Post 108--"Slowing Up," A Poem by Joe Veltman

The following is a poem written by Joe Veltman, a retired Christian Reformed pastor living in Madison Wisc.  If you’re a senior like him,  you will totally understand this piece. From the tone of the poem, I judge he’s a few years ahead of me, though I, too, have achieved senior status at 78.  If you haven’t yet reached Joe’s stage, well, I pray you will so that you’re looking at your own, perhaps distant but sure, tomorrow. You may thank Joe for helping you understand what’s awaiting you. Note that Joe does not portray a despondent spirit. He just rests in God in a peaceful, relaxed way.  

As the years quicken, I find

I am rushing from slow to slower…

slow of foot, slow of mind,

slow of hand, slow of art.

I’m no longer up to speed.

The fable of the tortoise and the hare

doesn’t really compensate

for the fact that the opposite

of quick

is dead.

Still,

there is restfulness in the notion

of slow food and slow motion,

or not being on the go at all.

Maybe God invented turtles

to remind us

that He is often slow…

slow to anger,

and, to my surprise

…and dismay…

slow to speak.

He needs, I surmise

to keep that pace

to stay with His flock.

But for all that,

God, the first responder,

made the rabbit too.

Quick to listen

and swift to keep His promises,

He holds fast to His word.

Lord, be my pacemaker

that I, neither

hasty, nor slow of heart,

may be quick

to follow.

Enjoy and ponder.

Post 107--Beards--The Whys and Wherefores

I had another topic in mind for this post, but then I chanced upon an article about beards in a Dutch digital newspaper. Why, the question was, do men sport beards?  Since I have had a beard for decades and have had to endure that question time and again, let me clear the air once and for all.  And although I have a long list of subjects literally screaming at me for attention, I’m going to self-indulge today and talk about myself. However, before I get to my own personal reasons, let’s see or hear the explanations of some “authorities.”

The subject is such an earth-shaking one that no one less than the BBC entered the fray. Here’s the reference:

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160418-the-real-reason-men-grow-beards

So, now you can get the real truth on the topic from the highest authority!  On this website you will meet British psychologist Tamsin Saxton who, according to Trouw, that Dutch paper, begins by nixing what is probably the greatest myth, namely that men expect women to be more attracted to bearded men than to the clean shaven type. It does not appear to be true. Instead, beards allegedly play more of a role in competition between males. Both men and women think of the bearded among us as the more dominant and aggressive. Also beards apparently elevate the status of their bearers. Instead of a charmer, we bearded ones consider ourselves more of a dominant fighter, something we allegedly relish

The article mentioned a number of other British researchers of beards. I don’t feel the need to mention them all, but one name strikes me as very humorous, if not hilarious. One who researched British beard fashions between 1842 and 1971 was called—no, I don’t think you guessed it—Nigel Barber! How appropriate is that!

I am utterly surprised that simple personal preference has not been accorded a role in all this discussion. Well, these experts should have called on me. I sport a beard because I happen to like the looks of a beard. Well, not just any beard. A cultured beard, one that is taken care of. The wild kind from your sideburns to your navel I abhor and think ugly, tasteless, whether combed or not. But I have wide tolerance for cultured and looked-after beards, especially when they’re black, which, unfortunately, mine is not. So, that is my main reason for having a beard: I just like the bearded look and dislike the totally clean shaven look.

Closely related to my liking a beard is my theory that God created us with hair both on top of our heads as well as our cheeks and chins to give us a chance to be creative with it. Not merely tolerate your hair and just comb it just to get it out of the way, but to use it as a personal expression of yourself; a statement, if you like. Let it bring out your individual self in a creative way. Be a hairy artist!

I have a healthy self-image, but I have never liked my hair, that is, my top hair, for it is straight and a dull blond. It does not allow me to do anything creative with it. So I had a perm for some years, but that apparently reduced my status among my peers as a “wild guy,” not respectable.  That’s when I discovered that status is important to me, in terms of respect more than pride. Then, when the price kept increasing, I decided to give it up, but I still kind of mourn its loss. As a result, my beard has become more precious to me. My hair just sits there on top, firmly restrained in its rebellious nature by tons of gel and  mouse.

I have three additional reasons for my beard, none of which seem to have surfaced in the research reports. The first is a genuinely pious reason. As a child I used to sit on my mother’s lap as she read from a children’s Bible full of pictures of bearded men—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the rest of them all sported beards. As a child I decided that I would grow a beard when I grew up to look like these holy venerables and get used to the beard world that I would undoubtedly meet in the next life, in Heaven. So, partially to identify with these saints, to honour them; partially to get myself in psychological shape for the next life.

