Ontario School Officials Propose Teaching ‘all Religious’ in Schools

A resolution favoring religious education in the public schools, but proposing that the “schools teach all religions, not just Christianity,” was adopted at Hamilton, this week, by the Ontario Urban and Rural School Trustees Association.

Five hundred delegates to the meeting endorsed the principle that “every young person in the democratic environment should develop a knowledge and respect for all religions and faiths,” declaring “this respect and knowledge would further the cause of world peace between Christians and non-Christians.”

The Toronto Star interpreted the resolution in an editorial as meaning that “all major world religions” be taught in the schools, and that such teaching be considered “as history, not creed.” The newspaper called for “education, not indoctrination.”

The Star, however, proposed that religious education, even when it teaches other faiths besides Christianity, be confined only to the high schools, and taken out of the elementary school curriculum. The editorial continued:

“If religion is to be taught in schools, it should be the history of the main religions, as the trustees ask. It should, we suggest, be given in advanced grades when students have acquired a degree of reasoning ability, and be taught by qualified teachers, preferably those who have studied comparative history of religion.”