Met. Moses - Opting Out of Canada's Ontario Sex Ed

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Maria
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Met. Moses - Opting Out of Canada's Ontario Sex Ed

Post by Maria »

Request to Opt Out of the New Ontario Sex Education Curriculum
Based On Religious Accommodation Principles
For inclusion in the Ontario Student Record

I wish to thank the school for its commitment to my children and their education. As a parent I understand the responsibility of being “Partners in Education” and commit myself to the goal of assisting you to achieve the best education for my children.

As educators in a multicultural community you receive children from many cultural and spiritual backgrounds. It is well known that the Ministry of Education has a “Equity and Inclusive Education Strategy” policy that was designed to create a condition or state of fair, inclusive and respectful treatment of all students who attend, regardless of ancestry, culture, ethnicity or religion. I think that it is reasonable to expect that the principles of that policy be upheld in our local school and School Board.

As Orthodox Christians our family adheres to a set of values based on the teaching of the Orthodox Christian Church, the Bible, and Holy Tradition. As a parent I work hard to teach these values to my children because the application of these values is important for the salvation of their soul.

The Orthodox Christian Church considers any sex act outside of marriage as a sin. In my endeavours to teach my children I focus on training myself and my children in personal restraint for the sake of participating in Divine Grace and being saved. Personal restraint is a basic tenet of the Christian Faith, as our Lord Jesus Christ taught:

  • Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because narrow is the gate, and afflicted is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. (Matt 7:13-15)

If you would force my child to participate in any lesson that teaches, encourages and justifies sex acts outside of the traditional Christian concept of marriage you would be causing my child to sin. Abstaining from this type of instruction is a strict requirement of our faith.

I understand that Canada is a multi-cultural society and that there are many within this society who disagree with my religious doctrine and lifestyle. I respect the rights of all Canadians to live and believe as they choose and I do not seek to impose my beliefs or lifestyle upon anyone involuntarily. This would be tyranny. In addition, I do not focus on or have animosity towards any particular group of people and their behaviours. I only want my own constitutional religious rights for freedom of religion to be upheld and protected by the school authorities and to be allowed to live and bring up my children according to our religious beliefs.

In the famous “Amselem Decision,” Justice Iacobucci explained that those advancing a freedom of religion claim must show the court that:

  • * he or she has a practice or belief, having a nexus with religion, which calls for a particular line of conduct, either by being objectively or subjectively obligatory or customary, or by, in general, subjectively engendering a personal connection with the divine or with the subject or object of an individual's spiritual faith, irrespective of whether a particular practice or belief is required by official religious dogma or in conformity with the position of religious officials;

    • and he or she is sincere in his or her belief.
      [Syndicate Northcrest v. Amselem, [2004] S.C.J. No. 46, 2004 SCC 47 (the "Amselem decision")]

Accordingly, in order to demonstrate that the new Sex Education Curriculum violates the freedom of religion of practicing Orthodox Christians, an excerpt from the teacher’s notes in the Sex Ed Curriculum for 6th Graders with a Canon of the Orthodox Church on the same topic are provided below.

  • “Grade 6: Healthy relationships and sexual consent are major issues covered. If a student asks about masturbation, a teacher could respond by saying: “Things like wet dreams or vaginal lubrication are normal and happen as a result of physical changes with puberty. Exploring one’s body by touching or masturbating is something that many people do and find pleasurable. It is common and is not harmful and is one way of learning about your body.”

This teaching is in complete conflict with the teachings of the Orthodox Christian Church. For example:

  • “CANON VIII of Saint John the Faster, Patriarch of Constantinople
    Anyone having committed masturbation is penalized forty days, during which he must keep himself alive by xerophagy and must do one hundred metanias (prostrations) every day.

Interpretation

  • The present Canon decrees that anyone who is guilty of masturbating at any time is obliged to refrain from communing for forty days straight, passing these with xerophagy, or, more explicitly speaking, with only bread and water, and doing every day metanias (prostrations) to the number being one hundred each time.”
    It is obvious to any impartial observer that the Sex Education Curriculum is a source of sin and would cause separation from the Holy Eucharist for an Orthodox Christian.

You would be leading our child into sin by forcing them to attend any class that:

- Discusses or portrays sex outside of traditional Christian marriage as appropriate, healthy or acceptable.

- Discusses or portrays homosexual/bisexual conduct and relationships and/or transgenderism as natural, healthy or acceptable;

- Discusses or portrays sexual conduct that we determine to be unnatural/unhealthy (sadism, masochism, bestiality, fetish, bondage, sodomy, oral sex, anal sex, etc.) as natural, healthy or acceptable;

- Teaches about or provides birth control drugs and devices, without parental consent;

- Teaches that abortion is an acceptable method of birth control and that life does not begin at conception;

- Encourage the acceptance of infanticide or euthanasia;

- Provides a false sense of security with regard to the effectiveness of condoms in preventing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.

