OPEN SECULARISM
from Doug Thomas, President, SOFREE
Open Secularism is the simple idea that publicly funded places and publicly funded institutions should be religion free. That is to say, no formal, required religious rituals such as opening prayers, invocations or religious music should be played in these places and institutions. At the same time, open secularism recognizes the right of people to wear symbols of faith or other philosophical convictions provided that these faiths and philosophies do not conflict with commonly accepted human rights.
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms sets the framework for open secularism and the Supreme Court of Canada has agreed that it guarantees freedom from religion both by implication: one cannot have freedom of religion if religion is imposed, and by language that defends freedom of personal philosophy. The Ontario Human Rights Commission acted proactively a number of years ago by advising that it would see any imposition of religious practices or ideas on employees as an infringement on the right to freedom from religion.
I have had personal experience in promoting open secularism in two circumstances, both at the high school at which I teach.
The first situation was the tradition of opening commencement ceremonies with an invocation (prayer). I pointed out that this was in violation of the Charter on a number of occasions at commencement committee meetings with no result. Finally, I wrote a letter explaining the Supreme Court's ruling and the statement by the Ontario Human Rights Commission to the principal. To his credit (he is a lay reader with the Anglican Church) he checked my statements out with the local board of education and announced at the next committee meeting that there would be no invocation at commencement ceremonies. The master of ceremonies, usually a retired teacher, has the option opening with a convocation (a secular calling together of the audience).
The second involved the playing of Christmas carols over the PA before classes in December. A repeat of the first letter with due editing for the situation resulted in a quiet discontinuance of the practice. I was surprised at how many people thought that secular "winter" songs were carols and didn't make the distinction between "The First Noel" and "Jingle Bells" (originally written for an American Thanksgiving concert apparently).
The usual push back from religious groups is that by removing religious rites from public buildings and institutions we are reducing their freedom to promote their religion. To these folks I simply point out that all our freedoms are limited to actions that do not deny others their rights. Freedom of speech, for example, is limited by hate literature laws.
The key to winning skirmishes of this kind is to approach the situation as calmly and reasonably as possible, citing the legal documents as necessary. Neither of the two situations that I used as examples has resulted in any negative reaction from my fellow staff, even those who were prepared to let the traditions continue, and many of whom are people of faith.
Doug Thomas
President, SOFREE