Bible Belt, Right and Left
Today (March 31 2016) the
local CBC news programme featured an item about Bibles in the Public Schools in
Abbotsford, a city some 70 km east of Vancouver, nestled in the centre of BC’s
so-called “Bible Belt.” To me, I hasten
to add, that is a title of honour even when the BC secular media use it largely
with scorn, though I do sometimes cringe at the right-wing orientation of the
place. I do not understand how Christians, let alone a Christian community as a
whole, can be right wing, even when that is a rather common occurrence in much
of North America. Which is not to say, I prefer left wing. In no way. That’s
often worse than right. I want Christians to be independent of both of these
orientations and just be themselves, be Christian. This means that sometimes
they will sound right, at another, left, but usually creatively different and
free from both. I am tempted to shout, “The plague on both of your
houses!” But that would neither be very
kind nor Christian. Christians don’t wish a plague on anyone.
Bibles in Public Schools
So, what is the issue
according to CBC? The Abbotsford School
Board is promoting the distribution of Bibles among its students. These Bibles
are offered free of charge by the Gideons, a business people’s organization
that distributes free Bible, all over the world, especially in hotels. If you
use hotels, you must have seen them tucked away in a drawer. The Board does not force them on the
students. The latter are given consent forms for their parents to sign. The
students of those parents who approve are given the Bible in the principal’s
office—nothing public; all very private.
Objections to Bibles in Public Schools
Some members of the public
are voicing objections. These include notions such as Bibles not having a place
in Public Schools or the system should not use up public funds for religious
purposes. The Bible may be free, but the progamme’s administration takes time
and money, public time and money. According to the programme’s anchor, Andrew Chen, the complaint was initially
delivered by the Humanist Association.
Secular "Neutrality"
These objections are exactly
what I expected, for they are the classic reaction of secular minds to
religion; in BC, especially to the Christian religion. The general attitude is
that to be neutral one must leave religion out of public affairs, including
education. To be neutral means, well, simply to be secular! And to be secular means to exclude religion,
exclude belief systems.
Secularism Just Another Belief System
The problem is, of course,
that secularism itself is a belief system that is based on a view of reason
that constitutes faith in reason’s
ability to know all and to fix all. The truth of that has never been proved but
is simply accepted as “common sense” that is beyond questioning or doubt. So,
when secularists want to push out what they consider religion, we really have a
case of one belief system (secularism) ousting other belief systems. It would
be exactly the same if Roman Catholics or any other faith system were to demand
the ouster of all others, including secularism. The Humanist Association is
actually demanding the status of establishment state religion at the expense of
every one else, something that, I would have thought, our insistence today on
pluralism would never even allow us to think about.
Secular Establishment
Pluralism leaves room for
everyone and resists any group seeking establishment rights and privileges.
Unfortunately, the earlier Anglican establishment of BC has been replaced by a
Secular one with many government privileges, especially in the educational
sector. Secular says: Everyone clear the deck; we take over. We are the only
rational neutral people around! What a
myth. What blindness. The blindness?
Inability and/or refusal to recognize their own faith-based orientation towards
autonomous reason. Every religion in BC, to the best of my knowledge, is open
about its being based on faith. It is only the Secular faith that will or
cannot acknowledge its base. It is simply blind to it. Closed minded. It is
caught in a narrow tunnel vision.
Poser--An Exceptional Pluralistic Humanist
However, not all Humanists
think this way. I was once member of a multi-faith group that included three
Humanists, one of whom was a former leader of the Vancouver Humanist
Association, the late Ernest Poser. In fact, he was the founder of this group
and Chairman till he became terminally ill. His idea was to encourage the
teaching about all major worldviews
in BC’s public schools, including Humanism!
Not proselytism or “evangelism,” but to help students understand each
other and, later in their adult years, as neighbours. Why do my neighbours
behave as they do? The answer is often found in religion. So, Poser reasoned,
let’s teach that stuff in the public schools to enhance mutual understanding
among the citizenry. However, he did admit that he did not find much support among
his fellow Humanists, but still enough for them to provide our low-level budget
for a few years, however grudgingly. Poser and I became very close friends; I
loved him dearly, though we deeply disagreed with each other.
My All-inclusive Pluralistic Solution
My solution to the
Abbotsford “crisis” is, like Poser’s, not to ban religion from the schools.
That’s impossible; it is already there in the form of Secularism. And
Secularism occupies all the space, every
square inch, to indoctrinate students in
its worldview. That space needs to be shared with everyone—Christians, Hindus,
Sikhs, Muslims, Humanists, Atheists, Animists, etc. That’s the only way to be
pluralistic, but it will require Secularists to open their eyes to their own
belief system and admit it for what it is. Of all the religions, they are
probably the most blind to themselves.
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