From Frank de Jong, Leader, Green Party of Ontario re: the LORD'S PRAYER in Ontario Legislature:
JUNE 16, 2008. The practice of reciting the Lord's Prayer at the opening of Legislative sessions at Queen's Park is an anachronism that should join the other discriminatory practices that have been abolished in Ontario.
I attended the opening of the provincial Legislature last autumn and couldn't believe my ears when we were all asked to rise and recite the Lord's Prayer. I felt ridiculous and embarrassed for the non-Christians present.
Ontario is a proudly pluralistic, multi-racial province that is home to people of many religions and of no religion. Our governments take every opportunity to brag about how we value diversity, how welcoming we are to immigrants, and how we respect their traditions.
So why do our politicians make a point of celebrating multiculturalism everywhere - especially when there's a photo op - but in our provincial Legislature? The recitation of a prayer identified with only one religious group is contradictory at best and hostile at worst.
The argument that the Lord's Prayer be maintained for the sake of tradition is thin gruel. Outdated, exclusionary traditions should be dropped and replaced - just as many of them already have been.
Public schools ended the tradition of reciting the Lord's Prayer about 30 years ago, when it became obvious that non-Christian and non-religious students were being discriminated against. Unfortunately, Ontario has yet to end public funding of Catholic schools, another discriminatory tradition.
Ontario adheres to progressive human rights thinking. It is government policy not to discriminate on the basis of religion, race, tradition or sexual orientation. Yet people of non-Christian traditions are made to feel unwelcome in the very place that enshrined those rights.
The Lord's Prayer should be replaced with a contemplative poem or reading that reflects all of Ontario's citizens. We can surely find inspirational words that celebrate our province's history, geography, biodiversity and people, that honour our aboriginal founders and the immigrants who have followed, and that remind us how, together, we can build a just society in balance with nature.
March 13, 2008: Now, what are we going to do to support and catch up with the Canadians - of course you all know that I grew up in London, Ontario Canada! Surely we can keep this going on a role for the next year and a half for Darwin's bicentennial! I like the way that they have tied Darwin 's work with the philosophy of Humanism!!!
Darwin Day Celebration; The International Recognition of Darwin, Science and Humanity!
Bob Stephens
* Dr. Robert “Bob” Stephens initiated the first Darwin Day celebration in 1995 at Stanford University. Since then he has worked to spread the idea of celebrating science and humanity. He is now the Chairman of the Board and President of the nonprofit corporation, www.DarwinDay.org dedicated to celebrating Darwin Day worldwide.