Anthony Furey is pissed off annoyed with the Supreme Court of Canada because it ruled that municipal council meetings can’t begin with prayers. Although Furey has his own opinion on prayers in municipal council meetings,
back in 2011, I wrote that Ottawa city council shouldn’t begin meetings with a prayer: “They should be managing the city effectively not for the glory of God, but for the glory of the citizens of Ottawa. Don’t appeal to God, appeal to the voters. Regardless of whose god, if any, is real, we still need to clear the roads after it snows.”
he is annoyed that “the top court” was involved in the ruling, and he is especially annoyed with the “type of feel-good language” the SCC used in its decision:
A neutral public space free from coercion, pressure and judgment on the part of public authorities in matters of spirituality is intended to protect every person’s freedom and dignity, and it helps preserve and promote the multicultural nature of Canadian society.
According to Furey, it isn’t “the job of the Supreme Court to promote multiculturalism,” and he disputes the idea that “an official saying a prayer is ‘coercion, pressure and judgment.'” Furey thinks praying in municipal councils is not “a human rights violation worthy of a Supreme Court hearing,”
He goes on to ask “Doesn’t a community have the right to determine its own culture?” and then supplies the answer:
If holding prayers during Ottawa or Saguenay council meetings is so out of step with local culture, then attendees will try to change it. If they fail to change it, it means they’ve been out-voted. Try again. Try harder.
Furey says it’s [t]ime to grow up. Presumably, if attendees attempt to convince their councils to stop praying at the beginning of council meetings, they will be acting like grown ups.
It’s time for Furey to grow up. He should talk to one or two grownups who tried, then tried again and then tried harder to convince their municipal councils to stop the illegal practice of saying the Lord’s Prayer at the beginning of council meetings.
I thought city councils are not supposed to have political parties. Why then should they have religious differences. I am ok with prayer as long as they cover all the gods.
All 10,000+ gods?
Some 30 years ago, when I presume the local city council was fervently praying, at about that same time the subject of Sunday shopping came up and it was finally approved after going though many, many phases :only drug stores could be open and they could sell only prescription or o/c medications; they could not sell stamps, shampoo, etc.; then that disappeared-they could sell anything; then other stores could open; and then we ultimately had what we have now: totally free market, buy anything you want on Sunday. And all of that followed the Lord’s prayer or whatever “guidance” they needed to make their money-hungry decisions. Seems like they prayed then told the lord to piss off; there was money to be made. So why the prayer? And nothing is stopping from them praying on the way to the meeting or in private. Stop with the praying already. Get down to business working for those very people who elected you. God doesn’t vote.
I wonder if Furey would be so comfortable with “a community creating its own culture” if a community with a Muslim majority instituted Islamic observances? Or a majority of Satan worshippers? Etc. Our Bill of Rights protects the rights of all against the tyranny of the majority. Furey, as with most of the Sun media group, represents a Christian costituent elite who feel they have already had to go too far in accomodating the “other”. Intellectual lightweight.
He should be annoyed that the top court had to get involved because people can’t seem to get it through their thick heads that the state being neutral about religion is a good thing.
Not being a great supporter of multiculturalism, I have to conclude that I must be a supporter of some single Canadian culture.
I believe in a Canadian monoculture; I guess.
It would have to be Secularism, period.
Two, or more languages, fine.