Religious Freedom

For John, BLUF:  A dog in the manger?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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As we know, the Lowell City Manger (vice Manager), recently moved from JFK Plaza to St Anne's church.♠  It has been discussed here and here and here and here.  And also here.

There is a similar issue up north at Canada's York University.  The article, from The Beverton is "York University Dean supports student’s religious right to Aztec human sacrifice".

TORONTO - After permitting a student to be excused from course work on religious grounds so he would not have to publicly interact with female peers, the Dean of York University is also permitting another student to have the right to ritually murder people to appease his gods.

I think it is quite decent of the Dean to be open to all faith representations.

But, so we are clear on the action that initiated this action, here is the original story from CityTV:

In a controversy that's attracted the attention of some top politicians, Toronto's York University is defending its policies after the administration came down on the side of a male student who didn't want to do group work with his female classmates.

"A deciding factor in this case was that it was an online course where another student had previously been given permission to complete the course requirement off-campus," university's vice-president academic Rhonda Lenton said in a statement issued Thursday.

"Ultimately, a satisfactory agreement was reached between the professor and the student."

The controversy stems from an unnamed student's request, citing unspecified religious grounds, that sociology professor Paul Grayson excuse him from the group project that's part of the otherwise online course.

As the CityTV story later notes, this incident does go to the heart of what it means to be a Canadian.  Are there views that cannot be accommodated?  Some nations in Europe are asking this question.

My view:  Manger, yes.  Flying Spaghetti Monster, yes.  Aztec human sacrifice, no.  Physical separation of men and women in public institutions, no.

UPDATE:  CTV to CityTV, on the advice of a Canadian friend.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  I am still confused as to how it can be Lowell's Manger if it is at St Anne's.