Criminal Code versus Bible

Letter to the national Post. Published February 19, 2014

"Protecting children everyone's job, jury says," (Feb 15). The jury in the Jeffrey Baldwin case is indulging in wishful thinking. There is no law that demands I throw a life jacket from the bridge on which I am standing to the drowning person below me. There is no law that demands I call the fire department should I see my neighbour's house on fire. Love of neighbour and parable of the Good Samaritan are in the Bible, not the Criminal Code.

Toronto Star and the Bible

On April 4, 2012, the Toronto Star reported the banning of the distribution to Grade Five students of the Gideon Bible. The overly-sensitive School Trustees feared reprisals for their decision. According to that newspaper, complaints to the trustees constituted "hate mail." The newspaper gave no examples. It printed three letters in support of the trustees, none against. Mine was excluded. In the interests of fair comment, occasionally absent in that Toronto daily, my unpublished letter:

The Star's headline writer went over the top on this one (Bible ban at schools sparks hate mail, Apr. 9). None of the reported examples of disagreement with the Bluewater District School Board's decision to ban distribution the Gideon bible even remotely qualifies as "hate mail".

Every enlightened educator recognizes the Bible as a vital part of Western World history. Even an atheist, if he deems himself learned, must be familiar with it. One cannot grasp the basis of the English language without it. One cannot learn the reasons for Western progress and the freedoms we enjoy (compared to the non-Christian world) without a knowledge of the history of the Bible.

What do school trustees fear in such education? What does the Toronto Star fear?