Secondly, I have an underchin. Underchins don’t look very nice. So, I hide mine behind a beard!  Very simple. No one would know about that situation if my dear wife would cease telling people about it! But as she relishes telling people about my underchin, all my friends are aware of it. All my pleas to her to stop that story are of no avail with her!  She just keeps embarrassing me with that story.  By the way, do you recognize any humour in my telling you this underchin story?  I myself originally came up with this story just to be funny, but her many repetitions have taken the fun out of it for me! But for the rest, I love her.

There is a third and last reason for my beard, particularly its shape: a handlebar and a pointed chintuft. It apparently gives me a distinguished look not only but also humorous.  Here the twain meet: status and humour. I have a wild sense of humour and love to make people smile—and that’s what my beard does to people on the street. So many people on the street have negative facial expressions or just none at all, just blank, but my constellation of facial hair brings out the smiles and I love that. 

Never thought I could write 1000 words just on the topic of beards!  Today, I did it!  And I’m not even finished. Could tell you a couple of humorous stories on the subject. Alas, a 1000+ is enough for one day. Hope you enjoyed reading it.  Have a beardy day!

Post 106—Refugees Beating up Canadian Students?

Support Trump?

I’m not sure what’s up with me these days. I wrote about Donald Trump in the previous blog in a somewhat but hesitant positive spirit. I understand Trump has his supporters, but I have never yet met one who admitted to the status of Trump supporters. Here in BC that’s so politically incorrect it takes some courage to go as far as I did, not to say recklessness. Just to prevent any misunderstanding on this score, I am not advocating a vote for him at this point. It partially depends on whom he might run against. But a candidate who would be free from lobbyist pressures would certainly constitute a serious choice for me, all other things being equal, which they are not!

Coyne vs Levant

And here, in this next blog, I am writing about Ezra Levant, a Canadian rebel journalist who operates the online alternative newspaper < TheRebel.media >.  As it takes courage to suggest there could be a lighter side to Trump, so the same for Levant. No one less than Andrew Coyne, a journalist for whom I have the highest respect, berated Levant in no uncertain terms on my birthday, of all things (Vancouver Sun, February 18, 2016, p. B2). He wonders whether Levant should be considered a journalist, but if he is, “he is a stain on the trade.” He peddles “bile.” His writings are characterized by “strange personal vendettas, the recklessness with the facts, the blatant propagandizing, the frequent lawsuits…. It’s inconceivable.” He is “widely despised.”

A Third Rebel

Well, I’m going to take a chance on Levant, partially because, like both Trump and Levant, I am a rebel at heart. Just ask my almost life-time employer, Christian Reformed World Missions in Grand Rapids, Michigan. (No, I’m not an American!)  But also because the subject is an important one. The strong emphasis on multiculturalism displayed by the two Trudeau Canadian Prime Ministers, I have always felt, ignores the fact that new comers to the country, whether immigrants (of which I am one) or refugees, often bring with them an insistence on their own culture to the disadvantage of Canadian culture. Trudeau Jr.’s accepting 25,000 refugees without due diligence is, I surmise, partially due to discounting the negative cultural impact of some, if not many, new comers. I have a strong feeling that more Muslim new comers insist on giving or even demanding space for their culture/religion than any other. 

All that said, here comes a report from Ezra Levant:

Refugees Beat up Canadian Students in Halifax

Over the weekend, the Halifax Chronicle-Herald published a shocking report that newly arrived Syrian “refugees” at Chebucto Heights Elementary School were beating up Canadian students.

Canadian kids were being bullied, even choked by Muslim students, who made throat-slitting gestures. And the school was hiding all of this from the public, even from parents.

Not surprisingly, the news story went viral. 

But soon the Chronicle-Herald started making changes to their story, taking out key facts. Then they just deleted the story entirely from their website — replacing it with a short note explaining that the subject was too sensitive.

And then this morning, they published yet another alibi, explaining that one of the reasons they took the story down was that “anti-Muslim groups” had been “sharing the article”. So they decided to do what the school had been doing: cover it up.

Even as they admitted that a fourth witness had come forward.

What’s really going on in Halifax? Why are journalists hiding the news instead of reporting it?

Aren’t you curious? 

I sure am. The Chronicle-Herald’s bizarre attempt to un-tell the story says there’s a lot of pressure on them to shut up.

