Sex Ed in Ontario
The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) has sent an open letter to Ontario’s Minister of Education, Leona Dombrowsky regarding the controversial sexual education component of the Health and Physical Education curriculum. It was both introduced and withdrawn this past spring due in part to many parents’ negative reaction to its content. EFC’s Don Hutchinson explains “First, parents felt they had been blind-sided. The way curriculum development currently works in Ontario requires parents to be reactive rather than engaged in the process. Public feedback is only being welcomed after the curriculum has been developed.”
“This lack of parental involvement runs contrary to Ontario’s Reach Every Student, Energizing Ontario Education plan which states that parental involvement is ‘integral.’ Further, it doesn’t recognize the role that parents have in determining their children’s education, as recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which the Province of Ontario has acceded,” states Hutchinson. The letter also addresses the Ministry of Education’s proposed solution, that children can be withdrawn from ‘any course in conflict with the personal beliefs of the parents.’ Hutchinson responds, “If a child has to leave the classroom because the curriculum doesn’t permit the inclusion or respect for their beliefs, then the entire Strategy has failed. Those students certainly won’t feel included or accepted in the Ontario school system”.
The Open Letter to the Minister of Education can be read at www.evangelicalfellowship.ca.
Doc on new Canadian saint
On October 17 Pope Benedict will proclaim Canadian Brother Andre Bessette a ‘saint.’ Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation, has announced three media projects directly linked including French and English-language documentaries as well as the broadcast of a daily Mass in French from the crypt of St. Joseph’s Oratory, the world-renowned shrine founded by Brother Andre Bessette in 1904. The trailer can be viewed at www.saltandlighttv.org/brotherandre.
Billy Graham TV Special
The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) is releasing a new program that focuses of Graham’s over the past 60 Years, chronicling the organization’s early years, with emphasis on the millions of touched lives and highlights its global impact today. The program began airing September 20, 2010.The program also follows the moving story of Monica Stuparu, a young woman who responded to the Gospel message when Billy Graham preached in Timisoara, Romania in 1985. Monica’s commitment to Jesus Christ – and her decision not to renounce it – put her at risk of persecution, including the threat of losing her job. Twenty-three years later, BGEA returned to Romania for a Franklin Graham Festival, and Monica served as a counselor, leading several others who came forward at the invitation to receive Jesus Christ.dates, times and networks for television airings, please visit www.billygraham.org/tv.
Sex and Religion by VisionTV
Actor/evocative photographer Leonard Nimoy; devout Muslim and Egypt’s first TV sexologist Dr. Heba Kotb; founder of the Gay Christian Network Justin Lee; and Jewish pin-up girl Jamie Sneider, are contributors to a new documentary series ‘Sex and Religion’ beginning on VisionTV starting September 20 @ 11pm ET/8pm PT. According to VisionTV’s press release these contributors work,”stands at the nexus of sex and religion, historically odd bedfellows”. The series, hosted by Canadian broadcast journalist and writer, Laurie Brown, “asks rabbis, priests, philosophers, prostitutes and polygamists, to shed light onto what role, if any, sex plays in the pursuit of spiritual enlightenment. VisionTV informs us that “The series’ subject matter includes erotic art, virginity, polygamy, pornography, contraception, prostitution, same-sex relationships and sexual fantasies”. The first episode of Sex & Religion features devout Muslim and Egypt’s first sexologist Dr. Heba Kotb, host of the sexual advice show Big Talk, plus Florida pastor Paul Wirth’s 30 Day Sex Challenge.