Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: !hwt@bnr-fos.uucp (Henry Troup) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: ONE TRUTH--ONE PATH (was Pungentt) Message-ID: Date: 25 Oct 89 09:25:29 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Bell-Northern Research, Ltd., Ottawa, Canada Lines: 48 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu [This is a followup to the thread about the Toronto Bd. of Education's experiment in multi-religious prayer. Kamran Hakim considered an article (quoted from a hardcopy publication) by Hans Zegerius' to be anti-Baha'i, as it condemned the multi-religious prayer by saying it was creating a Baha'i mindset. Carole Esposito responded >I didn't get the impression Mr. Zegerius was attacking Baha'ism or any >other religion, simply warning his readers of the danger to the Christian >family. --clh] I have two immediate responses: 1)Mr. Zegerius seem to me to be attacking Baha'i under the pretext of discussing public school prayer 2) The issue of public school prayer is worh discussing, and Mr. Zegerius has muddied the waters most skillfully. Really, the second is the most relevant to this forum. Firstly, let us think on what we mean by 'prayer' and 'public school prayer'. There seems to be little that is of real religious value to lining up every student and coercing them into repeating any set of words together. In fact, many children acquire a justifiable dislike for this kind of religion. I live (as does Mr. Zegerius) in Canada, which does not have constitutional separation of church and state. However, the notion that the state funded schools should force one religion down everyone's throat seems to me quite repugnant. In fact, although less violent, it reminds me of medieval times when Jews were pushed into rivers at sword point, the words of baptism said over them, and then told they were Christians. I do not accept that the truth of Christianity makes all other religions false. I'm aware of the New Testament verses relevant here; but my belief in the infinite mercy of God is unbounded. However, neither am I in favor of the religious mish-mash taught and or used as opening exercises. I remember my grade eight teacher telling her class that Moslems worshipped Muhammed Ali. Let's get 'religion' out of the state schools altogether. The use of one form of opening exercise (e.g. the Lord's Prayer) with the standard provision that 'anyone may leave the room' is an invitation to casual religious prejudice in the school yard. I won't exaggerate that - but it may sometimes be the root of something worse. utgpu!bnr-vpa!bnr-fos!hwt%bmerh490 | BNR is not | All that evil requires hwt@bnr.ca (BITNET/NETNORTH) | responsible for | is that good men do (613) 765-2337 (Voice) | my opinions | nothing.