Parents of Orthodox children are personally responsible to God for their spiritual health and well-being as our Lord Jesus Christ also taught:

  • “…and whoever may cause to stumble one of those little ones who are believing in me, it is better for him that a weighty millstone may be hanged upon his neck, and he may be sunk in the depth of the sea.” (Matt 18:6)

I am only asking for the School Board to respect our family’s Constitutional rights as citizens of Canada and grant us a freedom of religion accommodation and give us advanced notice of when the Sex Education lessons will be taught throughout the year and arrange an opt out alternative activity for our child, just as you do for so many other religious groups in other circumstances.

I encourage you to the minority group of Orthodox Christians that I belong to and discuss this with me personally. Meanwhile, please provide written confirmation of my Request to Opt my child out of the new Ontario Sex Education Curriculum based on religious accommodation principles.

Sincerely,


The Scripture quotes below from the Old and New Testaments are added as documentation to prove that our request is part the recorded requirements of our sincerely held belief.

OUR LORD CAME TO FULFILL THE LAW
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the Prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For amen I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be accomplished. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of the Heavens: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the Kingdom of the Heavens. For I say unto you, That except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of the Heavens. (Matthew 5:17-20)

ON MORAL RESTRAINT
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them, I [am] the Lord your God. Ye shall not do according to the devices of Egypt, in which ye dwelt: and according to the devices of the land of Chanaan, into which I bring you, ye shall not do; and ye shall not walk in their ordinances. Ye shall observe my judgments, and shall keep my ordinances, and shall walk in them: I [am] the Lord your God. So ye shall keep all my ordinances, and all my judgments, and do them; which if a man do, he shall live in them: I [am] the Lord your God. No man shall draw nigh to any of his near kindred to uncover their nakedness; I [am] the Lord. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother, for she is thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's wife; it is thy father's nakedness. The nakedness of thy sister by thy father or by thy mother, born at home or abroad, their nakedness thou shalt not uncover. The nakedness of thy son's daughter, or thy daughter's daughter, their nakedness thou shalt not uncover; because it is thy nakedness. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of the daughter of thy father's wife; she is thy sister by the same father: thou shalt not uncover her nakedness. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's sister, for she is near akin to thy father. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother's sister, for she is near akin to thy mother. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's brother, and thou shalt not go in to his wife; for she is thy relation. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy daughter-in-law, for she is thy son's wife, thou shalt not uncover her nakedness. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother's wife: it is thy brother's nakedness. The nakedness of a woman and her daughter shalt thou not uncover; her son's daughter, and her daughter's daughter, shalt thou not take, to uncover their nakedness, for they are thy kinswomen: it is impiety. Thou shalt not take a wife in addition to her sister, as a rival, to uncover her nakedness in opposition to her, while she is yet living. And thou shalt not go in to a woman under separation for her uncleanness, to uncover her nakedness. And thou shalt not lie with thy neighbour's wife, to defile thyself with her. And thou shalt not give of thy seed to serve a ruler; and thou shalt not profane my holy name; I [am] the Lord. And thou shalt not lie with a man as with a woman, for it is an abomination. Neither shalt thou lie with any quadruped for copulation, to be polluted with it: neither shall a woman present herself before any quadruped to have connexion with it; for it is an abomination. Do not defile yourselves with any of these things; for in all these things the nations are defiled, which I drive out before you, and the land is polluted; and I have recompensed their iniquity to them because of it, and the land is aggrieved with them that dwell upon it. And ye shall keep all my statutes and all my ordinances, and ye shall do none of these abominations; neither the native, nor the stranger that joins himself with you: (for all these abominations the men of the land did who were before you, and the land was defiled,) and lest the land be aggrieved with you in your polluting it, as it was aggrieved with the nations before you. For whosoever shall do any of these abominations, the souls that do them shall be destroyed from among their people. And ye shall keep mine ordinances, that ye may not do any of the abominable practices, which have taken place before your time: and ye shall not be polluted in them; for I [am] the Lord your God. (Leviticus 18: 1-30)

MARRIAGE AS GOD INTENDED IT IS THE UNION OF ONE MAN AND ONE WOMAN.
And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these sayings, He departed from Galilee, and came into the borders of Judaea beyond the Jordan; And great multitudes followed Him; and He healed them there. The Pharisees also came unto Him, tempting Him, and saying unto Him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? And He answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that He which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. (Matthew 19:1-6)

And, behold, one came and said unto Him, Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And He said unto him, Why callest thou Me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto Him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt not murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. (Matthew 19:16-19)

ALL HUMAN SEXUAL ACTS OUTSIDE OF MARRIAGE DEFILE THE MAN.
Then answered Peter and said unto Him, Expound unto us this parable. And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding? Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the waste? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man. (Matthew 15:15-20)

FIRST EPISTLE OF SAINT PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS
I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person…
… Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Cor 5:9-13, 6:9-11)

Courtesy of Father Panagiotes Carras

Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner.

Matthew
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Joined: Sat 21 January 2012 12:04 am

Re: Met. Moses - Opting Out of Canada's Ontario Sex Ed

Post by Matthew »

Everything is under attack today

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