"Let children pray in schools. All schools should have allotted time in schools to have a time for religious exercises. This attitude of atheist non-believers claiming human rights have gone too far."
-an unnamed Winnipeg Free Press reader, detailing his distaste for atheism (and good sentence structure)
A friend who lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba, has been sending me updates on this story of one school division's overly religious mornings since yesterday. We'll call the story "Winklergate" to save time. Here's the summary: A school division in a Hutterite town called Winkler has a system in which its schools spend five minutes a day on the Lord's Prayer and a brief Bible reading. The Manitoba Human Rights Commission is unimpressed. The vast majority respondents to the story side with the school division.
As soon as I heard about this, I had a great idea for a new motto for my own school. "WELCOME TO __________ HIGH SCHOOL. WE WORSHIP ELSEWHERE."
The aforementioned respondents seem to have deluded themselves that Canada is a Christian nation.
"No, they should not be forced to change. Our country has been built on strong Christian values. Christian values emphasize charity, tolerance, and peace. Values which we seem to have forgotten."
"We NEED MORE (emphasis original) Bible reading and prayer in our schools, not less. Our children desperately need to know the God of the Bible."
"Once again the Human Rights Commission wields its mean-spirited, undemocratic, anti-Christian, freedom from religious stick by prayer police . . . It's time to take back our schools, defend our Christian and democratic beliefs in which this great country, constitution and institutions were founded."
The way I remember learning it, Canada is a multicultural nation, not the Texas Republican Party. That means respect for all cultures. Maybe there aren't many of them in Winkler, but there are bound to be a few. And maybe these kids are -- dare I say it? -- questioning the existence of God! Why do they feel the need to push it on them? And if you're so worried about tolerance, why aren't you tolerating the rest of us?
Imagine if this were happening in a predominantly Muslim town. Do you know how many people would be crying out for these practices to stop? A good ninety percent, no doubt. How is this any different?
I'll say it once and I'll say it in my best duh voice. God does not belong in public schools. If you want to instill good Christian values in your children, do it at church and at home, and that's it. Why do you think they invented Christian schools? So you won't have to be bothered by non-Christians and atheists complaining about human rights. Send your kid there if you're so worried about it.
By the way, I'm an atheist. See you in hell.