Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!apple!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: coatta@cs.ubc.ca (Terry Coatta) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Church and State Message-ID: Date: 4 Sep 90 06:19:20 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Lines: 42 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu John DiMarco writes: > If, by your "legislating the existence of God" comment, you > mean *recognizing* the existence of God, then your statement is correct. Yes, this was the intention of my statement. > And Canada has a law which recognizes the existence (and even the > *supremacy* of God): > > Whereas Canada is founded upon the principles that recognize the > supremacy of God and the rule of law... > (the very first line of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, > Constitution Act, 1982). And I don't believe that should be part of our constitution either. > Why, then, should the laws of Canada not recognize the personhood of the > unborn child? Or any other Christian principle that the democratic citizens > of this nation choose to require that the laws recognize? Because such laws disenfranchise those who are not Christian. If we lived in a society where being Christian were a requirement of membership in society, I would have no quarrel with your position. But Canada claims to be a pluralistic society. We do not insist on unity of belief. Yet the implication of that first line of our constitution (or of creating laws whose sole justification lies in Christian ethics) is at odds with this. It is an affront to anyone who is not Christian because it asserts that there are two distinct classes of people in Canada -- those who are Christian (and establish the framework of society) and those who are not (and have a Christian framework forced upon them). Your duty as a Christian is not to go about making laws which force people to act in a manner consistent with Christian ethics -- rather it is to bring Christ to people so that they will, of their own free will, act as Christians. God did not give people free will in order that you or I should take it away. Terry Coatta (coatta@cs.ubc.ca) Dept. of Computer Science, UBC, Vancouver BC, Canada `What I lack in intelligence, I more than compensate for with stupidity'