DSB said:
In Peel
Religion has not been taken out of schools. It is not taboo; it is not the boogie man. Christianity has NOT been taken out. It is there in the curriculum,(our history, our language, our charter, federation), and in the festivals we celebrate. It is celebrated, like all faiths and traditions are. Most of our holidays are Christian holidays. No one is pushing or hiding Christianity in our schools.
I call bullshit. Ever hear of a "holiday tree" or the "winter break" replacing a "Christmas tree" and the "Christmas break"? The days off are Christian-based, yes, just like most Christian holidays are pagan holidays the Christians took over. Basically, the anti-religion crowd is basically doing to Christians what Christians have done to pagans: steal their holidays and make them their own.
As far as "our history, our language, our charter, federation", you're so far out in the left field I'm not even sure I want to touch it. There is religion in our history, but for a good chunk of it, it played a marginal part. (It was there, but most people used it as a pretext if they talked about it at all) As for language, where's the religion in French and English? Except for most French curse words, I don't see it. Our charter specifically says all religions are cool, and doesn't specify that Christianity is different. And Federation? Please.
Now, I'm going to assume you meant that our CULTURE is not taken out of schools. There you would be right, at least in part. But as far as religion is concerned, Christianity is probably the most taboo religion in schools. Except for Satanism, maybe.
Now, I don't want to hijack this thread too much. So, mods, if you think I'm digressing too much from the topic at hand, feel free to delete/move this. I'd appreciate if you tell me, though.
(You posted while I was writing, so I'll just add my new comments down here)
Easter is still called "Easter" only because "Chocolate-and-Rabbits weekend" isn't catchy enough. It doesn't signify anything anymore, it just happens to be a name that has a religious background. It's like St. John's (the city). Sure, it's called by a Christian name, but there's nothing inherently Christian about it.
You said yourself it recognizes "some" Wiccan (yes you got the spelling right) festivals. Why doesn't it recognize all of them? Might sound silly, but if we're recognizing everything everybody does, it has to be applied completely. So let's start bringing forth Satanist rituals, and Rastafarian (not sure on the spelling) holidays and whatnot.
Also, something unrelated to what DSB has said, but that I find interesting, is how people are labelled as ignorant if they call the kirpan a weapon. That's as if I called everyone ignorant because they don't understand the intricacies of the KKK. Yes, they're a violent group (and I don't agree with them) but the burning crosses and hoods and such aren't inherently violent/racist/whatever. So I guess the KKK really are ok, right? After all, they have the "right to assemble" and the "right to demonstrate" and "freedom of speech", do they not?