The Law is the Law - Soviet Canuckistanian style

[Laha]

I am posting this because of a very recent post by B Calm in the General Discussions forum involving a chain letter titled 'The Law is the Law' which rails against the perceived injustice of our governments' involvement in our religious affairs. In September of the last year ('06) I received a letter from my father that was nearly identical except for modifications to attempt to make it apply to Canadian life and politics, and mostly for the purposes of sharing information I would like to post it, and my reply, here.


THE LAW IS THE LAW

I hope this makes its way around CANADA several times over!!!

So if the CANADIAN government determines that it is against
the law for the words "under God" to be on our money, then,
so be it.

And if that same government decides that the "Ten
Commandments" are not to be used in or on a government
installation, then, so be it.

And since they already have prohibited any prayer in the
schools, on which they deem their authority, then so be it.

I say, "so be it," because I would like to be a law abiding
Canadian citizen

I say, "so be it," because I would like to think that smarter
people than I are in positions to make good decisions.

I would like to think that those people have the Canadian
Public's best interests at heart.

BUT, YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE I'D LIKE?

Since we can't pray to God, can't Trust in God and cannot
post His Commandments in Government buildings, I don't
believe the Government and its employees should
participate in the Easter and Christmas.... celebrations
which honor the God that our government is eliminating
from many facets of Canadian life.

I'd like my mail delivered on Christmas, Good Friday,
Thanksgiving & Easter. After all, it's just another day.

I'd like our Government to be in session on Christmas,
Good Friday,Thanksgiving & Easter as well as Sundays.
After all, it's just another day.

I'd like ALL Representatives to not have to worry about
getting home for the "Christmas Break." After all ~~~
it's just another day.

I'm thinking that a lot of my taxpayer dollars could be saved,
if all government offices & services would work on Christmas,
Good Friday & Easter. It shouldn't cost any overtime since
those would be just like any other day of the week to a
government that is trying to be "politically correct."

In fact....

I think that our government should work on Sundays (initially
set aside for worshipping God...) because, after all, our
government says that it should be just another day....

What do you all think????

If this idea gets to enough people, maybe our elected
officials will stop giving in to the minority opinions and
begin, once again, to represent the majority" of ALL of
the people. SO BE IT...........

PASS THIS ON...

HELP RETURN SANITY TO CANADA!!

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My first response was simply to ask my father why he sent it on to me, as he is aware that I am not a Christian, and he said he just thought I might like to read it. And so, here was my response:




Unfortunately to me it seems like a fairly thinly veiled propaganda letter put forth by someone with a heavy religious agenda. It neglects to acknowledge the very basic and reasonable purpose behind the things it seems to be railing against.

The first three points (God on money, ten commandments on government land, and prayer in school) are nothing more than a cry against perceived discrimination against Christians - because they cannot force their religion on the rest of the country. There are many religions in Canada and it's extremely arrogant to think the tenants of just one of them should be plastered over all public lands.

Paragraphs such as this one:

" BUT, YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE I'D LIKE?

Since we can't pray to God, can't Trust in God and cannot
post His Commandments in Government buildings, I don't
believe the Government and its employees should
participate in the Easter and Christmas.... celebrations
which honor the God that our government is eliminating
from many facets of Canadian life."

Are misleading because it is an attempt to skew the difference between separation of church and state and government controlling religion in our daily lives. Common scare tactics to make people believe 'big (liberal) brother' is out to get their faith. It is insidiously hypocritical because they are trying to enforce the sort of religious control available to the government that they are pretending to be fighting against.

This next paragraph is also a good example of being both deceptive, and hypocritical:

" I'm thinking that a lot of my taxpayer dollars could be saved,
if all government offices & services would work on Christmas,
Good Friday & Easter. It shouldn't cost any overtime since
those would be just like any other day of the week to a
government that is trying to be "politically correct.""

because the author once again neglects to take in to account certain basic realities of human worklife - like people need time off, period, or we'd be back to the days of companies basically owning their employees and working them to death. As well as, to suddenly stand up and say no one else is allowed to take holidays along side the Christians(while I'm sure they happily enjoy all the secular ones) would be horribly disruptive to the economy and cost millions in and of itself.

Not to mention, once again, the obvious hypocrisy. From there I'm sure I could even go on to make a comparison to a schoolyard tantrum in which a child not getting his way takes away his ball so no one can play.

But that might be childish myself. ;D

Anyway, I'm mostly curious to know if you agree with the sentiment behind the letter you passed on. You now know what I think of it.

Later


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Just to finish off I'd like to say my dad completely agreed with my response, he says he simply didn't look into it as deeply as I did and he passed it on because he interpretted it as a letter sincerely railing against governments who attempt to control our personal life.

If anyone knows what the source of these two letters may be, I would greatly appreciate it if you could pass on the information.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. A letter that...

Either came from the states or Alberta. ;-)

[Lydia Leftcoast]

2. I don't recall Canada EVER having "In God We Trust" on its money

:shrug:

[Laha]

3. As far as I know, it never has

Which is what caused me, when I saw the letter B Calm posted earlier today to immediately suspect the letter originated in the United States, and was ineptly modified in an attempt to make it apply north of the border as well. When I first read it a couple months ago in the email forwarded me by my father I recognized a distinctly American tone to it, mostly because of comment about the money, and to a lesser extent simply because of the current political climate.

Altogether it makes me intensely curious as to who the author(s) may be, and I would love to personally confront them about what I see as rather strong hypocrisy and bias.

Edited to help my grammar a little..