[ManHolDenPoker]

It’s even been slammed by American celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, who, citing an article in Xtra!, called the ban “not cool.”

[QuidQuoPro]

He should have said "So hot."

[Vcwdldva]

Who is Perez Hilton? Did Paris Hilton have a sex change op?

[car.insur]

WTF is this alliance stuff?

Isn't school just a place you send your kids to learn maths, grammar, biology, history etc?

[qwerty1]

No one makes you attend catholic school, Asher.

That's a douchey statement on so many levels.

The fact it's made by you is not surprising...

[zoppiklonikaa]

Oh, is that what they do? I was just about to ask whyTF it mattered, since I always ignored gay alliances at school (maybe because every school I went to was relatively gay-friendly). But if they do lower suicide rates, that's a different story entirely.

[Aaron757]

No one makes you attend catholic school, Asher.

Right - cause Catholic parents let their kids choose whether to go a private or public school??

[ingeneensueva]

When I grew up the Catholic School was a private school. The difference being, you didn't pay tuition to a public school but you did to a private school.

[nabsgood]

Public education and religion are horribly entwined here Rah.

Constitutionally.

Both systems are publicly funded in Canada.

[tuszit]

It's done differently from one province to the other and we could spend a month on the differences alone. Essentially, as Asher points out, religious education is Constitutionally mandated in various ways and means. Fixing this historic problem requires Constitutional change which is the "third rail" of Canadian politics. It's a problem without a solution.

[tilmprarnerit]

It's not a terribly big deal because there's always a public (non-religious) district available. There's just also usually a separate district, either Catholic or Protestant. The parents choose where the kids go.

The reason we have this stupid ****ing system traces back to Quebec, a source of all of life's problems.

[leacturavar]

Separation of Church and State actually works on this issue down here. (or at least reasonably well)

It's really not as big an issue here as it would seem either. The argument is more of funding and organization than it is of ideology or faith. I suspect it's because as you've seen from other threads on the issue, Canadians don't really believe the religious BS anymore. Even those that identify as religious (my parents for example) are lucky if they make it to church once a month. They believe because they were told to.

Religion is rarely, if ever, an issue in Canadian politics. We don't care what our politicians religious beliefs are and (unlike the US) there is no required election photo op of them going to church. We don't care.

A noticeable exception would be Stockwell Day, former leader of the Canadian Alliance (lost 2000 election to Jean Chretien) and current Conservative Party cabinet minister. He's a "dinosaurs and humans walked the earth at the same time" sort of fundie. You can't help but point and laugh.

[VYholden]

As it should be.

[Forex Trading Software]

I wasn't talking about politicians, I was referring to the difference between private and public schools only. And with that limitation, it does work well. If you want to give your kids a religious education, you have to pay for it yourself.

You did mention separation of church and state. I was pointing out that although it seems entwined in that respect here, it actually isn't. It's not like catholics are getting special treatment in laws or government.

I agree with the idea that religious schools should be paid by the parents if that is their choice. Catholics in Ontario (again this argument differs across provinces) would argue they are doing just that as the education is paid through their taxes.

[preptarra]

Ontario's history is similar.

School boards used to be funded through property taxes with the taxpayer directing which board their money was to go to.

Education is now funded at the provincial level with the province doling out the cash equitably between the two boards based upon enrollment.

[Dpkefsuf]

Yes, all religions should not except federal/state/local dollars for their schools. It was funny that the catholic grammar school that we attended only made the parents pay for the first 2 kids. The rest were free. Just another little tweak how the church encouraged larger families. The street right by the school was 99% catholic and every house in that neighborhood had 6+ kids, all the way up to 14.

[clorkergo]

Oh, please do sing it for us.

I thought I read somewhere that, of the parochial schools, only Roman Catholic schools get state support in Canada? Perhaps that was in one or more of the provinces, like perhaps Quebec?

[HakTaisanip]

Oh, please do sing it for us.

I thought I read somewhere that, of the parochial schools, only Roman Catholic schools get state support in Canada? Perhaps that was in one or more of the provinces, like perhaps Quebec?

It's usually Catholics, but in some areas it's Protestant. It depends on the majority faith that chooses to hold the vote, which more often than not are the Crazy Catholics™

[12Jasoumemoobia]

Also, Quebec