God kicked out of City Hall: Supreme Court Ruling

[JLives]

Don't forget, logicalview, that leftists are only against Christian prayer. Muslims are a minority, so if someone tries to stop a Muslim from praying in school, leftist groups will fight to award the poor Muslim $30,000 for discrimination.

BS. This is made up drivel. Most people against prayer in public spaces include all religions.

[the truth]

so why can they pray at school ,but not others???

[I am Canadian]

In a place I worked 10 years ago the mooslims had their own private prayer room in the building, and were allowed breaks to go do their thing.

They were the only group with that privilege.

[I am Canadian]

Anyways, government and politics should be secular, and religion should be practiced at home or at church. final dot.

[Merry]

When I read stories like this I am reminded of a lady I once knew many years ago. This individual made a career out of challenging authority, whether it be things such as this (prayers at secular meetings) or teachers she felt were too strict, or various rules she believed were inappropriate. The list of the things she was opposed to was lengthy, and she would go to all kinds of extremes to try to get those things stopped.

Over time, even though she was a friend of mine, I came to realize that she didn't really care one way or the other about whatever issue she was challenging (most of them were fairly minor anyway), but that what she was really enjoying doing was challenging the status quo, and making a bit of a name for herself in the process.

The problem with folks doing things like this, whether it be simply because they can, or in an attempt to give their lives meaning, is that often things that are very important to some folks are sacrificed on the altar of boosting some individual's ego, or making them feel "better" about themselves, while the rest of us simply stand by and allow it to happen because we don't really consider the particular issue being challenged to be of much importance to us personally. But allowing individuals to harness the power of the State to further their own personal agenda in this way definitely has a downside. Because in the process, little by little, many cultural practices that are part of the fabric of our country are slowly whittled away until, one day, we come to realize that the State is dictating far more of what we can and cannot do than they probably should be.

On the one hand, with this particular example, it maybe inappropriate for the local Council to pray to a Catholic God before and after each Council meeting if there are non-believers in the room. However, on the other hand one has to question the motives of WHY someone would be willing to fight the point all the way to the Supreme Court to get it stopped. After all, if you're an atheist then surely you'd simply laugh at such a silly practice, rather than be offended by it. What's to be offended about watching folks following a ritual you consider to be foolish? Besides, if we consider religion to be a particular world view, isn't atheism also a world view (albeit an opposing one)? So, if that's the case, aren't folks who insist we all adhere to practices that are in line with their atheist world view also guilty of trying to impose their views on others?

My point is that issues such as this should be decided on a more local level, as opposed to being dealt with by the Supreme Court because, in addition to the fact that the Court has more important issues to deal with, the answer to the question of what is and is not appropriate in certain circumstances often depends on who are the participants at the time, and what the particular circumstance is. What is appropriate in a small town in Quebec, may be totally inappropriate in a Toronto suburb. And I'm not just talking about religion here. I'm talking about cultural practices in general.

[Glacier]

BS. This is made up drivel. Most people against prayer in public spaces include all religions.

I disagree somewhat, though in part I think you're right. Certainly some people, that I would call fundamentalist atheists, would be vehemently against even the most benign of prayer, but others are offended because the prayer doesn't include all minorities enough. Kelowna city council starts off their sessions with a prayer. I can see the usual suspects getting all up in arms about this one next, but when Kelowna city council meets with the First Nations groups, no one is going to get up in arms over a First Nations prayer to kick things off.

[Sige]

I agree with this completely.

"Religion is like a penis. It's fine to have one and it's fine to be proud of it, but please don't whip it out in public and start waving it around... and PLEASE don't try to shove it down my throat."

[I am Canadian]

The best protection against brain wash ejaculation is to wear a laic condom and don't touch the member, even with a 10 foot pole.

[Glacier]

And yet the Muslim prayer in schools is protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Christian, Hindu or Jewish prayer? Not so much.

Let's see what the Muslim politicians are saying about this decision...

"I do believe that faith has a role in the public square and we will explore ways of doing that in the context of today’s decision."
~ Calgary Mayor, Naheed Nemshi

[AirHoss]

Matthew 6:5 says to pray in private and not in public. So, be good christians for a change and shut up already.
Keep religion out of government. There's enough bull**** in the average politician as it is without making a place for this nonsense.

[rookie314]

Man this is funny. For over 2000 years people have been trying to silence God. Guess what, its not working!!

[I am Canadian]

Canada is not trying to silence god. It simply ruled that god's place is outside the walls of City Halls.

Back in the 40's & 50's the church was controlling hospitals, schools as well as the entire government. We kicked them out of there for a reason and so be it.

Amen

[Glacier]

^ And taxes when shooting up to pay for it.

Looks like we have religious expression inside the BC Parliament today...

[I am Canadian]

I think the definition of a Parliament is that it's open and welcoming to every citizen of a country / province (The House of the People? something like that high school history is quite far in my mind right now), which makes it okay to welcome people of every denomination inside its walls but official political discussions should definitely be 100% secular.

[rookie314]

Canada is not trying to silence god. It simply ruled that god's place is outside the walls of City Halls.

Back in the 40's & 50's the church was controlling hospitals, schools as well as the entire government. We kicked them out of there for a reason and so be it.

Amen

Again, hilarious. I find it amazing how ignorant atheists are. And the fact that they are in the minority, forcing their lack of belief on others.