Newfoundland gets it right. Andrew Chung of the Toronto Star reports on the evolution of a faith-based education system to a secular system in the province of Newfoundland. In a nutshell, there are now no publicly funded faith-based schools in Newfoundland as they were all integrated in a secular school system as the result of a referendum held in 1997. The article in today's Star: Newfoundland offers religious school lessons.

In an article in the Saturday September 15 edition of the Toronto Star, columnist Stuart Laidlaw presents the case for teaching religion in publicly funded schools. The author suggests that, in order for students to properly understand art, history and literature, they need an understanding of religion. To lend support for this notion, Mr. Laidlaw looks to religious literacy advocate Stephen Prothero.

Now, I don’t think that religious literacy is necessarily a bad thing. I could support the teaching of religion in public schools depending on what is meant by religious literacy. If religious literacy just means the study of Christianity and the bible, then I’m afraid that I can be counted out. If it means the study of the world’s major religions from a factual and historical perspective, I’m in.

In an article in Today's Toronto Star, Roger Hyman wonders if providing public funding for faith-based private schools might potentially subvert the existing secular curriculum.

How could a fundamentalist religious school allow the secular curriculum on which our notion of a civil society stands to coexist with faith positions diametrically opposed to that notion?

In other words, why would we publicly fund an education that promotes teachings "which in whole or in part reject the values of the larger society"?

Damn good question, I'd say.

Something to consider:

It is startling to realize how much unbelief is necessary to make belief possible.

Eric Hoffer - 1951

I just started reading, and am only a few pages into, Eric Hoffer’s The True Believer. The author suggests that hope is the most powerful factor in the creation of large scale societal change.

Those who would transform a nation or the world cannot do so by breeding and captaining discontent or by demonstrating the reasonableness and desirability of the intended changes or by coercing people into a new way of life. They must know how to kindle and fan an extravagant hope. It matters not whether it be hope of a heavenly kingdom, of heaven on earth, of plunder and untold riches, of fabulous achievement or world domination.

By implication, hope is the glue that binds like minded people into powerful groups that can initiate, shape and facilitate change. Hope is a tool that can be, and is, used by those in positions of leadership to effect change. The following is an attempt to put together some thoughts about hope and how it relates to religion.

Like the Duracell rabbit, this story just keeps on going. According to an article in the Globe and Mail, an inquiry has been established by the Anglican church to look into former Grenville Christian College student's allegations of abuse at the hands of teachers and school administrators.

The investigation into Grenville Christian College has widened with allegations of abuse involving former teachers – allegations that will be heard firsthand Saturday at an inquiry established by an Anglican bishop of Eastern Ontario.

In the same article, another former student has come forward with allegations of abuse at the hands of the school's teachers.

I missed this story in the Globe and Mail yesterday. Michael Valpy continues with his exposé of Grenville Christian College. In the article Born into the abusive grip of a cult, a former Grenville Christian College student recounts the abuses she experienced at the school.

John Tory stated that he'd like to see creationism taught in Ontario's publicly funded faith-based schools according to this article in today's Toronto Star.

John Tory spent the morning promoting his $400 million election campaign promise to introduce public funding for faith-based schools and acknowledged that under the plan, schools would be allowed teach controversial subjects such a(s) creationism.

The Saturday, September 1 / 07 edition of the Globe and Mail has a follow up story to yesterday's article on Grenville Christian College (see post below). The Globe report centers on the apology given by senior administrator Joan Childs to the school's students via internet message board.

Joan Childs, who worked at the school for more than 30 years, posted a public apology on an Internet message board that former students have been using for more than a year to talk about what they experienced and suffered.

In the same edition of the Globe, there is an article indicating that legal threats were made to the co-publisher of the Brockville Recorder and Times as it was set to publish a negative story about the college.

The staff of Brockville's newspaper knew nearly 20 years ago of allegations of religious cult practices at Grenville Christian College but backed off from publishing an article because of legal threats and sources who changed their minds about allowing their names to be used.

Well boys and girls, all good thing must come to an end. The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away, as they say. As summer inevitably draws to an close, our thoughts turn to going back to school. Malls are crowded as Moms and kids shop for new shoes, clothes and school supplies. To be sure, only the Xmas shopping season could make retailers happier. And speaking of things religious, Landover Baptist Church offers timely advice to help those unfortunate Christian students who attend secular schools.

In what would have been a wonderful deal for students returning to school this fall, the Landover website advertises a some-strings-attached Free Digital Phone offer. Students everywhere will, no doubt, be disappointed that the offer has expired.

In what is very sad news for some students as they return to school in Ontario, Grenville Christian College in Brockville closed its doors at the end of July this summer. The school’s Headmaster, father Gordon Mintz, cites the following reasons for the school’s closure:

Unfortunately, changing demographics, declining enrollment, and increasing operating costs have forced this decision upon us.

My sympathies go out to those students who had planned to attend Grenville this fall. It will be very sad time for them indeed.