I just
finished reading, “Our world losing understanding of what it means to be human”
by Deborah Gyaong, Canadian Catholic News
in the April 26, 2015 edition of the Catholic
Register. The article angered me. The article is about Ravi Zacharias, an
apologist who spends more than 200 days a year travelling the world.
Ravi argues
that we are losing our perspective of what it means to be human. The
Judeo-Christian perspective of the intrinsic worth of all human beings was the
premise of belief, ethics, and religion that dominated the European world for
centuries and the new world of North America inhabited by the Europeans.
“We are not
random products of time, matter and chance,” said Ravi. He goes on to say, “The
Bible says, ‘In the beginning God…’ ” We humans are created in God’s image. As
such, we humans have intrinsic value or worth.
Look at what
is going on in the Middle East and in Africa. What value do people who live in these
places put on a human being?
The value of human worth is deteriorating in Canada by complacent
citizens who offer no remedies and a government that offers no leadership.
When I was
in Grade 8 in public school, I remember going to the school auditorium to hear
a different Minister from a different denomination each month read from the Bible and say
a few prayers.
I wasn’t
into religion then. It was a bit boring but never offensive. “Court bans prayer
in city councils” is another article by Deborah Gyapong in the same newspaper,
where the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on April 15th that the
Saguenay council must stop praying before meetings and pay $30 000 in damages
to some atheist who launched a complaint into the matter.
Wasn’t it
just two or three years ago that the courts ruled in favor of removing bibles
from government buildings in the United States of America? Now there is a
movement afoot in America and Canada to remove the word “God” from our national
anthems. More atheists are offended by the use of “God” in anything.
I respect
different religions of our world that stipulate love God and love your
neighbour. I have no respect for self-righteous zealots who lop off peoples’
heads because they don’t follow a religious belief. I have no respect for
people who desecrate artifacts, statues and buildings that were at the
foundation of modern civilizations. Such people are endeavouring to erase
cultures and their history to promote their own beliefs. And no one is stopping
them.
Where has
the respect gone for our diversity? Where has the respect gone for human value?
Atheism is
not a religion; it is a conclusion. While the so-called atheists are trying to
get rid of God, they are opening the door for a god by a different name.
I say to bring non-denominational
prayer back into our schools, then our homes, municipalities and back into our
country. Return the bibles, Koran and religious texts of all faiths. Return to
us the faith of our founders and maybe them a sense of value for human life
will return.
