The religious left in Canada (1) / La gauche religieuse au Canada (1)

[somewhatlongdong]

I would prefer that religious dicussions were left out of the NDP.

[hecdc]

@somewhatlongdong the NDP accomodates marxist discussions, gender discussions, ethnic rights discussions and religious discussions.

The fanaticism of the racist right or atheist left to exclude all religious beliefs in a stubborn, militant way has no place in the New Democrat Party.

Tommy Douglas was a Christian preacher, the CCF, the old NDP was founded and supported by the Christian left in western Canada. Thats the history and identity of the NDP, if you don't like it leave.

[somewhatlongdong]

@hecdc Your strident and rude response to my one sentence is proof that the least tolerant people are those who subscribe to religious beliefs.

[hecdc]

@somewhatlongdong Interesting that you saw what I described as fanatic secularism as being aimed at you.

Name-calling does not help you either, the Faith and Social Justice Commission of the NDP enjoys the support of the overwhelming majority of members, and is the spring-board of faith-based support for Social Democratic politics in Canada.

And talking of intolerance, maybe you yourself should tolerate more.

[littlegrandad]

looking forward to many more! well done..

[sikhcanadian]

Well done on the video. There are those who come to their politics on the left through the labour movement, women's rights movement, among others. To show that there is a place for those who come to their politics by way of their faith is important and I appreciate all of the work that went into making the video.

[jamesgeraldroyal]

@sikhcanadian No one ever said that people who come to politics through their faith have no place. How you come to politics is mostly irrelevant to everyone but yourself. The issue for me is whether faith is a useful tool for political discourse; I say it is not, because faith is not rooted in reason and evidence.

[Wanderor2003]

@lazlopink I agree, but that is not the point. The idea here is that PEOPLE have all kinds of beliefs and faiths, and it is absurd that some communities have managed to show religion, mostly Christianity, as related to right-wing ideas and politics. It is especially absurd if you look at the example of Christianity which should logically be based on what Jesus said and did. In any case, the fact is people in political parties and elsewhere have beliefs of various forms (let's not lie about it).

[jamesgeraldroyal]

@Wanderor2003 "it is absurd that some communities have managed to show religion… as related to right-wing ideas and politics." I don't see that ever changing. Fundagelicals have such a powerful sense of their own rightness that they perceive both liberal religion and secularism as equal threats. If liberal religionists try to compete on their level, they'll lose — simply because they are not as wildly driven. The only way is to keep the mixing of religion and politics as socially unacceptable.

[Wanderor2003]

@jamesgeraldroyal Fundagelicals :P I like it! Seriously, you make a very convincing point. Logically then, more rational and progressive people of faith should fight back on the religious level rather than on the political level. I mean, really, the way the right-wing portrays the concept of god is an insult to both our intelligence and to what god represents (i.e. the universe); not that an all-encompassing cosmic force can really be insulted :o) ...

[Wanderor2003]

Part II - In any case, you may have convinced me here that trying to fight the attribution of conservative norms to some spiritual force with the attribution of progressive values to some spiritual force may be foolish. Food for thought.

[lazlopink]

the less religion in politics and governance the better

[rg0057]

There certainly is a religious left in Canada. Unfortunately, just like the religious right in Canada, it is frequently happy to trample on the rights of the non-religious.

Hopefully someone will subtitle (or at least Youtube caption) the subsequent videos. In Canada, and in the NDP, not being fluent in the other official language shouldn't be a barrier to understanding.

[jamesgeraldroyal]

Bill Blaikie says that it's a myth that the only connection between religion and politics is on the conservative side of the spectrum. I'm sure he's quite right. But there should be no connection between religion and politics at all. Political arguments should be based on events in the temporal world, else we have no basis for common dialogue. Leave your religion at home and in your church; don't bring it into the legislature.