Canada - Group requests permission to distribute Qur’an in public schools

Canada - Group requests permission to distribute Qur’an in public schools.Waterloo Region — A Muslim organization has applied to the Waterloo Region District School Board to send a copy of the Qur’an home with any Grade 5 student whose parents indicate they would like one.A representative of the Islamic Information Center at the University of Waterloo approached the former chair of the board, Kitchener trustee Mike Ramsay, with the request about a month ago.Ramsay said he made sure that the group got all the information it required to make the written application.“That particular request will come before the Board in the fall of 2011 for approval of distribution of the Qur’an in the 2011-12 school year,” said the board’s education director, Linda Fabi, in an email.If trustees approve, the Islamic Information Center would be using the exact same distribution process as Gideons International has for the past 64 years in Waterloo Region.Every year, the Gideons have sent a copy of the Christian New Testament, plus the Hebrew Bible books of Psalms and Proverbs, home to families of Grade 5 students who sign a permission form for the household to receive one.The school board doesn’t use the books for classroom instruction. It only acts as a channel through which the books are sent home.The board distributes the permission forms and the books. The forms have to be produced by the Gideons and the distribution must happen before or after school hours.And also, the material — described as “non-instructional religious material” — is supposed to be reviewed ahead of time to be sure it doesn’t try to convert people to another religion, and to be sure it doesn’t denigrate any groups protected by human rights legislation.But increasingly, this practice has become deeply controversial.Board chair Kathleen Woodcock said this is the first time that she has heard of that a group other than the Gideons that has asked to distribute religious materials to students’ homes.“Somebody’s going to have to review” the Qur’an to make sure it doesn’t proselytize, or denigrate groups protected by human rights law, she said.Hmmmm.....Good luck with the latter!Read the full story here.