Bluealberta wrote:
"All valid points and I did read your thread with great interest. My main concern is where would the line be drawn, and quite frankly, why would a line have to be drawn. Who would we say no to? Which religion or ethnic group would we say not to? "
I think that's more of a phylosophical question. An anarchist might just say "let everyone do what they want." whereas a fanatic might try to regulate every aspect of ones life. Moderates, on the other hand, are more likely to find a middle road. Each group has its idea of how much freedom or how many obligations we ought to have, and each group will naturally try to sell its idea. In the end, where to draw the line will be decided by our elected representatives, and we will have the duty to abide by their decision.
"As far as I am concerned, if you are an immigrant to this country, or a native born Canadian of ethnic background, then to live in this country, please follow our laws. I don't want to get into the "If you don't like it, go back" rhetoric, but regarding immigrants, if you are coming to this country because it is supposedly better than the country you are leaving, why would you want to make your laws part of our country? If you come to our country because it is better, you cannot pick and choose. It is either overall better, or it is not. "
I fully agree that all Canadians, not only immigrants, have a duty to follow the law. On the other hand, not all immigrants will necessarily go to Canada becasue they believe it's better. In some cases, it might just be that their new spouse is Canadian. There mey be things about their country which is in fact superior to ours, so what's wrong with them sharing their ideas with us? If we agree, it will eventually make it into law. If not, well then, nice try!
"Regarding Canadian born ethnicities who want to have their religious beliefs and laws form part of our culture, I have to ask why? We have a set of laws in this country that have been developed by successive governments who have been more or less democratically elected. You are free to attempt to change these laws by using the political system, but you are not free to try to have your laws become part of our culture using your religious beliefs as the reason. If you want the kind of laws your religion desires, then you are free to move to another country that follows these laws, otherwise, unless you can get enough political support in the federal arena to change our existing laws, you are subject to the same laws and rules as are all Canadians."
Well, I don't fully agree here. I'm not a Christian myself, but it does seem that a large percentae of Canadians are, and so had succeeded a long time ago to make Christmas and Easter statutory holidays. Do I oppose such holidays? Well, that depends on what you mean by oppose. If you mean politically, as in I'll start a petition or something, no, I won't sweat it. If you mean oppose in terms of making it allowed for a government to pass any religiously inspired law, no again; it would be impossible to enforce such a law, sinse if the majority want it, they'd just strike such a law down, and reintroduce such religious laws anyway. In the end we can only rely on the good will of the majority not to abuse its majority in this respect. Now if you mean do I oppose it on a personal level, yes. I'm not a Christian, and so don't celebrate these holidays unless invited to do so. I acknowledge, however, that he government must reserve the right to impose certain laws. For instance, the government imposes these statutory holidays whether I agree with them or not. Now if I should criticize that, then I'd be a hipocrite because if I were in government, I'd also impose universal compulsory education on the population. So how can I deny the government the right to impose laws I disagree with when I myself would impose certain laws against the will of the people myself if I were ever in power?
