Tuesday 5 July 2011

According to Toronto District School Board Muslims are Within The Law to Pray

I think the article below, says it all:



The Toronto District School Board says it is meeting its obligation to accommodate students’ religious beliefs by allowing an imam to lead students in prayer on school property.
The board came under fire this week when a Hindu group that regularly criticizes Islam raised objections to Friday Muslim prayer sessions, which have been held inside a cafeteria at Valley 



Jim Spyropoulos, superintendent of inclusive schools for the board, said that parents and teachers at the school came up with an arrangement that would enable the more than 300 observant students at the school to attend prayer without leaving school property and missing class time.
The prayers are entirely run and paid for by the Valley Park community.


“I think it’s important to note the prayer isn’t conducted under the auspices of the board,” he said. “The principal was creative enough to sit down with parents and come up with a solution that worked for everyone and there has not been a single complaint from within the community.”
Similar arrangements have been made for Muslim students at other schools throughout the board, he said.


But Ron Banerjee, director of Canadian Hindu Advocacy, said his group has received support both from Hindus and non-Hindus who say the TDSB is going too far.
Islamic groups are “imposing their view and trying to change the rules, regulations, norms and values to accommodate themselves, and in the long-term, to spread their ideology,” he said.
“….Pretty soon we’re going to have 50 different ethnicities and religions asking for different accommodations.”
The TDSB introduced a religious accommodation policy in 2000 in order to ensure it was in compliance with human rights legislation. It outlines ways to accommodate modesty requirements in gym class, and fasting and dietary requirements, among other things. It also includes limitations that state the board won’t compromise on certain issues, such as public safety or health, in making these accommodations, and that parents must make the request.
Prayer has a long history inside Canadian schools.


Since before Canada became a country, it was a common requirement for students to begin their day with a recitation of the Lord’s Prayer.


In 1982, when the Charter of Rights and Freedoms came into play, obligatory school prayers became a violation of students’ rights to freedom of conscience and religion.


Prayer in schools has remained controversial in the United States where some jurisdictions have attempted to reinstate religious observances in state-sponsored classrooms.


The accommodations for students at Valley Park Middle School are very different.
They amount to allowing prayer inside a school, but don’t go so far as the school-directed form of prayer that was outlawed in Canada nearly 30 years ago.


“In a school where there is such a high concentration of Muslim students, this was the best solution that avoided compromising instructional time,” said Mr. Spyropoulos.
Park Middle School in Flemingdon Park for about three years.

8 comments:

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Radical Moderate said...

Isnt freedom of religion a beautiful thing?

To bad there is no such concept in Islam.

Snowman are Ahamdeians fully allowed to practice their religion in Pakistan?

Are Ahmadeians allowed to go on Hajj?

Snowman tell me under Sharia law would Hindu's be allowed to practice their religion openly and in public?

crusader night said...

Nice Rad Mod, why dont you look at history to see what religion is SOOO TOLERANT of religious freedom and hereteics within their own religion **cough not christianity cough**. You think Christianity is free of your own charges against Islam? Get a life. You are seriously pathetic.

Radical Moderate said...

@Crusader

You wrote...
"why dont you look at history"

Becasue I don't live in the past man, I live in the here and NOW. SO we are taling about NOW, not yesterday gone by.

So nice try at avoiding the question. So I will repeat it.

Snowman\Crusader are Ahamdeians fully allowed to practice their religion in Pakistan TODAY?

Are Ahmadeians allowed to go on Hajj THIS YEAR?

Snowman\Crusader tell me under Sharia law (whether it was inplemented in the past, in the present or in the future) would Hindu's be allowed to practice their religion openly and in public?

I find it funny that Muslis always point to the past when confronted with the present ISLAM. They point the finger at KUFFAR, well we are KUFFAR, we are not your examples, you are supposed to be better then us.

THen why is it that Islam is always playing catch up in EVERYTHING when it comes to the KUFFAR?

minoria said...

School is for education only it is not for religion.It is merely for getting knowledge and Muslims have no right to practice their religion in a state school.

It is for outside of school.A sate school is a secular institution.It is so obvious,and Muslim immigrants should be told on coming that the situation is like that and wont be changed.

No halal food or prayer rooms or changing schedules because of Ramadan,the same schedule and rules for all:atheists,Christians,Hindus,Jews,Muslims.

Anonymous said...

WHAT IS GOING ON IN THIS COUNTRY NO RULES SHOULD BE CHANGED TO ACCOMODATE ANY RELIGIOUS GROUP HOW MUCH MORE DO WE HAVE TO GIVE TO MUSLIMS ARE WE AFRAID OF THEM THEY SAY JUMP AND WE SAY HOW HIGH IF NORTH AMERICA DOESN'T AGREE WITH YOU GO BACK TO AN ISLAMIC STATE AND HAVE A NICE
LIFE.

Anonymous said...

the school board is wrong in allowing prayer sessions this country welcomes everyone with open arms but we are going too far if we give in to every demand people make immigrants need to also accept and embrace the culture/country they have come to.quite frankly if I go to an islamic country wearing a cross I RISK GETTING KILLED.

Anonymous said...

Canadian Public School Allows Muslim Prayers, Prohibits Christian Prayers
Who would have thought that Islam would get special privileges in the racist, bigoted, Islamophobic West (again, and again, and again)?


TORONTO – A majority-Muslim public school in Toronto is defending its policy of allowing an imam to lead Friday prayers in the cafeteria, saying students who leave school for prayers at a mosque typically don’t return to school.

The school prohibits any Christian prayers.

For the past three years, some 300 Muslim students at Valley Park Middle School have been allowed to use the school cafeteria for their Friday prayers. Before the policy change, school officials say students would leave classes early and not return.

“I think it’s important to note the prayer isn’t conducted under the auspices of the board,” Jim Spyropoulos, a superintendent for inclusive schools with the Toronto District School Board, told the Globe and Mail newspaper. “This was the best solution that avoided compromising instructional time.”

The issue is “about religious accommodation,” Shari Schwartz-Maltz, a school district spokeswoman, told The Canadian Press.

Those explanations have not placated angry parents, who are lighting up radio call-in shows and blogging furiously — particularly since Christian and other prayers are disallowed in the public school system. (Read more.)