Day and Dino
Jeffrey W. Tighe
National Post
As an agnostic, I am religiously neutral. However, I find the
recent
microscopic examination of Canadian Alliance leader Stockwell
Day's
religious beliefs very disturbing. Jean Chretien made fun of
Mr. Day's convictions
by saying that a prime minister has to work on Sundays. NDP leader
Alexa
McDonough said Mr. Day's "super-religiosity" (whatever that means)
makes
his beliefs fair game politically.
Would these jokes and examinations be tolerated if Mr. Day were
a Muslim,
Jew or Sikh? We all know the answer to that question is NO. Therefore
let's
call Chr*tien and McDonough's behaviour what it really is: bigotry.
Jeffrey W. Tighe, Toronto.
*
http://www.nationalpost.com/search/story.html?f=/stories/20001120/376248.html
You say you want evolution
Sue Hewitt
National Post
As a teacher, I'm offended by the Alliance party's attempts to
spin-doctor their way through Stockwell Day's creationist beliefs.
It is incredible
how many intelligent educated people have lined up to defend
these
anti-science, anti-intellectual arguments.
Were his beliefs simply religious ones restricted to church and
Sunday
school, then the criticism of them would be unwarranted. Unlike
my own mainstream
Christian beliefs in miracles such as virgin birth (which I see
as
exceptions to the scientific rules), Mr. Day's beliefs involve
a wide ranging
rejection of accepted scientific knowledge in any number of fields,
including
paleontology, archeology, biology, zoology, geology, geophysics,
astronomy, astro-physics, physics and chemistry.
Sue Hewitt, Regina.
*
http://www.nationalpost.com/search/story.html?f=/stories/20001122/378727.html
Faith questions
John T. Sangster
National Post
Sue Hewitt of Regina, a teacher who is so well educated she feels
righteously indignant when "spin doctors" defend Stockwell Day's
"anti-science,
anti-intellectual" religious opinions (Letters, Nov. 20), admits
that she
believes in the virgin birth (i.e., the story that Jesus was
conceived by
the Holy Ghost impregnating the Virgin Mary). But that's OK,
she says,
because this was "an exception to the scientific rules."
For goodness sake, somebody please explain to this well educated
teacher
that the reason she is able to hold what she calls "mainstream Christian
beliefs" despite her scientific education is that religion is about
faith, whereas
science is about facts -- or supposed facts. And the fact that
she thinks
her brand of Christianity is superior to Stockwell Day's doesn't make
it
superior to his or anyone else's religion -- it just makes her look
intolerant.
John T. Sangster, Burnaby, B.C.
*
http://www.nationalpost.com/search/story.html?f=/stories/20001122/378852.html
Faith questions
Tim Ferguson
National Post
Jeffrey W. Tighe, along with so many others, just doesn't get
it (Day and
Dino, Letters, Nov. 18). The reader finds the "recent microscopic
examination of Canadian Alliance leader Stockwell Day's religious
beliefs very
disturbing." I suggest that such an examination is in fact immensely
important and exactly what elections are for. Believing that
human beings and
dinosaurs co-existed 6,000 years ago is not only a point of faith,
but an
intellectual conclusion. The issue is not that the candidate
might feel that this is
true, but that he might think it. It is important for the electorate
to know
how blind to scientific fact a would-be leader of the country
might be. We
are used to politicians who lie -- i.e., who know the difference
between fact
and fiction and decide to promote the latter -- and while I am
not promoting
complacency, I am far more concerned by what our politicians
really think
is true. If Mr. Day did not "believe" in photosynthesis or gravity
-- never
mind history or archeological findings or carbon dating -- I
hope Mr. Tighe
would be "very disturbed." Given the doubts that have been raised
it is crucial
that Mr. Day reveal to the public his basic understanding of
the laws of
nature and the story of human history.
Tim Ferguson, Toronto.