Church and State

This is not an essay blog, and I don't usually use it to tackle large ideological and philosophical issues. But Pierre Pettigrew's disengenuos and offensive comments regarding the debate on same-sex marriage give me reason to make a slightly philosophical point here.

Asked about plans by church groups in Quebec to launch a campaign against same-sex marriage, Mr. Pettigrew said the government and churches should not get involved in each other's affairs.

"I find that the separation of the Church and the state is one of the most beautiful inventions of modern times."

It is perhaps the greatest modern liberal fiction that the separation of Church and state somehow precludes people with religious convictions from having a political opinion. This is, I would argue, the height of intolerance in the modern western world.

Aside from the obvious point, which is that the separation of Church and state was invented by the religious to protect their religions from state influence and not the other way around, the insanity of this view is easy to see. Religion is a moral code, a system of values, no different than the secularist-socialism that Pettigrew believes in, or from my own philosophical/libertarian beliefs. The whole point of politics is to take as inputs the values of every citizen and to output a world which best reflects the wishes these people have for themselves and their children.

In this process we establish a constitution because it is our belief - all of us - that some things should not be subject to the ebb and flow of majority opinion.

But none of this means that people of faith should not be permitted to participate in the workings of democracy. In essence, Pettigrew and other modern liberals are asserting that only those who share their worldview have any business involving themselves in the decisions that effect their lives. Religious persons, they believe, should be second class citizens, with no right to serve their country or even to speak to its questions. The great Martin Luther King ended his I Have a Dream speech, possibly the greatest expression of tolerance in history, with the words

"Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last."

Pettigrew would have considered his convictions inadmissable.

Canada, like the EU, is pursuing an almost-official policy of serious religious discrimination. This utter insanity must stop, and everyone must acknowledge that all Canadians are inalienably entitled to the full rights of citizenship.

There's a trite but truthful saying: "there's no such thing as reverse-discrimination, it's all discrimination." Apparently there are those in the Liberal Party who need to be reminded of this.

Write Pierre Pettigrew to tell him you are disgusted by his bigotry - he can disagree, but he cannot disenfranchise:

In Parliament:

House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
Telephone: (613) 995-8872
Fax: (613) 995-9926
E-Mail: Pettigrew.P@parl.gc.ca

In his constituency:

200 - 2348 Jean-Talon Street East
Montreal, Quebec
H2E 1V7
Telephone: (514) 593-6020
Fax: (514) 593-6023