From what we have been able to oserve in the last few years, religious extremism in on the rise in all diresctions, from Christian Reconstructionism in North America to Islamic fanaticism and Zionism in the Middle East. They are all becomming more intense, while the west is paralised by our current definition of freedom of religion.
At the moment, freedom of religion lies in the hands of parents until maturity, and then in ones own hands thereafter. Due to an attitude that the state must never interfere in matters of church, the result has been that the education system has failed to teach children how to analise religion as they do maths, science, grammar and other fields of activity. Thus while it would be difficult to convince an educated person that 1+1=3 or that the sky is red, it is easy to make one believe anything about religion.
If one should get into a discussion about a verse from the Qur'an with an educated Muslim, for instance, many will refuse to discuss the matter with "sorry, but I'm not qualified to discuss such matters; I will ask my local imam or some scholar who can answer the question better than I can". How can one not be qualified to discuss matters relating to his own spirituality, putting such an important subject which can determine the course of his life, in the hands of some scholar?
This notion that the state has no right to interfere in matters of church at all has lead to a vacuum which has been filled by home schoolers who are often caught up in the Christian Reconstructionist movement, Muslim scholars who can easily cause the local Muslim populaiton to follow their own wishes due to a lack of confidence on the part of the Muslim community to read the Qur'an and ahadith and analise them for themselves, and Zionist rabbis who can easily prey on ignorant Jews who believe they themselves are not qualified to read the Bible for themselves, but need the advice of a wise scholar to help them. This puts a tremendous amount of power in the hands of Mullahs, Rabbis, Pastors and Homeschooling parents who can manipulate thier children or followers into believing dangerous superstitions and fanaticism, ideas which can and have lead to wars, civil wars and bloodshed the world over. Are we going to wait for this to reach our own soil before we react?
I believe we need to redefine freedom of Religion along the lines of Religious responsibility. In other words, if the state intends to give freedom of religion, then it must also ensure that the sacred texts of the world's religions must be taught as a compulsory subject in primary and secondary schools so as to give students the ability to take personal responsibility for their own independant study of their faith. To some extent, this would also be for the purpose of wrestling power from the hands of those who could be teaching ideas which could put national security at risk in future from the hands of homeschoolers and religious leaders who have highjacked spirituality from the people. After all, what is freedom of religion if one dos not know how to exercise it and thus merely hands it over to his leader? How irresponsible it is to give society freedom of religion without teaching it how to take personal responsibility for it! That would be like giving someone a loaded shot gun without teaching him how to use it first.
To redefine Freedom of Religion in this way, I suspect the Canadian Charter would need to be revised, not to mention that there would be tremendous resistance from the very religious leaders who currently hold power over their flock through churches and homeschooling organisations, as well as those who fear moving into such new uncharted territory requiring a redefinition of freedom of religion never seen before in Canada.
At the moment, freedom of religion lies in the hands of parents until maturity, and then in ones own hands thereafter. Due to an attitude that the state must never interfere in matters of church, the result has been that the education system has failed to teach children how to analise religion as they do maths, science, grammar and other fields of activity. Thus while it would be difficult to convince an educated person that 1+1=3 or that the sky is red, it is easy to make one believe anything about religion.
If one should get into a discussion about a verse from the Qur'an with an educated Muslim, for instance, many will refuse to discuss the matter with "sorry, but I'm not qualified to discuss such matters; I will ask my local imam or some scholar who can answer the question better than I can". How can one not be qualified to discuss matters relating to his own spirituality, putting such an important subject which can determine the course of his life, in the hands of some scholar?
This notion that the state has no right to interfere in matters of church at all has lead to a vacuum which has been filled by home schoolers who are often caught up in the Christian Reconstructionist movement, Muslim scholars who can easily cause the local Muslim populaiton to follow their own wishes due to a lack of confidence on the part of the Muslim community to read the Qur'an and ahadith and analise them for themselves, and Zionist rabbis who can easily prey on ignorant Jews who believe they themselves are not qualified to read the Bible for themselves, but need the advice of a wise scholar to help them. This puts a tremendous amount of power in the hands of Mullahs, Rabbis, Pastors and Homeschooling parents who can manipulate thier children or followers into believing dangerous superstitions and fanaticism, ideas which can and have lead to wars, civil wars and bloodshed the world over. Are we going to wait for this to reach our own soil before we react?
I believe we need to redefine freedom of Religion along the lines of Religious responsibility. In other words, if the state intends to give freedom of religion, then it must also ensure that the sacred texts of the world's religions must be taught as a compulsory subject in primary and secondary schools so as to give students the ability to take personal responsibility for their own independant study of their faith. To some extent, this would also be for the purpose of wrestling power from the hands of those who could be teaching ideas which could put national security at risk in future from the hands of homeschoolers and religious leaders who have highjacked spirituality from the people. After all, what is freedom of religion if one dos not know how to exercise it and thus merely hands it over to his leader? How irresponsible it is to give society freedom of religion without teaching it how to take personal responsibility for it! That would be like giving someone a loaded shot gun without teaching him how to use it first.
To redefine Freedom of Religion in this way, I suspect the Canadian Charter would need to be revised, not to mention that there would be tremendous resistance from the very religious leaders who currently hold power over their flock through churches and homeschooling organisations, as well as those who fear moving into such new uncharted territory requiring a redefinition of freedom of religion never seen before in Canada.