Try these Catholic Social Teaching Activities

  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

The Religion Teacher | Catholic Religious Education

  • Resources
    • Graphic Organizers
    • Catholic Videos
    • Class Prayer
    • Teaching Strategies
    • Guide to Lesson Planning
    • Lesson Plan Templates
    • 31 Days Book
    • Christ in the Classroom
  • Activities
    • Advent Activities
    • Lent Activities
    • Easter Activities
    • Rosary Activities
    • Catholic Mass Activities
    • View All Activities
  • Lesson Plans
  • Worksheets
  • Shop
  • Join
  • Contact

Skipping Religion Class? Go ahead – it’s the law!

06/03/2009 By Jared Dees

The Legislative Assembly of Alberta passed a bill yesterday that would allow children to leave the classroom during instruction that includes “subject matter that deals explicitly with religion, sexuality or sexual orientation.” Since Catholic schools are publicly funded in Canada, this poses a significant problem. The Catholic Church has consistently taught that education is primarily the responsibility of parents, but allowing parents to pick and choose which classes and which lessons their children will attend will lead to obvious issues. Imagine a report cards that read “E” for “Exempt.” Where will the kids go instead of attending their classes? And the most frightening, how can a religion teacher legitimately say to his/her students that there is such a thing as religious Truth? The law says that it’s only opinion!

The bill would not only affect religion class. As Kim Jenkins, superintendent of Fort McMurray Catholic Board of Education, said, the new legislation poses a particular problem for Catholic schools because religion is integrated into every classroom. “You can’t have people opting out of religion because that’s why (Catholic schools) exist,” said Jenkins.

For a full reading of the language of Bill 44:
http://www.assembly.ab.ca/net/index.aspx?p=bills_status&selectbill=044

See also:
http://www.fortmcmurraytoday.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1594984

Filed Under: Catholic School News, In the News

About Jared Dees

Jared Dees is the creator of The Religion Teacher and the author of 31 Days to Becoming a Better Religious Educator, Beatitales, Christ in the Classroom, and The Gospel According to Video Games.

Previous Post: « Catechizing Hispanic Catholics
Next Post: Merger: OSV and Harcourt Religion Publishers »

Reader Interactions

Free eBook on Lesson Planning

Have you signed up to receive the free eBook, The Religion Teacher’s Guide to Lesson Planning. Whether you are a veteran teacher or in your first year, this guide provides a step by step process to effective lesson planning and provides 250 suggestions for activities and teaching strategies

Comments

  1. Debra Dass

    03/27/2013 at 11:28 am

    HI jared

    I am from Singapore and i teach Catechism to 13 and 14 year olds. Thank you so much for your free resources. It is so helpful as we have yet to have ready made lesson plans for our teen levels though we already use Call to Faith for all our Primary levels.

    God Bless

Primary Sidebar

Get a free copy of The Religion Teacher's Guide to Lesson Planning and join more than 100,000 subscribers to The Religion Teacher.

The Religion Teacher Members

Login

or

Join

Connect with The Religion Teacher

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Catholic Religious Education Resources on Facebook

The Religion Teacher

Resources from The Religion Teacher

— NEW —

Including resources about
Pope Leo XIV.

Resource Pages

  • Advent Activities
  • Catechetical Videos
  • Catholic Lesson Plans
  • Class Prayer
  • Religious Education Resources
  • Rosary Activities
  • The Religion Teacher Store
  • The Religion Teacher Workshops

Archive

Footer

About the Founder, Jared Dees

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Jared Dees is the creator of The Religion Teacher and the author of 31 Days to Becoming a Better Religious Educator, Just Plant Seeds, Beatitales, and The Gospel According to Video Games.
Invite Jared to Speak at Your Event →

Featured Resources

Copyright © 2025 · Jared Dees