‘Pluralistic society’
Dear Editor:
RE: Don’t forget, Feb. 9.
In his letter to the editor, Bob Baker attempts to remind readers of the Advertiser that the only determination of good human behaviour is that which is based on Christian ideology and “the word of our Lord.”
I always find it astounding that individuals like Baker espouse these ethnocentric views when living in such a pluralistic society like we enjoy in Canada, and which is guaranteed in our Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
While I completely accept his freedom to practice his faith, surely Baker realizes that practically every encouraging phrase of his letter could also be written with exactly the same sentiment reflecting the respective ideologies of at least another dozen religions freely practiced in Canada.
This fact makes his encouraging words completely moot when it comes to using them as a guide for all our children, and ironically, that also means his arguments are “off the rails” reflecting only “whatever turns him on.”
Please do not forget that.
David Fast,
Ariss
‘Dismissive, lecturing’
Dear Editor:
I was both saddened, and concerned about the number of letters from supposed “Christians” in the paper last week.
The amount of dismissive and lecturing about what the writers supposed was Christianity, was not in keeping with what I, as a minister’s child and a student of many years of learning from my father’s pulpit, believe.
“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you,” said Jesus. Yet there were a number of letters that did just that.
“Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.” Yet there was not much love present in the letters I read. And lastly I will quote from the marriage vows of my wife and I.
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”
It seems we have a number of “Christians” who don’t seem to want to follow the tenets of the religion they purport to espouse.
Michael McPhee,
Harriston
‘Imposing judgment’
Dear Editor:
I would like to extend my true thanks to those who have written letters and publicly, and clearly demonstrated that their religious beliefs contain “judgment” and “discrimination.”
To paraphrase Mr. Gooch from his letter (God loves everyone, Feb. 9), it’s hard to believe the date on the calendar is meaningless when it comes to “animosity toward people of different orientations.” And to quote another song writer, and the cute line in the song taught to little children, “Jesus love me this I know” is about as sugar coated as it can get.
Men and women doing the bidding for their own gods by imposing their judgment and discrimination is far from unique and has been used throughout history to justify some of the worst examples of human behaviour. No religions excluded.
Please keep your “faith” personal and our society secular. If what you say or do as a result of your religious beliefs negatively affects someone else, then you have imposed your personal judgment and discrimination.
“Good” isn’t owned by any one religion or belief system.
Spread it around.
Tom Althouse,
Fergus
‘Backward beliefs’
Dear Editor:
You may feel too many letters have been printed dealing with god, the Bible and religion.
I think from replies my point was proven; it seems those in the area keep quoting about the bible and Jesus. It’s their excuse to hide bigotry, narrow-minded beliefs and employ religion as a defense.
Here is my last point having gone to Catholic school. The realty of religion is simple; all those believers look at pictures of Jesus. Interesting that he always is pictured as a Nordic, white and has blond hair.
How is that possible since he was from the Middle East?
The Bible was a great novel, no more, and those that keep going on about it, use it to justify backward beliefs rather than think rationally.
Jim Trautman,
Simi Valley, California
‘Missed the mark’
Dear Editor:
RE: Drag show goes on despite protests, threats, harassment, Feb. 2.
Why is it when a few people take a stand on a moral issue people call it a protest or harassment? Not true.
As a Christian that knows and believes the Bible, believes in God and cares about people, it’s important to stand for truth.
Yes, our beliefs are different. Some people may address issues in an unkind way. That’s bad news.
I normally don’t reference a person’s name but Paul Gooch (God loves everyone, Feb. 2) is reading the wrong book. Yes, God loves the sinner but hates sin. We must repent of our sins.
Reading the Bible can turn your life around. The Bible is the best-selling book in the world.
If in our life we haven’t helped to make our society better we’ve missed the mark.
Marilyn Fowler,
Guelph
‘The life of a Christian’
Dear Editor:
There is growing confusion about God’s love, moral living and the definition of a Christian.
Is a person known by what he professes or by what he lives?
A Christian is saved by the grace of God in the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ. He then goes forth in newness of life and lives according to the teachings of Christ and the pure commandments of God in the Bible. The life he lives is proof of what he believes and professes.
What are some Bible teachings on moral living? God has made people male and female since the beginning of time, and commands that marriage last for life (Mark 10).
God’s love and His judgement are equally true.
Picture driving down a country road and seeing someone ahead wildly waving his arms. You slow down and he cries, “Stop! The bridge has washed out.” You tell him politely, “God loves everyone. He cares for me.”
Then you drive on, muttering about hate speech. Once upside-down in the river with water seeping in at the doors, will you recognize, too late, the love and concern in the man’s warning?
When you hear the warning, slow down. Notice the swollen river ahead. Turn around and choose a road that leads to your destination.
Pray, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” (Luke 18:13). God will have mercy, no matter how dark your former life (See John 8:11). Then walk in a newfound peace, obeying the pure teachings of God and Christ. This is the life of a Christian.
Andrew Martin,
Clifford
Wait-and-see approach?
Dear Editor:
A recent meeting by a group of concerned constituents with our local MP Michael Chong confirmed what we had feared: the Conservative Party has no plan whatsoever to deal with the climate crisis!
We were desperately hoping to hear about some viable counter plan to what the Liberals have implemented.
Instead, we came away with the very real sense that the Conservatives do not consider the extreme weather events which are destroying our food supplies, burning our forests, flooding our cities and plains, and destroying our homes as important enough to warrant a plan.
According to the Insurance Bureau of Canada the cost of insured losses alone due to severe weather events in 2022 reached $3.1 billion.
