LETTER: Christianity should not be suppressed in Surrey schools<\/p>\n
Published 7:00 am Sunday, April 5, 2026<\/p>\n
Editor,<\/p>\n
Students inhabiting schools within the city of Surrey have been witnessing a quiet, gradual oppression of the Christian faith. This oppression is muffled and covered up by Surrey Schools\u2019 loud proclamations of diversity and inclusion. But quiet suppression, although sometimes difficult to see, should be taken just as seriously as when it is openly expressed.<\/p>\n
While attending and serving within a local church, I have met several high school students who have openly expressed their disdain for particular schools\u2019 governance in terms of suppressing their Christian clubs.<\/p>\n
When conversing with a student from Semiahmoo Secondary, I was taken aback by his story about starting a Christian club within the school. Although he managed to start it under the name of a Christian history\/theology club, he\u2019s unable to refer to it as a \u201cChristian club.\u201d<\/p>\n
Regarding the club, he says, \u201con club day and other public places \u2026 you can\u2019t say that it\u2019s a Christian club \u2026 we can only say that it\u2019s a church history or theology club instead of a place for Christian students to share, communicate, and worship.\u201d This story was shocking to me, as I would assume the local schools are a place where they uphold the freedom for religious expression.<\/p>\n
Preceding this act of suppression was another: the prohibition of using certain verses in Christian club advertisements. A friend of mine at Earl Marriott Secondary expressed her concern to me regarding her inability to use a specific verse on her club posters. The verse, John 3:16, claims that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one comes to the Father (God) except through Him (Jesus).<\/p>\n
She was told that she could advertise her club but had to refrain from using language that proclaimed Christianity to be the truth, not just a truth. Although perhaps controversial, the verse is a clear expression, and perhaps the ultimate foundation, of the Christian faith. I believe suppressing a statement that could be described as the cornerstone of Christianity for the concern of other students\u2019 feelings contradicts Surrey Schools\u2019 statements of inclusion.<\/p>\n
Hearing these stories from students who attend schools here in the city of Surrey, in a country that proclaims the freedom of religious expression, is incredibly jarring.<\/p>\n
With Bill C-9 also on the rise, many Christians are becoming increasingly concerned with the government suppressing their expression of faith. But the Surrey school system owes a sense of inclusion to their students, and the small step of allowing Christian clubs to form and verses to be posted offers encouragement and hope for Christian students within the city.<\/p>\n
Stephanie Sadlon, South Surrey <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LETTER: Christianity should not be suppressed in Surrey schools Published 7:00 am Sunday, April 5, 2026 Editor, Students…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":584060,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[49,48,87674],"class_list":["post-584059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-surrey","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-surrey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=584059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/584060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}