Christian group condemns zoo's elephant sculpture

[rationalcalgarian]

Dammit! It would have to be in Calgary. Sometimes, it's just so embarrassing to live here.......


Christian group condemns zoo's elephant sculpture

A Christian group is calling for the removal of an elephant statue, modeled after a Hindu god, from the Calgary Zoo calling it "selective religious partiality."
A three metre-tall tall statue of a dancing elephant was donated to the zoo for the opening of its Elephant Crossing exhibit in 2006. It was commissioned to look like Ganesh, a Hindu god worshipped as a remover of obstacles. But Laurie Herron, a Calgary Zoo spokeswoman, said all religious symbolism on the statue was omitted before it was allowed to be displayed. Jim Blake, national chairman of Concerned Christians Canada, sent a letter to the zoo on Thursday, calling for the sculpture to be removed.

"The zoo is not a place of religious indoctrination, it is supposed to be a safe family environment free of religious icons and selective religious partiality," Blake wrote. "The displaying of different gods in a public place like this is an offence to our beliefs and does not represent the diversity of views that should be reflected."

If the zoo wants to keep the statue and " on teaching the public about world religions, Blake suggested that the facility also erect the cross of Jesus Christ, the Ten Commandments and Noah's Ark

"The display of foreign gods is offensive and does not reflect the views of the majority of Canadians," he continued.

Reached by CBC News late on Thursday, Herron told CBC News she and the zoo's board of directors had not yet seen Blake's letter. But she said the statue, given to the zoo by a private donor, was intended to reflect the cultural symbol of elephants, and not any religious icon.

What a tool.

[Jackpine Radical]

1. It's almost reassuring to see Canadian crazies.

I mean, mad Douks aside, normally you folks are so goddamn, almost depressingly, SANE in contrast to us down here. You spend or save your Loonies. We elect ours to public office.


Oh-and welcome to DU.


BTW, I have a lot of relatives in W. Sask., up NE of Lloydminster.

[rationalcalgarian]

2. Thanks!

Yes, it is unusual, isn't it?

On the bright side, one look at the CBC forum regarding this story is reassuring. He and his ilk are getting slammed!

[HappyCynic]

3. Religious political parties

We have some political parties that try to merge church and state but at least they don't tend to get very far. Case in point, there's been a federal political party called the Christian Heritage Party since 1988. Here's their popularity (data from Wikipedia):
Election -- # of candidates -- # of votes -- % of popular vote -- % of popular vote CHP ridings
1988 ----------- 63 ------------ 102,533 ----------- 0.78% ----------- 3.56%
1993 ----------- 58 ------------- 30,455 ----------- 0.22% ----------- 1.09%
1997 ----------- 53 ------------- 29,085 ----------- 0.22% ----------- 1.26%
2000 ----------- 46* ------------ 10,110* ---------- 0.08%* ---------- 0.51%*
2004 ----------- 62 ------------- 40,283 ----------- 0.30% ----------- 1.52%
2006 ----------- 45 ------------- 28,163 ----------- 0.19% ----------- 1.32%
2008 ----------- 59 ------------- 26,751 ----------- 0.19% ----------- 1.02%

*The party did not have official status for the 2000 election, but 46 candidates were nominated, listed on the ballot without any affiliation information. These figures represent the 46 "non-affiliated" candidates known to be nominees of the CHP.

For added perspective, there were a total of 13,834,294 votes. Also, the CHP got about 500 votes per candidate (averaged out, of course) and the Green Party, relatively new, didn't get any seats but fielded 303 candidates and got 937,613 votes (roughly 3000 votes per candidate).

Edited to make table easier to read

[rationalcalgarian]

4. Blame it on the media!

"You spend or save your Loonies. We elect ours to public office." Ha-ha! Love it!

I think the main diffference is that we in Canada probably have the same proportional share of nutjobs but our media rarely gives them the ink or the air time. By giving them so much attention, the US media inflates their perceived numbers and exaggerates their relevance.

As one commentor in the CBC forum put it, this story should not have been in the "News" section of the website, but in the "Diversions" section where we can read stories like "Man Eats Twenty Spiders on a Bet" or "Would-be Burglar Falls Through Ceiling into Police Station". I tend to agree.

[CHIMO]

5. Dancing elephant statue stays, says Calgary Zoo

The Calgary Zoo said it has no plans to remove a dancing elephant statue after a complaint from a Christian group that it's an inappropriate religious icon.

A private donor gave the statue, modeled after the Hindu god Ganesh, to the zoo in 2006 to stand in front of the Asian elephant exhibit.

As CBC News first reported, Concerned Christians Canada sent a letter raising its concerns that the statue was "selective religious partiality" to the zoo on Thursday.

"A lot of people are saying we're being intolerant. I don't consider asking that the zoo look at this from a balanced perspective being intolerant," said national chairman Jim Blake on Friday.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2009/09/25/calgary-zoo-elephant-statue-christians-response.html

This three-metre-high statue was donated to the zoo by a woman who wanted to honour the memory of her late father. (Courtesy Lotus Sculpture)


Jim Blake, national chairman of Concerned Christians Canada, said the Calgary Zoo should be a neutral environment. (CBC)

How about a neutered environment?

Get rid of the eagles, lions, beavers and carols.

[rationalcalgarian]

6. Thanks for the follow-up!

The unfortunate part of all this, I think, is that this group of whackjobs got their fifteen minutes of undeserved fame.

But I'll drink a Keith's tonight to the Calgary Zoo! Bravo! :toast:

(Wait a minute! Is that Blake guy sporting a goatee? Hmmm... Isn't there Someone Else who sports a goatee? :evilgrin: Just sayin'... )

[Lucy Goosey]

7. Oh, good. I was worried they would cave.

That would have really bugged me. I hate when I see that sort of American-style conservative Christianism here.

[rationalcalgarian]

8. I know what you mean!

But remember Stockwell Day? He was the up-and-comer, the leader of the Reform Party, gaining attention, the future of Canadian politics... and then...

He announced that believed that the bible was the literal word of god and that men and dinosaurs walked together 6000 years ago.

Oops.

That was the end. His own right-wing fundamentalist party distanced themselves from him. Commentators could barely contain themselves as they tried to analyze the sudden decline in Stockwell's popularity.
And yet, he still has a position in Harper's cabinet. Scary.

[Lucy Goosey]

9. Oh, I definitely remember Stockwell.

His fall from grace was truly a joy to behold. Of course I wish it had made him unelectable in his own riding, but I'm happy he'll at least never be leader.