Fishy Fridays

Friday the 13th always gets me wondering a little bit about what we believe and what we don't. For example, I'm surprised by people who say they're atheists, but who wouldn't cross paths with a black cat.

I do get why a school board in our area is deciding to remove the Gideon bible program, and I could not agree more: publicly funded education should remain indoctrination-free.

But while we get rid of the Gideons, we need to move the bible back into the history and literature and art classes, and start teaching from it, not necessarily to turn the kids into Christians, but rather to give them an education.

I despair for children taken on field trips to, say, the Art Gallery of Ontario, when those students have no idea what the masters were painting in classics like The Massacre of the Innocents.

They may know there's a story attached to the painting, but they likely haven't read the story, because we're afraid of being seen to be 'taking a side'.

They've heard that people aren't their 'brother's keeper', but haven't read the story that comes from.

When they study Steinbeck, do they get the context for the title of The Grapes of Wrath?

When they use curse words, can they understand how serious blasphemy used to be? Do they even know why the cafeteria serves fish on Fridays, why we think Friday the 13th is unlucky?

What's missing in the separation of church and state is an understanding of how much of our world has been influenced by religion. If our kids don't know the stories, they're missing the connections, the reasons and the impact of the art and literature they're supposed to learn about.

So by all means, take away any proselytizing in our schools, but for heaven's sake, give young people an education about the influences and impact the content of the bible has had on the world they inhabit.