guillaumeb
guillaumeb's JournalWhat is Christianity?
Is it the faith that inspired Schubert to write Ave Maria? (My preferred version)
Or is it the Crusades?
Is it the message of Jesus to "do to others as you would have them do to you"?
Or is it the forced conversion of the Jews in Spain and the First Peoples in the New World?
Or is it all of the above?
When we speak of Christianity, or any religion, we speak of humans believing. And humans are not perfect. None of us is perfect. We all have our faults, we all have our inconsistencies.
In this forum, I have posted many things. Some I have titled "good news", and some "bad news". Never have I titled any post "perfect news" because there is no perfection in humanity. But there is good and bad so the news and the titles reflect that mixture.
So when I read claims like "religion is responsible for most of the violence in the world", I often respond that every culture commits violence. Violence is a human failing and is committed for many reasons. To single out any one reason as THE reason tells me more about the person making the claim than it does about the concept of religion.
And given that history suggests that religion has been present for as long as man has walked upright, violence has also been present. (See the Bible story of Cain and Abel for one explanation)
Legalized Islamophobia in Quebec
From the article:
It should be noted as well that Quebec's National Assembly passed a motion in 2015 unanimously opposing Islamophobia, at the instigation of former QS MNA Françoise David.
But the passage of this new bill and the debates around it seem to indicate that none of the 125 members of the assembly fully understand what Islamophobia means--nor how their proposals and statements often fuel it.
To read more:
https://socialistworker.org/2017/10/23/legalized-islamophobia-in-quebec
As Tensions Simmer, Poll Shows Majority of Democrats Want Bold Leftward Shift
From the article:
The survey found that 52 percent of registered Democratic voters want "movements within the Democratic Party to take it even further to the left and oppose the current Democratic leaders."
To read more of this opinion piece:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/10/25/tensions-simmer-poll-shows-majority-democrats-want-bold-leftward-shift?
Can empathy be learned? Science offers some clues
From the article:
To develop empathy, Marsh suggested compassion meditation, which involves training oneself to foster and extend feelings of care and compassion to ever-wider circles of people.
To read more:
http://religionnews.com/2017/10/24/can-empathy-be-learned-science-offers-some-clues/
Is atheism the reason for Ta-Nehisi Coates' pessimism on race relations?
From the article:
Since God does not exist, Coates argues, there can be no collective hope or national redemption. We live, Coates tells us, in an amoral universe in which the powerful have little desire to help the powerless. This Coates describes as his general theory of life, one in which “no one was coming to save me”.
To read more of this interesting article:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/22/atheism-ta-nehisi-coates-pessimism-race-relations?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU%20Today%20USA%20-%20Collections%202017&utm_term=249060&subid=18564443&CMP=GT_US_collection
Mask laws and anti-religious bigotry
There has been a bit of discussion about the latest law passed in Quebec, a law that basically requires that no face veil may be worn in public when using or accessing public services or facilities. The proponents of the law speak to the public needs for safety, identity, and security.
In Canada, there have been laws passed dealing with the wearing of masks in public. (I bolded what I consider to be the relevant portions for the purpose of my argument.)
during a riot or other unlawful assembly.[9][10] The bill became law on June 19, 2013.[11] Those convicted of it face up to 10 years in prison.[12]
Canada's Criminal code, Section 351(2), also covers "Disguise with Intent", whereby "Every one who,
with intent to commit an indictable offence, has his face masked or coloured or is otherwise disguised is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years". With some exceptions, an indictable offence in Canada is one that is subject to a fine of greater than $5,000 or imprisonment of more than six months.
in 2017 a Quebec ban on face covering for transition and government services became publicized.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-mask_laws
As the above excerpt shows, the face covering is illegal when the wearer intends to commit a criminal act. Unless liberals are in favor of stop and frisk, and the police stopping everyone whenever they wish, support for the law prohibiting veiling is pure nonsense.
As I wrote in another post, and speaking of this law:
"It's not a coercive law," Marier St-Onge said in an email, adding that there are no sanctions listed in the legislation for those who don't comply.
Generally speaking, she said, the government wants people to uncover their faces when they receive a public service but, she stressed, "we will apply common sense."
The rules are for communication, identification and security reasons, and will only apply when deemed necessary.
Again, I bolded the relevant portions.
So they claim that it is not coercion, but one cannot walk in a public park, or visit a public venue, or access public services, but it is not coercive?
And, even though security is invoked, it will only apply when deemed necessary?
So people who attend the Winter Carnival can mask with no fear, as long as they do not look Muslim.
Bad news: 'It's not a coercive law,' Quebec says amid criticism over face-covering ban
From the article:
"It's not a coercive law," Marier St-Onge said in an email, adding that there are no sanctions listed in the legislation for those who don't comply.
Generally speaking, she said, the government wants people to uncover their faces when they receive a public service but, she stressed, "we will apply common sense."
The rules are for communication, identification and security reasons, and will only apply when deemed necessary.
So we will only apply the law when deemed necessary? Utter nonsense. Former provincial Prime Minister Pauline Marois proposed a similar law, with even more extreme anti-religious bias, when she was falling in popularity, but she still lost the election.
Now we see another example of a law being proposed to address a non-existent problem.
People will speak of the veil as coercion, and they speak of veiled women as being coerced, but is state coercion of a religion truly a solution to a problem, or is it simply Islamophobia?
In Saudi Arabia, women are forcibly veiled. If this law survives a challenge, will Québec become the polar opposite of Saudi Arabia in that Muslim women will be forcibly unveiled, or relegated to the home?
Edited to add:
To read more:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-face-covering-muslim-bill-62-stephanie-vallee-1.4367431
Good news: LGBT-affirming Christians are more emboldened than ever
From the article:
Have progressives gained the upper hand in religious debates over homosexuality?
A spate of recent events suggests that LGBT-affirming voices within religious communities are more emboldened and confident than ever.
U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, recently met with activists from the LGBT-affirming organization Faith in America.
In the meeting, America’s top Mormon legislator was asked if he thought being gay was a sin.
His response: “No, I don’t. How could anything that God gives you be a sin — especially something you are born with?
To read more good news:
http://religionnews.com/2017/10/20/lgbt-affirming-christians-are-more-emboldened-than-ever/
Good news: Peace Cross is unconstitutional, court rules
From the article:
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday (Oct. 18) that the so-called Peace Cross violates the establishment clause of the Constitution with “excessive religious entanglement.”
To read more:
http://religionnews.com/2017/10/19/peace-cross-is-unconstitutional-court-rules/
Good news: Some want to push homeless off North Tryon. Why this church decided to spotlight them.
From the article:
This Sunday, Rosenquist’s 700-member church will put an exclamation point on its commitment to the “least of these,” as Jesus called those in need, by unveiling a 30-foot long mural in its Fellowship Hall that features the photographed faces – most of them smiling – of 30 homeless “neighbors.”
To read more:
Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/living/religion/article179699546.html#storylink=cpy
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