This is a rough draft. Ideas will be clarified and/or edited to explain my thoughts better.
I said I would write again about Bill 18 and here it is. Bill 18 has become a very sticky subject in Manitoba which people either supporting it, fighting against it, or staying out of it altogether. And honestly, while concentrating on Bill 18, we have probably missed other topics of more import - like the Prime Minister's gag order on Parlimentary librarians, further decreasing the public's ability to check up on the government.
The best article articulating the "Steinbach Area's" argument against Bill 18 was Why Would Mennonites Oppose Anti-Bullying Laws? While not using the same passages to develop the arguments, the arguments explained very well what Mennonites and others in Steinbach have been trying to say - Vagueness can cause trouble, some people disagree with active homosexual lifestyles (sex), and those people want the right to be able to disagree.
Respect has become a loaded word in our culture, but in essence it is, or should be, treating people as people - having inherent worth no matter who they are or what they do; being civil like a Jane Austen character. If "respect" becomes having to accept as normal and okay people's behaviours we deem deviant, then it is no longer respect. That is blind acceptance.
Reading through the comments, "Reason before Opinion" stated,
"Thank you John for providing an explanation as to why so many Christians are opposed to this Bill.
I am still trying to decide which way to come down on this.
But the central concern has not been addressed. If Faith-based schools are to be exempt from provisions in this bill as they have requested, then the onus is on them to provide an alternative plan to support students bullied in their schools. This has not been articulated anywhere"
And I think it should. In articulating that faith-based schools need alternative plans, the government would be compromising or implying compromise. If faith-based schools can be exempt from portions of Bill 18 but have to come up with a plan of their own, there go most of the issues. Bullying would have to be dealt with, faith based schools would have much less of an issue with the bill, and the government could have oversite of the anti-bullying plans.
I said I would write again about Bill 18 and here it is. Bill 18 has become a very sticky subject in Manitoba which people either supporting it, fighting against it, or staying out of it altogether. And honestly, while concentrating on Bill 18, we have probably missed other topics of more import - like the Prime Minister's gag order on Parlimentary librarians, further decreasing the public's ability to check up on the government.
The best article articulating the "Steinbach Area's" argument against Bill 18 was Why Would Mennonites Oppose Anti-Bullying Laws? While not using the same passages to develop the arguments, the arguments explained very well what Mennonites and others in Steinbach have been trying to say - Vagueness can cause trouble, some people disagree with active homosexual lifestyles (sex), and those people want the right to be able to disagree.
Respect has become a loaded word in our culture, but in essence it is, or should be, treating people as people - having inherent worth no matter who they are or what they do; being civil like a Jane Austen character. If "respect" becomes having to accept as normal and okay people's behaviours we deem deviant, then it is no longer respect. That is blind acceptance.
Reading through the comments, "Reason before Opinion" stated,
"Thank you John for providing an explanation as to why so many Christians are opposed to this Bill.
I am still trying to decide which way to come down on this.
But the central concern has not been addressed. If Faith-based schools are to be exempt from provisions in this bill as they have requested, then the onus is on them to provide an alternative plan to support students bullied in their schools. This has not been articulated anywhere"
And I think it should. In articulating that faith-based schools need alternative plans, the government would be compromising or implying compromise. If faith-based schools can be exempt from portions of Bill 18 but have to come up with a plan of their own, there go most of the issues. Bullying would have to be dealt with, faith based schools would have much less of an issue with the bill, and the government could have oversite of the anti-bullying plans.