When it comes to Syrian “refugees”, I simply refuse to trust the mainstream media anymore.

So we sent one of our top reporters, Faith Goldy, to Halifax to get the facts directly. Not through the filter of the mainstream media.

Faith and our cameraman arrived late last night, and they got straight to work. Their mission: to find out whatever the truth is, and report it. No censorship. No political correctness.

Click here to watch Faith’s first report from the scene. And answer me this: who do you trust to tell you the truth — Faith, or the politically correct editors of the Halifax Chronicle-Herald?

That’s as far as I will go with Ezra’s story until we hear more, hopefully also from mainstream media. I advise you to keep your eye on this story yourself from both media streams. Perhaps the development of this story will decide for me between Coyne and Levant, though I am unlikely to drop Coyne and hopefully will not have to drop Levant either. I find it enlightening to read both “sides of the coin,” with apologies to Coyne for the pun.  

However, as an immigrant kid myself, I can also think of another take on this story. As kids we would get involved in some shenanigans in the neighbourhood that our parents, still steeped in “old country” culture, would never hear or think about. We sometimes lived in totally different worlds from theirs and could get into trouble. The case of these Muslim kids could be as innocent as that, though to the host community it would look like “typical” Muslim stuff and they blew their stack, yelling “There, you see, that’s what happens when you allow Muslims into the country!" At the same time, of course, it did indicate what these kids might have learned in their home culture—and that was not pretty!—that they brought with them into Canada.  

Follow Up 

It’s a few days later since I wrote the above and I have not yet published this post. So, here comes the post along with this follow-up from Levant:

An incredible scoop. But instead of condemning the bullying, the Halifax Regional School Board condemned the newspaper. And instead of following up on the story, other journalists across the country called the Chronicle-Herald “racist” for even talking about it.

So the Chronicle-Herald deleted the story. They didn’t retract it; they didn’t say they got their facts wrong. They just wanted to un-report what they had reported.

Well, that’s not real journalism. That’s propaganda.

So on Sunday night, I flew to Halifax with a cameraman from The Rebel. And we reported the story the old-fashioned way — knocking on doors, making phone calls, showing up at the school, talking to parents, talking to school officials. With no preconceptions: we would follow the facts wherever they led us.

It took us two days, but we got the whole story — and now you can get it,only on The Rebel.

Syrian kids do bully Canadian kids in Halifax — it’s practically a daily occurrence. The school board knows all about it — but they just keep telling the students and teachers to keep quiet. 

It’s the story the Chronicle-Herald tried to tell, before they were silenced — and the story the rest of the mainstream media refuse to tell.

Well, the story needs to be told. And you can watch it right now with your own eyes, in the words of the families who were victimized twice: first by schoolyard bullies, and then again by the school’s cover-up.

Click here to watch a short summary of my investigation. And if you want to see the whole, hour-long documentary, sign up as a premium member, to never miss a minute. 

Well, in terms of length, you got your money's worth today!                                     

Post 105--Trump: On the Lighter Side!

After the heavy subject of Post 104, you deserve something lighter and more pleasant today: Donald Trump! See the last sentence in previous blog—a pun for the lighter side. Did I say “lighter and more pleasant” with respect to Trump?  Yes, I did, as incredible as that may seem to you at this point.  Just read on.

.

Donald Trump Family Interview

This evening I watched the Trump family being interviewed on CNN, not just the old man himself, but also his current (third) wife and four of his adult children, two daughters and two sons, all of them perhaps half-brothers and half-sisters.  Not sure just how they relate to each other, but all of them Donald’s children. They seemed like very nice people, well brought up, well mannered, all good looking and nicely groomed. And that’s in spite of the two divorces in their family, something that, according to marriage and family specialists, should not happen. They should be disturbed people with lots of problems in their lives.

Of course, they may all have been groomed for the event and be on their best behavior, including Donald himself. So, they may have been cleverly prepared for this show of civility. You never know what goes on behind the scene. However, they all seemed pretty genuine, again even including Donald. They all spoke so highly of their father in answer to questions from the floor that they would not have been able to practice on. And Donald, that tough bear of a political campaigner, himself came out as a really friendly and likeable chap. His children all spoke so highly of him in spontaneous unrecited responses to questions. But in spite of all that, the fact of two divorces does throw kind of a shadow on the whole situation, especially on his repeated claim that he has a wonderful family. Nevertheless, the programme was a very pleasant change from Trump the vicious campaigner. He himself explained the reason for showing this different side of him: he was in a friendly environment instead of in the hostility of vicious campaigners who are dishing all sorts of untruths about him. So, at least, he explained.  But perhaps there is a brighter and lighter side to the man. Political campaigns can bring out the worst even in the best!

