Church sent emails before Regina school board vote on Pride

A Regina church has confirmed it was involved in an email campaign ahead of a controversial Regina public school board vote this week.

On Tuesday, the board voted against a proposal that would allow individual schools to celebrate LGBT pride as they see fit.

The decision sparked a number of reactions, with some saying it deserved to be voted down, while others expressing disappointment it didn't pass.

But before that vote happened, emails were being sent to people on a Regina Victory Church distribution list.

Terry Murphy, a pastor with the church, confirmed his organization received an email alerting them to Tuesday's vote — and then passed the content along to its members.

He said he was unaware of what was in the email or who it came from.

"I didn't actually see it myself, and we were asked to distribute it to our church and so we sent it out as an email, just letting people know that there was a vote going on on this," he said.

Murphy said he wasn't able to access his emails due to computer problems but said he would pass it along to CBC when he returns to his office.

Emailing members about issues that might pertain to them is not new for the church. He said when the city of Regina was trying to legislate massage parlours, also known as body rub parlours, the church also alerted members about what was happening. 

When asked if the church has any concerns about how Pride may or may not be celebrated in schools, Murphy said the church has concerns about things that are happening across the continent.

"We read about stuff all across North America about transvestites reading in public libraries and I think that's even going on in Canada," Murphy said. "These things are very disturbing to us and they are very concerning to us."

The pastor said children's education is something that's of interest to the church. He said Tuesday's vote was a "hot topic" and felt it was worth letting the congregation know about the vote.

"Our children are in the school system," Murphy said. 

"We're very concerned with how our children are raised… we send them to schools so that they can be educated and prepared for life, not indoctrinated in some moral standards that's outside of the purview of the church."

Murphy said children should be taught about math, reading, writing and social studies at school, not morality. He said morality teachings should be left to parents.

"We're not trying to squash anyone's rights, we're just trying to protect our own," Murphy said.