Our Canadian Character Defined

[canadapledge]

In a recent reply to my letter, our Governor General called Our Pledge " indeed inspiring and eloquent!" She then added, " it deserves to be more widely known. " ~ Let's make that happen on Canada Day this year ! Let's give our House of legislatures another chance to put Our Pledge back into the classrooms of our nation.

I am a Canadian, a free Canadian,
Free to speak without fear,
Free to worship God in my own way,
Free to stand for what I think right,
Free to oppose what I believe wrong,
Free to choose those who shall govern my country.
This heritage of freedom, I pledge to uphold
For my self and all mankind.

John Diefenbaker laboured long through the night on June 30 th., 1960 to bring The Canadian Bill of Rights before Parliament, and it was accepted and signed on Canada Day, July 1 st., 1960. Our Pledge is an excerpt of that famous document.

In our small town of Smiths Falls, our School Board gave this young principal of New Aberdeen School the honour of having his class recite Our Pledge for national T.V. cameras. It was used in our classrooms of Lanark County until 1995, even after our Supreme Court took God out of the classroom. Let's reconsider. Our Pledge is so carefully worded that is all inclusive. What a great way to start a school day! It unites all races, creeds, and colours in our great nation. It belongs right up there with our flag and the singing of O Canada! It defines who Canadians are; it gives us our identity. It is so commanding; it gives us our destiny.

Now, in the Year of the Veterans, it is there to enshrine the great legacy that our War dead and members of our armed forces have given Canadians. Let's restore it to our nation. It should be in the hearts and minds of every Canadian. Help put it back in our classrooms where it belongs.

I will be at our three stations in Smiths Falls on Canada Day weekend asking for your signature to our petition. Can you be there? If not, you and your friends can visit our web site www.pledgecanada.com and sign up there.

Do more than wave a flag on Canada Day; unite our country !

 

[I think not]

Very nice and very inspirational.

 

[Cosmo]

I find the whole topic of defining Canadian character most interesting. We are such a young country, unlike say Rome, without a history that extends into the far reaches of time. Watching our burgeoning identity shape itself without antiquity is fascinating.

The Pledge is inspiring, an honourable basis to build a philosophy on. I'm not sure I support the origins of it ... I am anti-war, but that is a whole other issue. Where it came from is less important to me than where it can take us.

Remove the word "God" and I would support this being part of our school ritual.

 

[GreenGreta]

Yes it could read "free to worship in our own way"

The God could be removed, not all religions have one, do they?

Personally, all organized religion should be BANNED...

 

[Cosmo]

RE: Our Canadian Characte

Exactly what I meant, Greta.

 

[jimmoyer]

Great Canada pledge.
Nice.

But all organized religions should not be banned.

Of course it was said in fun, but let me get boring for a moment on this church state thing in your Canada pledge.

Let's all get consistently stupid. Let's ban political parties. Let's ban the Masons, the Elks Lodge, the Moose, the golf country clubs, let's ban associations of any kind because they all subscribe to their own gospel, and all have their own un-named gods and icons of worship.

Banning associations of any kind will run up against the very nature of humankind. Won't happen.

The ultimate irony for all western nations (stemming from a dominant christian heritage that informed many of our secular ideas), is that we use a calendar, and that calendar tells you how many days and years ago they imagined the alleged Jesus was born.

If you're going to go all the way folks, then this establishment of religion stares at you in all your "daily planners", in all of your calendars your appointments are scribbled in.

Let's get consistently stupid, and go all of the way and get rid of every public reference to "a" religion, or learn to see the subtlety, the nuance and eclectic nature of the truth on this subject.

But back to that Canada pledge. It's nice.

 

[Cosmo]

Re: RE: Our Canadian Character Defined

But all organized religions should not be banned.

I emphatically agree. In fact, removing the single word "God" would broaden the pledge to include all forms of worship without excluding those whose diety is god.

The ultimate irony for all western nations (stemming from a dominant christian heritage that informed many of our secular ideas), is that we use a calendar, and that calendar tells you how many days and years ago they imagined the alleged Jesus was born.

Only partially correct, Jimmoyer.

From http://www.calendar-origins.com/year-origin.html

Counting years according to our modern system was suggested by the monk Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century and more commonly adopted in the 9th century.

Before that, Christianity counted years by the reign of the Roman emperor, or according to the biblically-calculated time since Adam, or Anno Mundi (AM). The AM count was based upon biblical passages. In particular, it used a 12 hour analogy, with Jesus appearing at the 11th hour. Unfortunately, this calendar had the world coming to an end around 500 AD.

Dionysius proposed an alternative calendar that set the year 0 to Christ's incarnation upon the world based upon the history available to him, and to the beginning of the age of Pisces (where new years began with the sun in the constellation of Pisces). Pisces, the sign of the fish, was linked to the first Christian symbol, ICHTHYS (i.e., fish in Latinised Greek). It also made the end of the age of Pisces occur close to an auspicious alignment of the 5 major planets in 2003.

Many christian holidays were co-opted from Pagans as a method of getting those nasty Pagans to switch over to christianity. Christmas, for instance, is Yule. There is some question as to when Jesus was actually born, whether it truly was in December. Yet we celebrate the birthday on a Pagan festival. Easter is defined by the cycles of the moon, a Pagan tradition. I could go on, but you get my drift.

There would be no offence in allowing people to worship as they please ... no matter what diety they choose to commit to. Or, conversely, if they worship no diety. Doesn't make you a bad Canadian.

My suggestion was a simple expansion to include more people in the Pledge. Canadians need a little rah-rah spirit, a little more pride in our country ... I think it would be a good thing.

 

[Vanni Fucci]

Re: RE: Our Canadian Character Defined

There would be no offence in allowing people to worship as they please ... no matter what diety they choose to commit to. Or, conversely, if they worship no diety. Doesn't make you a bad Canadian.

I would agree with this if, and only if, the religions were able to address the inherent intolerance in their scriptures...because even in this day and age, there are few among the faithful who are able to take the good and discard the bad...

 

[Knightman]

Re: RE: Our Canadian Character Defined

Yes it could read "free to worship in our own way"

The God could be removed, not all religions have one, do they?

Personally, all organized religion should be BANNED...

I am a Canadian, a free Canadian,
Free to speak without fear,
Free to worship in my own way,
Free to stand for what I think right,
Free to oppose what I believe wrong,
Free to choose those who shall govern my country.
This heritage of freedom, I pledge to uphold
For my self and all mankind.

I agree with your proposed change to canadapledge's pledge other than that it is very good..............