Religious Discrimination by the Government of Alberta

It's true, the Alberta provincial government practices discrimination based on your professed religious beliefs.  It's okay, though, since the only people who are the victims of their discrimination are those who accept the overwhelming evidence that our planet is more than 10,000 years old or those who have the temerity to also accept the fact that evolution through natural selection is the explanation for the variety of life on our world.  If you believe the world is 10,000 years old or less and that magic-man-in-the-sky-done-it then congratulations, you qualify for deferment!

The other group of victims (although let's be honest, it makes victims of us all) are members of the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Trans-Sexual community. You get to live in a province where the government has decreed that they're willing to trade you some rights in return for pandering, continued inaction on social problems brought on by discrimination against gays (thus continued social problems brought on by discrimination against gays) and a devalued education for everyone.  Never mind that the legislation to protect sexual orientation from discrimination has been a requirement ever since the Supreme Court ruled on it, they've found a way to comply with the law while mitigating the intended effects of it.  Just what is the point of that?  Do they not agree that discriminating against people based on their sexual orientation for the purposes of denying them their rights is a problem?  Do they not agree that the high rate of suicide among gay and lesbian teenagers is a problem that government could have a role in solving?  Do they feel that human sexuality is completely shameful and there is no role in making sure that people have at least basic information about such an influential aspect of their lives?  Do they care if our student's are saddled with a suspect education?

Bill 44, introduced in the legislature in April 2009 and passed into law in June 2009 states that parents have the right to remove their children from classes where “subject-matter that deals explicitly with religion, sexuality or sexual orientation,” is to be taught.  In return, for the first time "sexual orientation" will be added to the Human Rights legislation to enshrine GLBT rights.

Our government has decried that if you have a religious objection to facts then your children won't be required to have a fact-based education.  Anyone who wants to argue that Young Earth Creationism is a fact better have some evidence that doesn't include a book written by superstitious goat herders in an obscure desert region 2,000 plus years ago.  Of course, if you insist that the bible is an accurate description of the world you can always then try to explain how it is that your god doesn't know that a whale isn't a fish or that a bat isn't a bird.  Or how it is that the authors of the books of the bible didn't have their god step in and prevent them from writing factually inaccurate statements in its name.

If you have a religious objection to your children learning about sexuality from their schools then that's okay too.  Human sexuality may be one of the most complex subjects that can be taught and social pressures have long been exerted on us to alter and conform to sexual norms as much as we have been to conform to religious, economic and political norms.  This doesn't change the fact that we've learned a great deal of factual information about human sexuality and it's important information that ALL of us should have.  If you can't find a way to conform your religious or social beliefs to the physical evidence then try questioning your religious or social beliefs.  It's only fair.

The Progressive Conservative government that currently resides in our legislature decided that pandering to the base makes good politics, and I can't disagree.  It's horrible governance, though.

Before I go any further - the Theory of Evolution is not a guess at what may have happened.  It is as factual as any knowledge that we have.  It isn't based on a few fossils dug from the ground or finch beaks.  It is supported by every avenue of investigation and every branch of science.  It is comprehensive and well understood.  Anyone who tells you that they didn't descend from an ape is FACTUALLY in error.  Not to put to fine a point on it, we ARE apes!  If you have some sort of evidence that contradicts evolution then please present it, just don't try to foist bullshit on me thinking that it's so obvious how wrong evolution is for sophistic reasons.

This affects how an education from an Albertan grade school is valued, or devalued, in the rest of the world.  This has the effect of lowering the value of a grade school degree granted through our education system.  By agreeing not to teach students one of the most important science concepts we know of to some of our students, all of our students education becomes suspect and the value of their degree is lessened.  Most people don't think of it that way.  They think that this is a reasonable compromise.  They think that it is people like myself who are causing a problem by being strident and not respecting peoples deeply held beliefs.

Any person who would evaluate the kind of education given to our students in this province would have to conclude that it's possible to graduate from our grade schools knowing nothing about the foundational basis of biology, or even basic geology, astronomy or physics.  If you are dealing with a student whose parents may have legally, and without academic penalty, removed them from any class that taught lessons contrary to their religious beliefs, why would you give much value to the degree achieved or the marks given?

It's understandable that there are parents who would be happy if the public education system kept their children ignorant of uncomfortable facts, but our government shouldn't be in the business of sacrificing the quality of every student's education for the political or economic support of any constituency.  Since seeking solutions to social problems is also part of the governments purview, weighing the right of parents to shield their children from information that counters the beliefs the parents want to pass on to their children against the rights of people who are causing no harm in society but are instead being harmed by it and deciding that using facts and education to help solve problems is not as important as maintaining the problems is unforgivable. 

The Government didn't try to justify their exemption policy based on facts, or on how they believe it won't impact discriminatory behaviour or even to make an argument that evolution as a component of the sciences isn't vital.  No, they decided that some of the people who vote in this province don't want their kids gettin' any book learnin', and after a long caucus they developed what, as long as you don't examine it at all, seems like a compromise position.  All your parents have to do is fill out a form saying that they object to the way the world is and our state of knowledge about it and the Alberta Government will exempt their children from getting a quality education.  Their children will not have to attend the classes that the parents object to and their children can do make-up work in other areas.  Teachers are required to send out forms before any class that explicitly deals with any of those subjects, but "incidental" discussions are exempt.  How any of that is supposed to make sense has yet to be determined.  Teaching genetics means teaching sexuality.  Studying social attitudes will brush up against gay rights.  What is the penalty to a teacher who thought they were okay but it turns out that they had a student whose parent thought otherwise?

I find it amazing that in the twenty-first century this is the state of education in a liberal Western Democracy.  This bill is wrong for our society.