Terahertz

Still not getting it…

So this letter came out in the Journal on Saturday, but I still feel the need to address it as it mirrors some of the the responses I've gotten.

Any old God will do in 'tolerant' society

As I watched the ceremonies for Remembrance Day I was suddenly struck by the closing statement of the main speech from the podium. "Please pray this to the God of your understanding and according to your belief system."

Okay, not a bad beginning. Our writer was paying attention on Remembrance Day.

When are we going to make a stand for the fact that we are a Christian country that has based itself on the Holy Bible?

Wait.. what?

After all this is what makes us the country that many want to immigrate to.

Really? People are moving here because they think this country is uber-Christian and based on the Bible? I'm not sure that's the number one reason that Hindus, Muslims, atheists, Buddhists and other non-Christians are immigrating.

I realize there will be those that will want to toss out the word "tolerance" at all this, but the word tolerance means to have a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward opinions and practices that differ from one's own. It does not mean that you deny who you are.

Well I'm not Christian, and it's not a matter of "denying who I am" to ask you to respect that difference, it's a matter of tolerance.

Too often we permit others to express their religion by way of denying our own. I can think of no other religious group that would use the term, "Please pray this to the God of your understanding and according to your belief system" and yet we are all to have "tolerance," right?

J.R. Miller, Edmonton

You hit the nail on the head there J.R. - no other religious groups would say that, and a public ceremony is not a religious group. The other key is that religions by nature are not tolerant.

I'll qualify that - religious people can be tolerant, but in general, religions are not.

Thanks for publishing this Edmonton Journal, your editorial standards continue to fail to impress me.