Certainly there is one thing I accept from him, namely that he is largely free from the pressures of special interest groups and their lobbyists, since he is rich and can act independently. I believe we are all aware of how tied most politicians are in the US—and probably in Canada as well—to these groups and their agents, how unfree they are to vote their conscience and convictions. It would be a refreshing experience to have a US President who is free to do what he sees as the right thing after full consultation with all the stake holders. I would expect him to reign in some of his seemingly atrocious “promises” or threats once in office and after consultations. (The use of quotation marks in this last sentence is significant for grasping its meaning.)

The Lighter Side

A lighter side? Another one? Indeed there is.  There are various skyscrapers in the world associated with the Trump name. Canada has one in Toronto and right now as we speak there is one under construction in downtown Vancouver, my city. It is the second highest building in the city. The outside seems to be completed; the interior is still being worked on.  I wonder about the things architects take into consideration. I know they at least sometimes take the shadow a high building casts over its neighbourhood into consideration, but I wonder about reflections of the sun. We live in downtown, the West End. Between us and the downtown high rises north of us there are a few blocks of lower building and various parks. So we have a wide open view of the city’s sky line.  Some of these buildings reflect the sun right into our apartment, so brightly that we either have to move to another chair or draw the drapes.

At dawn, the sun rises in the east where we cannot see it, but reflects its bright beams onto the windows of high buildings in the north, from where the reflection bounces off right into our apartment.  We can’t even see the sun but it blinds us!  During the evening sunset in the east, the same thing happens, but now from other buildings.  Again, we can’t even see the sun but we have to move to another chair. 

What does that have to do with Trump? Well, I warned you this would be about his lighter side. That new Trump building, more than any other, reflects the morning and evening sun from many of its different floors separately so that our dining area is totally lit up from an invisible sun. If our bathroom door is open, those reflections in the morning totally light up the world map on the wall behind the toilet, while in the evening the reflections are lower and lighten up the toilet itself! When you consider that the sun itself is in a totally different direction and hidden behind a dozen or more high rises, then our bathroom lighting system is the cause for much amused laughter on our part and that of our guests. So, that tiger we see on the TV day after day—at least if you can stand him that long—has after all and indeed his brighter side!  His family showed it during the family interview and we see it every morning and evening.

So, we do wonder whether architects take such reflections into consideration.  Whether we like it or not, we are reminded of Donald Trump every morning and evening. We are grateful that it is that lighter side.

Pun intended! 

Post 104—Admission, Confession and Total Depravity

Behind the Scene

A reviewer of one of my writings wrote that I write as I talk. Well, yes, I guess that is true. Another characteristic of my writing is that I like to converse with you, my readers, about, for example, the reason for my choosing this or that subject. Today’s topic is kind of an ugly one that I do not particularly enjoy dealing with. The subject arose in my mind in the context of my posts of last month on the World Council of Church and its suggestion that religions should “heal” themselves from their “obsession with conversion.” Just how or why today’s subject arose in that context, I do not quite remember. However, it lead me to write the main body of this post. I did not like the subject and so kept postponing publishing it. However, neither do I like to waste time writing stuff I do not publish.  Besides, ugly as it is, it is a very important truth that cannot be ignored if we wish to understand human history in general or today’s current events or even our individual selves And, oh yes, I am very aware of how politically incorrect the subject is, and how insulting to proud secularists, but, then, I am not known for political correctness. So, here, just as I am and just as we all are-- with no further soft kind of apology.

This post should have been written earlier like in post 100, right after 98 and 99.  Other issues intervened so that the flow of thought was broken. So, while I hope you found the intervening posts helpful, please refresh yourself by going back to posts 98 and 99 in order to get into the right mood for this one—if that’s even possible!

First, a confession or admission.  For a moment I was not sure which is the proper term in this context. I really want to go for the latter, since the concept of confession usually includes an element of guilt. What I’m about to admit here is partially due to ignorance, which in turn, was due to incomplete information, but does not involve any sense of guilt, at least not a heavy dose of it. Don’t worry, if there were heavy guilt involved, I would know it, sense it, recognize it, for as a Christian I am very aware of guilt in all I do, for we confess it regularly in our church services, if not in our personal spiritual life.

