'Stupid woman', 'phoney excuse'. Because you just
know these things, huh?
Yep. It's human nature. She's not using any common sense at all, she's simply trying to get her way using, as Leo says, a phony excuse. Just look at her comments in the letter she wrote:
“As a society and a school community we strive to teach acceptance of others and the importance of diversity, but where is the acceptance of others who do not practice the Christian religion.”
The fact is, the society of the local community decides how local school operate and what gets taught. Introducing the liberal invention of the "importance of diversity" indicates her complaint is part of an agenda, because local communities that aren't diverse have no need to teach the importance of diversity, because it's a non-issue. Plus, teaching the acceptance of others is not, nor has it ever been a school function, it's a societal function.
In her interview with the Lethbridge Herald, she stated, "There is no diversity and acceptance of other religions with the Lord’s Prayer. You want religion in the public school system? Teach them all.”
The problem with that is, the community doesn't consist of all of the religions. There are Muslim communities in both Alberta and Saskatchewan where Muslim prayers, and only Muslim prayers, are recited in school. The school reflects the community, whatever that community may be. It always has. School boards are supposed to listen to the parent's wishes in total, rather than bow down to the wishes of a single parent. Schools are supposed to reflect the tradition and culture of the school community.
The other biggie is the fact that nothing whatsoever in the Lord's Prayer identifies it as being of the Christian religion. The Jewish prayer is very similar, the Hindu
Gayatri Mantra is also similar, as is the Muslim Surat Al-Fātiĥah. The Lord's Prayer doesn't promote Christianity in any way, shape or form to anyone who isn't Christian. To Christians it merely confirms their beliefs, but the prayer alone won't turn anyone into a Christian.
Ms. Bell also stated in her letter,
"that hearing the Lord's Prayer over the school's P.A. system is a violation of her children's human rights of freedom of religion."
That's a load of crap, since no religion is espoused. If they start giving Sunday School Bible lessons over the PA in the morning then she's got a legitimate gripe, but If her kids don't believe in a Heavenly Father, then hearing about one isn't gonna convince them.
Stupid is sending your kids to a public school and expecting them to be taught any religion, because that's not the job of a public school.
Stupid is sending your kids to a public school that has a Constitutional Exemption specifically to allow prayer in the school and then complaining about it.
Books like those are pulled from school libraries all the time, because one parent complained. And you know what the difference is, when it happens? The school never identifies the complainant. In this case, they did, though. I wonder why....
For one, books are rarely pulled from school libraries because of a single complaint from a parent. I've never heard of an instance where that's happened. Secondly, "they" identified this woman because she gave an interview with the Lethbridge Herald and had a very public campaign of her own doing to have the Lord's Prayer removed, including letters to the school principle, the school board, letters to and ads taken out in the Lethbridge Herald, and was outspoken in public school board meetings. So she identified herself without "they" having to do it.
She bluntly states that she's not anti-Christian, as she's an agnostic with a Catholic mother and a Mormon father, and has attended Baptist churches in the past. She says,
“I’m not for or against it. I’m saying if you are going to do it then diversify. If you are going to say one, then devote 30 minutes to every religion (found) at the school. We teach diversity and acceptance as parents, as a school and as a community. There is no diversity and acceptance of other religions with the Lord’s Prayer. You want religion in the public school system? Teach them all.”
Yet that's disingenuous, not credible, as no agnostic would say that. "Teach them all" is a statement made because she knows it wouldn't happen, and couldn't happen. But if it were to happen, say if there where Christians, 4 Jews and 3 Muslims in the school, and the devoted 30 minutes to each, then she'd find some argument to be made that an agnostic time allotment isn't made. The really silly thing about her claiming to be agnostic is, the very definition of agnosticism is that the religious claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity is unknown, so, by definition, a belief in a God, or a disbelief of a God, both
must be unobjectionable. An atheist has a legitimate objection to prayer in school, as well as a believer has a legitimate objection to the absence of all mentions of religion in school. Which makes her objections disingenuous at best, and at worst stupid.
I've never seen nor heard of anyone being damaged by hearing the Lord's Prayer for the 8 seconds it takes to hear it. If you're agnostic of atheist then the Lord's Prayer is meaningless and therefore incapable of harm. Well, the first three petitions are meaningless to an agnostic or an atheist, but the other four are simply good sense and a civil way of conducting yourself, and cannot be objectionable to anyone with a sound mind and a modicum of intelligence.
