nature of Christianity; they have to do with idolatry and false worship.
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Montreal Gazette – March 26, 2012
School ethics course is an opportunity to create peacemakers
By James Watts
In 2008, the Quebec Ministry of Education introduced an ethics and religious culture program to replace the moral and religious education curriculum that had been taught previously. The new course covers all major faiths found in Quebec culture, including the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish faiths, and aboriginal world views.
Predictably, some people were upset. This change affects two of our most sensitive areas: our children and our beliefs. Some parents and schools took the government to court, but recently the Supreme Court of Canada pronounced that the new course “does not constitute indoctrination” and that there is no infringement on anyone’s religious rights or freedoms.
Undoubtedly there are times when people and organizations need to stand up to the government and protest legislated change; this is not one of those times. Conspicuously absent from those protesting against this course are the students! …
James Watts is a founder and the principal of Education Plus High School in St. Laurent.
Read the complete article here.