In fact, my particular version of Christianity subscribes to the teaching of “total depravity.”  Perhaps you recognize this version as the Calvinist or Reformed or Presbyterian, three terms referring to the same tradition. The last century the term “Kuyperian” and related terms have appeared to point to a sub-group within the Calvinist tradition. It is the “brand” to which I subscribe and which sets the tone for this entire blog as well as my website < www.SocialTheology.com >.

So, “total depravity.”  What an awful term, don’t you think? Even though I subscribe to it, I don’t like the term. Even less do I like its awful reality, but reality it is, believe me. No, don’t take my word for it. Just look around you in the world, in fact, all of world history as well as current events, and it faces you everywhere. But it does not mean what it seems to say on the surface. It does not mean that the human race only does evil, not even its most immoral or amoral members.  But it does mean that everything we do, even the very best, has a negative or sinful aspect to it.  It may not be dominant; the good in a particular action may far outshine that negative part, but it is there without exception, even in the life of the most saintly.

The most saintly missionary of the ancient church, the Apostle Paul, cried out that he, of all men, was the most miserable precisely for this reason. And I am quite sure that even Sister Theresa would have been very conscious of that negative side of her life. Saints, the best people in the world, are usually the most aware of this reality in their own lives. And I say this of Sister Theresa, even though she was a Catholic, a church that rejects “total depravity.”  Her Church may reject it; she personally would have been very conscious of it without approving or using that term to describe it. It’s just part of being a saint: To be aware of your own shortcomings, your own selfishness, etc. A saint never feels that she’s arrived, always feels short. ( Not sure I would dare say this about this lovely Saint if she still were living among us. She just might sue me! You never know what lawyers can talk us into!)

The Heidelberg Catechism, one of the most popular creeds of the Reformed churches, teaches that our wills are “so corrupt that we are wholly incapable of doing any good, and inclined to all evil.”  This needs to be taken with a grain of salt.  This creed was coined during the hefty years of the Reformation when both sides were inclined to extremes and often threw out babies with the bathwater.  Once the totally aggravated spirits of Europe simmered down a bit and they came to more moderate opinions, they turned to the more moderate opinion I already mentioned. Yes, we are totally corrupt; that is, we can do nothing perfectly; it is always tainted by sin to some degree. But to claim we “are wholly incapable of doing any good” surely goes too far. Was Gandhi, the Hindu, incapable of any good?  Come on. You can’t take that seriously. He has become a human icon and hero to almost all the world. Even Christian leaders like Martin Luther King followed his lead. Gandhi did a whale of a lot of good. Nevertheless, if one were to dissect his soul and mind, he would find that negative factor called sin in the mix, most likely more than you might have expected!

So what is the admission to which I referred in my opening sentence? The conference I discussed in Posts 98 and 99 was held way back in 2006—a decade ago!  I wrote as if it were a current event. This happened because the source as it came to me was undated and I failed to check that out on the internet, even though I gave you the website of WCC in Post 98.  I did not know and I did not practice due diligence, the very failure of which I accuse Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Now is this an admission or a confession? I chose to characterize it as the former. However, I also admit (or confess?) that this failure skirts confession. I did not know, but I could have and should have known by practicing due diligence.  My failure may not be earth shaking, but it was a failure that should not have happened. Failure of due diligence does have an element of guilt or irresponsibility.

In the meantime, I took you along a diversion to one of the most unpopular and unpleasant teachings of Calvinism—but also one of the most realistic ones. 

The wonder of it all is that it has not turned me into a sour puss or miserably negative person. In fact, I am a cheerful person because the other side of the coin is being born again, something I wrote about in an earlier post, and about being forgiven. That combination takes away all the stress of that negative reality. It is still there, but it is trumped by the reality of the other two. Halleluiah!

Note: I will be away camping at a place north of Langley, BC, on the shore of the Fraser River. I expect to come home next week Wednesday, for the weather woman tells me it will rain on that day. During this period, there will be no new posts. And upon my return, there will be so many emails and other stuff needing my attention that it may be a week before you see a new post. But you never know. If the weather changes unexpectedly, I may return home earlier. So, I invite you to keep checking every couple of days. The next post will be on the lighter side of Trump! I suspect you’ve heard of him? As strange as it may sound to some, you will see that there is a lighter side to him. 

