LORNA DUECK

Monday, May 28, 2001

My experience with marijuana has reached new highs in the past week. Growing in my home is one the finest marijuana projects that I think any Canadian Grade 7 student has ever produced. I should admit that "growing" is somewhat of a hallucinatory term, the project is only on paper, but it's been leafing out all over the home office, then the bedroom, and now even into a national debate.

The only thing missing in this language/health project was ethics. And so I challenged my fine student on how that dimension could be incorporated into the masterpiece on marijuana. At the Grade 7 level, ethics means "the best good for the most people." In my house, "best good" is defined by Christian convictions. As you may guess, we had an uncomfortable soul-searching conversation over whether such moral input was needed or welcome on a public-school project.

It's not a unique quandary — across the country it's been an uncomfortable time to be a Canadian who wants to include faith-based conviction in their education. From the highest court to tax-credit debates in the editorial pages, it's wise to ask if the pendulum has swung from concern to prejudice against religion in our land.

Last week this public debate heard from the Supreme Court, where the country's largest Christian university had just spent six years and $1.6-million to defend its right to educate within the framework of religious-based views. Thankfully, the court ruled 8-1 that Trinity Western University was correct, even if its sexual-standards guide for students is politically incorrect — but more on all that later.

Parents across the country are watching another round of paranoia in how religion is being handled in education — the latest battleground being Ontario. The Progressive Conservative government's offer of a tax credit to religious schools has sparked alarmist comments from teachers, politicians and pundits.

The father of public schooling, Egerton Ryerson, must be rolling over in his grave. He was the first superintendent of education for Upper Canada, and a Methodist minister who set the model for how English-speaking schools operate across Canada. He believed that from the "a,b,c of the child up to the provincial university . . . schools would present upon the broad basis of our Christianity." The same year Ontario passed his School Act of 1871, Ryerson published a textbook, First Lessons in Christian Morals.

We can chuckle at how much has changed but here's a constant in our culture: There are still millions of homes across the country teaching their children first lessons in Christian morals. Just like the marijuana project, we don't want to separate what we believe from how we learn. Education is not neutral, information affects actions and actions reflect character.

Case in point, let's go back to the Supreme Court case involving Trinity Western. For 39 years, this institution has been graduating students at no cost to the public purse — tuition fees and private donations have kept this faith-based liberal-arts school in business. In turn, Trinity has brought millions to our economy with an alumni that boasts nurses, pilots, professors, business leaders, lawyers and teachers. Trinity has a code of conduct where students and faculty must agree to obey Jesus's command to love and respect others, and to refrain from practices contrary to biblical teaching. Lifestyle choices like drunkenness and pornography are prohibited, as is extramarital, premarital and homosexual sex.

When Trinity requested that its fifth year of teacher training be accredited by the British Columbia College of Teachers, the College ruled no, saying Trinity's code of conduct was "contrary to the public interest."

The case was an ominous threat to religious freedom in our land, especially since there was never any evidence that Trinity's views on homosexual sex created intolerant students. In fact, gay students at Trinity have a web site that says they support the school's code of conduct, which leads me to conclude that "love and respect for others" is operating well amid a diverse campus.

While Trinity battled its way to the Supreme Court, we learned a lesson about Canada: Morality shaped by faith conviction is not welcome in the educational process. It was one more court case that showed people of faith were treated with fear, rather than respect.

No wonder we are seeing Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Christians of all varieties open private schools across the country. Some provinces welcome that. Last month, Saskatchewan announced 95-per-cent funding to associate or historic schools of faith perspective. In Manitoba, 50 per cent of the tuition dollar is available for faith-based schools, and the province offers these smaller schools a shared agreement on clinician services, transportation and life-skills facilities. Again, tax dollars are saved by the province because parents subsidize the education of their children and pay for all capital expenditures.

When the Ontario government announced its tax break to parents in similar situations, it was honouring a commitment to the International Declaration of Human Rights that it endorsed in 1976. Article 26 of that agreement says the state "promises to have respect for the liberty of parents to choose for their children schools other than those established by the public authorities, which conform to such minimum educational standards as may be laid down or approved by the State," and, "to ensure the religious and moral education of their children in conformity with their own convictions. Primary education (K-8) shall be compulsory and available free to all."

In this international covenant, the provinces of Canada promise to adopt "such legislative or other practical measures that are needed to give force and effect to these rights." The tax break from the Ontario government is a small offering to years of lobbying for a right enshrined by Canada. The critics have bullied this choice, saying Ontario is bringing a death blow to public education and the integration needed for a healthy society.

It's a tough dilemma for a parent who lives by religious convictions. Do we wash our hands of the growing animosity against faith and continue to pull out of the public education system and create a parallel universe for our views? Truth is, like our old mentor on the education road, Egerton Ryerson, many of us believe the integration of faith-based character is good gift for public life. Spiritual teaching provides a road map for making ethical decisions in a complex and changing world and we don't want to leave that conviction at the kitchen table.

To deny us the choice to include faith perspective in the education of our children is undemocratic and intolerant.

Lorna Dueck is a broadcaster with 100 Huntley Street and
producer/host of Listen Up TV.