You cannot legislate love, care and acceptance into existence

It seems that in the province of Ontario for the last three years the Liberal government, with the help of the other parties, has tried to convince its citizens that love, respect and care of children in schools can be made real with policy/program memoranda such as the Equity and Inclusive Education Strategy. They are currently trying to do the same thing with Bill 13.

Here's what the government thinks it can legislate into being:

"We envision an inclusive education system in Ontario in which: all students, parents, and other members of the school community are welcomed and respected; every student is supported and inspired to succeed in a culture of high expectations for learning. To achieve an equitable and inclusive school climate, school boards and schools will strive to ensure that all members of the school community feel safe, comfortable, and accepted. We want all staff and students to value diversity and to demonstrate respect for others and a commitment to establishing a just, caring society." (Ontario's Equity and Inclusive Education Strategy, Page 10)

Everybody knows full well, however, that you cannot legislate into being care, support and acceptance of others. Love of neighbour is a gift. It's gift freely given by people and received from God. What is the government going to do next? Bring out a "Thought Bill" to legislate which thoughts are permissible and which are not? This would be both absurd and evil. And yet the government is attempting to do just that: control people's thinking and feelings with coercive laws. You cannot police how people feel towards each other and what values they hold to be sacred. It's the prevailing illusion these days that kings and queens of old could not, but modern governments can bring goodwill, respect and acceptance among the citizenry and in the schools by fiat alone. That power I'm afraid belongs to God and God alone; the very being these policies and legislation fail to recognize.

When we closely examines Equity and Inclusive Education, we find that it's really not so inclusive and just after all, especially if you happen to be Christian and believe in God. Here's why: It sees no need for God. It rejects Catholic and Christian beliefs about human sexuality, the meaning of marriage and life itself. It excludes Christians and all those who believe in the God of the Old Testament. It rejects anybody who defines a family as a mom and a dad and children; it excludes all those who believe in traditional marriage. The policy instructs teachers to violate parental rights. It's prepared to expel students from school if they don't accept homosexuality and dozens of other manufactured sexual orientations. How can this rejection of others ever create a just, caring and equitable school environment? How will this divisive policy help establish for children a safe and secure learning atmosphere? Laws will never turn lies into truths.

In my blog entry, "The best speech to guide the world for the 21st century" given on September 22, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI addressed Germany's lower house of Parliament, the Bundestag. The speech is titled, "The Listening Heart: Reflections on the Foundations of Law." His conclusion is relevant here: "As he assumed the mantle of office, the young King Solomon was invited to make a request. How would it be if we, the law-makers of today, were invited to make a request? What would we ask for? I think that, even today, there is ultimately nothing else we could wish for but a listening heart – the capacity to discern between good and evil, and thus to establish true law, to serve justice and peace. I thank you for your attention!"

In the recent laws legislated and proposed in education in Ontario that's exactly what's missing: the "listening heart", laws that "serve justice and peace" and that "discern between good and evil." This very heart is absent in the Equity policy, in Bill 157 and in Bill 13. They are laws without a true foundation.