The new requirements of the Alberta School Act due to the passing of Bill 24 have resulted in confusion, tension, and a healthy fear of what the future holds for Reformed education as we have come to know it. As our Alberta Manager Ed Hoogerdyk said in his Lethbridge Herald article, “For many parents the school year started on a sour note.” The latest series of communication from Alberta Education gives an even stronger indication that the government is unwilling to back down on their demands that every school adopt a Safe and Caring policy that includes language dictated by the government.
If demanding that Reformed schools adopt terms like gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation, as well as the requirement to allow gay-straight alliance clubs wasn’t enough, the Alberta government is now telling Reformed schools to remove all references to the Lord as the true source of wisdom, and the infallibility of Scripture! Here follows several screen grabs from a recent letter sent to a Reformed school.
To be clear, we must always respect and pray for our government leaders. But we must also hold them accountable. This government is driven and committed to an ideology that is a direct attack on God. We need to take a stand and make it clear that it is our Christian duty but also our legal obligation to raise children as we deem necessary. The Bible commands us to do this and our Charter of Rights and Freedoms allows us to do this.