“If those non-believers in our liberal-left religion don’t agree with us, then we’ll force ‘em to agree! We’ll teach their kids to believe in our religion! Force ‘em with our laws ‘n stuff!”
—An unknown Nazi, let’s say
Teach sex and evolution or close, Quebec evangelical schools told
We teach ‘a better theory,’ unlicensed school says
The Quebec ministry of education has told unlicensed Christian evangelical schools that they must teach Darwin’s theory of evolution and sex education or close their doors after an Outaouais school board complained the provincial curriculum wasn’t being followed.“Quebec children are legally required to follow the provincial curriculum … but these evangelical schools teach their own courses on creationism and sexuality that don’t follow the Quebec curriculum,” said Pierre Daoust, director general of the Commission Scolaire au Coeur-des-Vallees in Thurso, whose complaint sparked the provincewide investigation.
Quebec law requires school boards assure the ministry of education that every child between the ages six of and 16, with the exception of home-schooled children, receives an adequate education, he said.
But the roughly 15 elementary and high school students who attend a school operated by l’Eglise evangelique near Saint-Andre-Avellin are being educated according to a Bible-based curriculum and their diplomas will not be recognized anywhere in Canada.
Supporters of l’Eglise evan-gelique, part of l’Association des eglises evangeliques du Quebec, counter that the school teaches a “world view” that is essential for their students.
“We offer a curriculum based on a Christian world view rather than humanistic world view,” said Alan Buchanan, chairman of a committee that reorganized the school’s administration this past summer, as well as a former Quebec public school teacher.
Mr. Buchanan said l’Eglise evangelique teaches evolution as well as intelligent design.
“We want the children to understand what they’re going to meet in the outside world, and also what’s wrong with the theory,” he said. “We also teach that a better theory—that God created the universe and so on.”
While the school doesn’t teach sex education, it does teach biology, he said.
“You have the Christian world view that says sex should only be in marriage and a public school system that teaches kids about sexuality,” Mr. Buchanan said. “We believe students should be taught abstinence.”
He said the school met provincial guidelines during two reviews conducted in the 1990s, although it was asked to add a Canadian history course.
Ministry spokeswoman Marie-France Boulay said yesterday the province will negotiate for several weeks with an unspecified number of evangelical schools to determine whether they can meet provincial standards that include the teaching of Darwin’s theory of evolution. [they left out the word “only” —Joel]
[…] In Ontario, things are different. Schools are not required to teach either evolution or sex education, said Elaine Hopkins, executive director of the 900-member Ontario Federation of Independent Schools, which has 120,000 children attending schools with a few as 10 students, and as many as 1,000.
Many parents send their children to independent schools because they object to the teaching of these subjects in the public schools, she said. “These are issues that should be decided by the parents, not the province.”
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
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