New Zealand Conservative

A teacher was suspended by a Catholic school over the same-sex marriage bill that passed it's first reading last night. It's the type of event that would have passed unnoticed, had not the issue at hand been so polarising. And add the word Catholic to the mix, and there's a story that the media have taken up with interest, because the teacher suspended was siding with pupils who took the pro-same-sex marriage position. Students who organised a Facebook page [against the principal's and the Catholic position] were allegedly threatened and Studdart [the suspended teacher], who took up their cause, has been suspended and could lose his job. Studdart said the principal "took the page down and basically frightened a student into doing it which I think is awful". Fun and games. Related link : Teacher suspended in gay marriage row ~ TVNZ

There's a bit of a battle brewing in Ontario, Canada, over what Catholic schools should and shouldn't be forced to do in contravention of authentic Catholicism. The Ontario government’s decision forcing Catholic schools to host anti-bullying groups called “gay-straight alliances” has brought to the fore a deep divide between Roman Catholic teaching and secular society, even calling into question whether public funding for Catholic schools should continue. At the root of the issue is a polarizing debate about whether public money should be used to support a religious education system that says homosexuals deserve love and respect but that gay sex is a mortal sin. “The question as to whether Catholic schools should be required to support gay-straight alliances has been satisfactorily answered,” Justin Trottier, spokesman for the Toronto-based Centre for Inquiry, an atheist group, said. “The real question now is whether Ontario should be required to continue to support Catho...