Surely if the Conservatives felt as strongly as they claim, while shouting down all Liberal initiatives, they would formulate an effective alternative. Perhaps they feel it is better to wait and see while we move closer and closer to the tipping point of no return.
We are all waiting for an opposition we can put some hope in. Where are they?
Sue Braiden,
Erin
Shortcomings?
Dear Editor:
I really want to thank the Advertiser for taking the time to interview People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier and myself, and publishing the resultant article last week (PPC Leader Maxime Bernier, supporters gather in Atwood, Feb. 9).
On Feb. 4, Bernier came to Atwood. As it turned out, the occasion happened during the first anniversary of the Trucker’s Convoy. It was the culmination of untold hours of volunteer effort, and the day went over extremely well, with at least 300 attendees throughout the day.
Although there are shortcomings in the article, it caused me to reflect on what it means to govern, given my position as a prospective parliamentarian.
I recall a conversation I had with one of my supporters. He had some long-time friends come visit not long ago. This supporter is a very successful businessman and his visitors built their respective careers in government employment.
Their conversation, although intended to skirt politics, did eventually land on the protester who cussed Chrystia Freeland last August in Grande Prairie, Alberta.
I am not about to pass judgment with regards to the protester’s actions, other than to say that the foundational precept of our rights and freedoms here in Canada is our unfettered right to freely speak and express our opinions, regardless of being appropriate or not.
According to my supporter, the conversation became very heated, and the guests became very unwelcome when they refused to acknowledge the parallel between the inappropriate comments made by the protester, and the extremely inappropriate comments made by our prime minister with regards to the Truckers Convoy.
I remember watching a townhall video in August 2018, where a woman refers to “mankind” in a question, and our prime minister stopped her mid-sentence and proceeded to correct her by referring to “peoplekind”.
I remember thinking at the time, given our fundamental right to free speech and the disproportionate power held by the prime minister, he should be the absolute last person in this country to impose his views on anyone’s speech.
It seems to me that the more responsibility we have in a free society, whether it be as a parliamentarian, as a civic leader, even as a journalist, the less able we are (and downright ought to be) to impose our views and opinions on others.
Wayne Baker,
2021 PPC Candidate,
Perth-Wellington,
Wellington North
‘Little guy’ abandoned
Dear Editor:
It seems Premier Doug Ford does not listen to anyone regarding encroaching on the Greenbelt, except possibly his friends who want to build houses on land they recently purchased there.
Many organizations and individuals have told Ford what a bad idea it is. Even our MP Michael Chong asked Ford not to mess with the Greenbelt, but he didn’t listen to him either.
In spite of what the Ford government advertises, it’s certainly not the little guy for whom they pass legislation.
Ron Moore,
Hillsburgh
No fan of ‘nice’ council
Dear Editor:
At the 2023 budget meeting for Centre Wellington, I presented a proposal for a public advisory finance committee and suggestions to reduce taxes, but your coverage of this was incomplete.
I submitted a written portion and live presentation as a delegation.
You didn’t give coverage to the reasons for and against my proposal and one of the suggestions for reducing the budget, which was also not addressed by the CAO and the “nice” council of Centre Wellington.
The reasons for forming the committee were:
– inexperience of the “nice” councillors of Centre Wellington;
– that public engagement was late and should be early in the process;
– the need for economic diversity membership on the committee from, lower income, unemployed, fixed income elderly, participants of the food bank and the working poor that cannot afford housing rent or ownership;
– the need for rural and agriculture membership and input, because they are usually burdened with the lions share of crumbling infrastructure and poor roads; and
– to help with cost accounting expertise that could result in better and deeper questioning of assumptions and inputs and therefore better public engagement for a better budget.
The committee idea was rejected by staff because it’s never done before and it would take too much time and work for staff.
These are poor reasons. The “nice,” compliant council of Centre Wellington agreed totally with the staff even though they asked no questions of me for clarification when I was a delegate.
Secondly, I recommended using the building reserve funds to pay for 25 to 50% of salaries for the ever-growing building department. The CAO ignored this proposal. The “nice” council and mayor did not listen to me as a delegation and missed this suggestion for lowering taxes. Finally, this newspaper missed mentioning it also. Too bad we now have to pay higher taxes when the economy is in distress and interest rates will go up further.
Lastly, since this has been rejected by council, I think it is timely to start a Centre Wellington Rate and Tax Payer’s Association. Please contact me if you are interested in participating in this association.
Stephen Kitras,
West Montrose
‘Major overhaul’ needed
Dear Editor:
RE: Brutal dismantling, Feb. 9.
I noted the letter referring to the Ontario Health Coalition and references to the ‘brutal dismantling’ of the Public Health Service, which they appear to blame on Premier Doug Ford.
This “brutal dismantling,” as they call it, is nothing new and has in fact been going on for many years, despite which political party was in power.
I think it was a Liberal government in power when chiropractic care was cut and then hospitals started charging for parking, but I will stand corrected.
The backlog of people waiting for “critical surgeries” must be addressed and there seems little question that the health care system as we know it, is overdue for a major overhaul.
I suppose my main question is where were all these letter writers when the Trailside Medical Centre in Fergus opened and started charging for parking?
It is small, yet important details like this, that seem to go un-noticed, that have helped create our present situation.
Malcolm McCulloch,
Fergus
‘To be 100’
Dear Editor:
Although my race is nearly run.
Or whether it’s well nigh completed
Or if the coveted prize is almost won
It has been a real joy to hear the praise of so many
But what really touched my heart strings
Are the kindly words only your heart brings
(I’ve tried to answer your question? What does it feel like to be 100?)
Sytske Drijber,
Rockwood