Religion and public policy

The Encyclopedia of American Religions lists 1,600 different religious groups, with 44% of them non-Christian. Half of these have emerged and been recognized as a distinct belief system since 1960. There are now more Muslims in America than there are Methodists. North America is a different place than it was 30 years ago.

Every belief system challenges for predominance in society. Bill Hybels, pastor of one of North America’s largest churches, stated, “…the law of non-contradiction says that positions that are different from one another cannot be equally true.” Thus, our culture has experienced vigorous debate as to the merit of each religious viewpoint.

Culture is, in the end, the manifestation of what people think and believe. As one of our young scholars stated, “Ideas have legs.” Culture becomes the externalization of a people’s religion. Josef Stalin understood that connection: he said, “Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas?” That belief system strengthened the political, social and ‘religious’ ideology of Communism.

Beliefs influence action. Bad beliefs impact nations. Friedrich Nietzsche, the German atheist philosopher, declared that God was dead, so evil could be redefined from humanity’s perspective. He initiated a definition of evil as “whatever flowed out of weakness.” The Nazi’s adopted his definition and the idea of a Super Race emerged. This resulted in the subjugation and extermination of whoever they deemed to be weak. Ideas have consequences.

A few weeks ago, in CBC’s Radio-Canada television program Enquete, journalist Brigitte Bureau attacked the rights of access certain Christians had to engage the public domain through Parliamentary venues provided to special interest groups and Canadians as a whole. She worried out loud about the undue influence these fundamentalist groups had on government policy.

The price of free speech in Canada

(HILARY ROBERTS, The Charlatan photo)

Did you know that there is now a landmark cost for free speech in Canada? On October 4th, five pro-life students at Carleton University were arrested by Ottawa city police on the university campus and fined $130 each for what may be considered “non-academic misconduct.” Why? They had set up a Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) in the Tory Quad which graphically co-related the barbarism of modern day abortion to the atrocities of the past.

Yes, in 2007, GAP was officially approved and recognized by Carleton University, this despite a policy that banned using student services for anti-abortion activity. Yes, they were fulfilling their clearly defined aims in terms of campaigning and educating, even though they knew that anyone could file a complaint if they felt discriminated against as to “limiting or removing a woman’s right to choose her options in the case of pregnancy.”

Yes, the goal of GAP was to “promote the support and protection of life from conception to natural death,” and they knew that some people may feel harassed even by that wholesome idea. Yes, the pictures were harsh and comprised an in your face challenge, but the intent was to break down the hardness that has entered into the Canadian heart.

The Universities of Canada, funded by Canadian tax dollars, are called upon to uphold the principles of academic freedom and the free exchange of ideas. It is clear that a paradigm shift has occurred in Canadian culture, and we have exchanged the clear glasses of democratic rights for the tainted glasses of public opinion and political correctness.