Post 198--Leftist Intolerance

Happy new year!  I was hoping to share with you some thoughts about Christmas, but I could not get around to it.  Then I thought, "Oh, well, I'll get something for new year."  Didn't do that either. And now we're already January 10.  A "happy new year" wish too late for you?  In Nigeria, even in April, if I meet up with a friend I had not yet seen that year, I would still wish him a happy new year.  (Now anytime you say anything about Nigeria, you have to specify the ethnic group or geographical location, for you cannot ever generalize about a nation of 180 million people. About the only two things you can say about the country is (1) everyone is Black, though of various shades; (2) everyone loves soccer or football. As I read this over, I confess to a bit of exaggeration, but Nigerians don't mind that--at least some don't!

Today I am passing on to you a sad, if not infuriating Alberta story about leftist intolerance of Christian schooling and the Bible. It comes to us from that revel Ezra Levant. I'm just going to let him loose and sock it to you without any further interference from me. It is about:

A left-wing bureaucrat attacked a Christian school for teaching the Bible. But now the school is fighting back in court!

EL

Last year we told you about the Cornerstone Christian Academy in Alberta. A bureaucrat at the Battle River School Division, Lauri Skori, literally ordered the school to stop teaching passages in the Bible that she personally disagreed with. For example, Skori ordered the school to stop teaching a passage from 1 Corinthians, because she finds it “offensive”. Not just that, but the bureaucrats tried to put a gag order on the school, to forbid them from talking to anyone about what the school board was trying to do! Things have gone from bad to worse. Rather than respect the Cornerstone Christian Academy’s religious freedom, the school board has served the school notice that it will be officially kicked out next year — so the school won’t get any funding. It’s effectively being shut down, because a left-wing, anti-Christian activist doesn’t like the Bible. But I’ve got good news: Canada’s best (and only?) civil liberties lawyer, John Carpay, is taking the school board to court, to stop the Battle River School Division from banning the Cornerstone Christian Academy. Here’s my interview with John, where he describes the situation, and what he’s doing about it: Last year we raised more than $5,000 for John his team to help the school — they tried to reason with the school board, and negotiate an amicable solution. That failed, so unfortunately, they have to sue. Let’s help them out. I’ve promised to help him raise another $2,000 to help pay for his team of lawyers to fight for the school’s freedom of religion, against government censors. You can read John’s lawsuit for yourself, here. If you agree that this anti-Christian bigotry is unacceptable, please join with me in helping to chip in to support the school by clicking here. Yours truly, Ezra Levant P.S. When I first heard that a bureaucrat was literally banning passages from the Bible, I thought it was a joke. Unfortunately not. Please click here to help fund the only civil liberties lawyer in Canada who seems to care. P.P.S. The mainstream media doesn’t care — they actually support Lauri Skori and the bigoted school board. So it’s up to us to spread the word about this. Please forward this e-mail to friends and family, and make www.TheRealBigots.com your Facebook status. Because the real bigots here are the anti-Christian extremists at the school board, don’t you think?

Post 171--Use of Bible Censored in Alberta Christian School!

Throughout this blog, I have talked about the creeping restrictions on expressions of the Christian faith in Canada. While freedom of WORSHIP has not been curtailed, though that cannot be far behind, freedom of RELIGION is another matter.  Freedom of worship, if very narrowly defined, takes place in Church, but freedom of religion takes place throughout our culture, in both private and public places--in the market place as it has come to be called. It is this religion thing that is under fire.  

It mostly happens under the radar, for the mainline media do not concern themselves with it. So it happens with very few people noticing. As a result when someone does notice and makes it public, she will be sidelined as a "r

adical" who does not deserve our attention and is berated even by such respected journalists as Andrew Coyne, whom, I hasten to say, I enjoy reading--without always agreeing.

It is not always brave individuals like Ezra Levant who monitor such situations; some church organizations do as well, among them the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) and non-church Christian organizations like the Association for Reformed Political Action (ARPA). You've met both of these organizations in this blog and no doubt will again.  

Today's report comes from Levant. It's heading reads:

"A school board in Alberta has LITERALLY BANNED PASSAGES FROM THE BIBLE."

The Cornerstone Christian Academy in Alberta is exactly what it says it is — a Christian school. Just like Alberta has Jewish schools and Muslim schools too. But the head of the government school board that oversees Cornerstone, a woman named Lauri Skori, has literally ordered the school to stop teaching passages in the Bible that she personally disagrees with. I know this sounds crazy. But it’s true. For example, Skori has ordered the school to stop teaching a line from 1 Corinthians, because she finds it “offensive": It’s shocking, but it’s not surprising. Christianity has been driven out of the public square everywhere in Canada. But surely this is a new low — Christianity is actually being banned in a Christian school. Government bureaucrats would never dream of telling Muslim schools they couldn’t teach passages from the Koran — even ones that call for the murder of infidels and apostates. But banning the Bible is now official school board policy. And, not surprisingly, the media and the political class are silent. Even supposedly Christian or conservative politicians are keeping their heads down — they don’t want to be attacked by the leftist mob at the CBC. Well, we’ve found one honest man — John Carpay, from the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms. He’s agreed to take the case of Cornerstone Christian Academy. He’s written a scorching 8-page legal letter to the school board pointing out how what they’re doing is illegal — it’s unconstitutional. You can read that letter here. But they seem to be digging in their heels. And why not? No-one is coming to the aid of the school. Well, that’s where you and I come in. As you can see in my interview with John (at the end of the video here), I’ve promised to help him raise up to $5,000 to help pay for his team of three lawyers to fight for the school’s freedom of religion, against government censors. I’ve agreed to chip in the first $50 myself. If you agree that this case is outrageous, please join with me in helping to chip in to John’s legal defence fund, by clicking here.