A Battle for The Human Soul

by | Posted April 20th at 10:48am

by Barry W. Bussey

We are at a cultural moment. No further evidence for this is needed than the ideological struggle in Alberta over the right of Christian schools to hold a fundamental understanding of what it means to be a human being. Religious schools are designed to pass on the faith to the next generation of young people. There is nothing strange about that. Since ancient times societies have had schools of learning to preserve and perpetuate the wisdom of generations past while nurturing the intellectual skills needed to grapple with contemporary issues.

Indeed, education, as we know from experience, is a key factor in maintaining a peaceful, productive, and purposeful society. Religion has long been part of that reality. From Isaac Newton to Max Planck, renowned scientists and intellectuals have been inspired by faith; their studies have been aimed at a better understanding of the world and its Creator. Today, however, religion and education are often portrayed as mutually exclusive. According to the thinking of certain secularists, the more educated a society becomes, the more religion will dissipate. Yet, after many decades of predictions, it is now evident that the secularization theory has failed to materialize. Religion still exists despite the educational and technological advances in the Western world. However, according to famed sociologist Peter Berger, there yet remain three distinct areas where the theory has seemed to hold true. Those are Western academics, the legal profession, and the media.

Those three have congregated themselves into an echo chamber – a sort of “filter bubble” – where they constantly speak to one another and reinforce their pre-established opinions of the world based on a shared ideology. They view religion as an anachronism at best and harmful to society at worst. Hence, they are on a mission to “save” the world from the bonds of retrograde religion.

Given this mindset, it is no wonder that the academic establishment in Alberta would seek to interfere with Christian schools, declaring unacceptable any policy which says, for instance: “God created mankind as male and female, equal in dignity and worth, yet with distinct and complementary roles.” Apparently, this statement violates the Alberta School Act which requires a “welcoming, caring, respectful and safe learning environment.”

The Alberta government has sided with the current academic coterie which endorses an ever-increasing menu of genders from which children should be permitted to sample.  The “safe place” mechanism the government is imposing on Christian schools is, ostensibly, to help these young minds sift through an ever more complicated matrix of sexual orientations and gender identities. To teach that humans are binary is to present a very different understanding of human life – one that the secularists have deemed “disrespectful”.

Those religious schools that do not subscribe to the government’s ideology are facing an uncertain future. The provincial government has declared that they will not only defund such schools, they will deny accreditation. The battle lines have been drawn. Just how far will both sides bend to reach an accommodation? Or, are we now at a point where no accommodation is possible?

Behind every Christian school is a Christian community. Such communities can take their religious heritage back thousands of years.  This is no small matter. The age-old Biblical teaching on human nature, including the divinely-given dignity of men and women, stands at the apex of this struggle. The government is not fighting “bigoted” religious communities. It is fighting Christian civilization.

There is now before us a battle over what it means to be human.