I didn’t get into the whole debate because that’s for another post entirely, and I’m not necessarily in favour of a public Catholic system because of lack of funding for other faiths.

But… a few things.

Of course the Green Party isn’t officially anti-Catholic, that’s obviously an over-generalization. But in any of my experiences with Green Party candidates or supporters, especially in “ultra-secular” (for lack of a better term) arenas (such as talks held by the Uoft Secular Alliance), their hatred for religion – in particular, Catholicism – was overwhelming. For example, comparing Catholics of other religious to people who believe we came from Mars. The utter disgust and contempt for believers was nauseating. Clearly, to me, for most in those camps, it is an issue of freedom from religion much more than it is freedom of religion.

Maybe I’ve been given the wrong impression by a few individuals who don’t represent the ideology as a whole. I doubt it, but I’d be extremely happy if I was wrong.

Lastly, I don’t subscribe to the “open source” camp as much as I subscribe to the “free software” camp, so “open” isn’t a buzzword for me. The word “freedom” carries much strong connotations. I certainly believe there should be a secular public school system first and foremost, but those I heard speak from the Green Party were quite passionately opposed to any sort of tax credits for private religious education, and it seemed as if they only conceding to the possibility of such private schools on the basis that they had to allow for such freedoms in order to maintain.. well, the constitution. Coming from a private religious school, and living in a Jewish neighbourhood where there is demand for faith-based education, I don’t believe the public school system is or should be the only option. Nor do I believe that the “separation of Church and state” and “freedom of religion” should lead to a “freedom from religion” in all public life.

By the way, if I could have found any links to put under “anti-Catholic” of the type of contempt for believers that I witnessed, I certainly would have used those in place of links revolving around the school system issues. I suspect politicians are more careful with their words in front of the media than they are in front of the Secular Alliance.

While your post applauds the Green party’s initiatives on supporting open source software and open access in our education system, I’m disheartened that at the very end you condemn their support of an education system that is open to believers (or non-believers) of any philosophy, religion, or faith.

Keeping with the idea of an “open”, fair education, secular education aims to be neutral in that sense that it promotes a separation of Church and state, but it is neither anti-theism nor pro-nontheism on an individual level. As quoted by Wikipedia, secularism promotes “the freedom of religion, and freedom from the government imposition of religion upon the people, within a state that is neutral on matters of belief, and gives no state privileges or subsidies to religions.” The funding of Ontario’s Catholic schools has also been repeatedly condemned by the United Nations as highly discriminatory and a violation of our rights to a fair education in Ontario.