Post 103--The Bible in Abbotsford Public Schools

Bible Belt, Right and Left

Today (March 31 2016) the local CBC news programme featured an item about Bibles in the Public Schools in Abbotsford, a city some 70 km east of Vancouver, nestled in the centre of BC’s so-called “Bible Belt.”  To me, I hasten to add, that is a title of honour even when the BC secular media use it largely with scorn, though I do sometimes cringe at the right-wing orientation of the place. I do not understand how Christians, let alone a Christian community as a whole, can be right wing, even when that is a rather common occurrence in much of North America. Which is not to say, I prefer left wing. In no way. That’s often worse than right. I want Christians to be independent of both of these orientations and just be themselves, be Christian. This means that sometimes they will sound right, at another, left, but usually creatively different and free from both. I am tempted to shout, “The plague on both of your houses!”  But that would neither be very kind nor Christian. Christians don’t wish a plague on anyone.

Bibles in Public Schools

So, what is the issue according to CBC?  The Abbotsford School Board is promoting the distribution of Bibles among its students. These Bibles are offered free of charge by the Gideons, a business people’s organization that distributes free Bible, all over the world, especially in hotels. If you use hotels, you must have seen them tucked away in a drawer.  The Board does not force them on the students. The latter are given consent forms for their parents to sign. The students of those parents who approve are given the Bible in the principal’s office—nothing public; all very private.

Objections to Bibles in Public Schools

Some members of the public are voicing objections. These include notions such as Bibles not having a place in Public Schools or the system should not use up public funds for religious purposes. The Bible may be free, but the progamme’s administration takes time and money, public time and money. According to the programme’s anchor,  Andrew Chen, the complaint was initially delivered by the Humanist Association. 

Secular "Neutrality"

These objections are exactly what I expected, for they are the classic reaction of secular minds to religion; in BC, especially to the Christian religion. The general attitude is that to be neutral one must leave religion out of public affairs, including education. To be neutral means, well, simply to be secular!  And to be secular means to exclude religion, exclude belief systems. 

Secularism Just Another Belief System

The problem is, of course, that secularism itself is a belief system that is based on a view of reason that constitutes faith in reason’s ability to know all and to fix all. The truth of that has never been proved but is simply accepted as “common sense” that is beyond questioning or doubt. So, when secularists want to push out what they consider religion, we really have a case of one belief system (secularism) ousting other belief systems. It would be exactly the same if Roman Catholics or any other faith system were to demand the ouster of all others, including secularism. The Humanist Association is actually demanding the status of establishment state religion at the expense of every one else, something that, I would have thought, our insistence today on pluralism would never even allow us to think about.   

Secular Establishment

Pluralism leaves room for everyone and resists any group seeking establishment rights and privileges. Unfortunately, the earlier Anglican establishment of BC has been replaced by a Secular one with many government privileges, especially in the educational sector. Secular says: Everyone clear the deck; we take over. We are the only rational neutral people around!  What a myth. What blindness.  The blindness? Inability and/or refusal to recognize their own faith-based orientation towards autonomous reason. Every religion in BC, to the best of my knowledge, is open about its being based on faith. It is only the Secular faith that will or cannot acknowledge its base. It is simply blind to it. Closed minded. It is caught in a narrow tunnel vision.

Poser--An Exceptional Pluralistic Humanist

However, not all Humanists think this way. I was once member of a multi-faith group that included three Humanists, one of whom was a former leader of the Vancouver Humanist Association, the late Ernest Poser. In fact, he was the founder of this group and Chairman till he became terminally ill. His idea was to encourage the teaching about all major worldviews in BC’s public schools, including Humanism!  Not proselytism or “evangelism,” but to help students understand each other and, later in their adult years, as neighbours. Why do my neighbours behave as they do? The answer is often found in religion. So, Poser reasoned, let’s teach that stuff in the public schools to enhance mutual understanding among the citizenry. However, he did admit that he did not find much support among his fellow Humanists, but still enough for them to provide our low-level budget for a few years, however grudgingly. Poser and I became very close friends; I loved him dearly, though we deeply disagreed with each other.

My All-inclusive Pluralistic Solution

My solution to the Abbotsford “crisis” is, like Poser’s, not to ban religion from the schools. That’s impossible; it is already there in the form of Secularism. And Secularism occupies all the space,  every square inch,  to indoctrinate students in its worldview. That space needs to be shared with everyone—Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims, Humanists, Atheists, Animists, etc. That’s the only way to be pluralistic, but it will require Secularists to open their eyes to their own belief system and admit it for what it is. Of all the religions, they are probably the most blind to themselves.