gordiecanuk

When you're dealing with religious extremis...they're all dingbats, whether Muslim, Jewish or Christian. Moderate members of all faith groups will tell you the "extremists" aren't truly members of their faith group....whichever one it is.

Relgious extremists view intellectuals as the Devil's pawns.

There are a couple Libs and maybe an NDP or two, that'll make the Cons all happy and enable them to say 'it has support from all parties'. But private members bills have a tendency to die in comittee if the PMO so wishes....we'll see if Harper is true to his commitment for once about "this" government. Our next government, if its a Conservative majority I'm sure will place restrictions on access....but only with a majority mandate, and that's a big if.

Which is why we FINALLY put the Liberals under Paul Martin in the opposition benches. Now he's gone from politics, the Liberals had done a good job of putting this country's financial house in order. But under Marin/Chretien the Liberals had been in power too long and had become too corupt.

While I'm sure there's some token NDP and Liberal represenation, I'm equally certain the overwhelming majority of this committee is Conservative.

He is correct about the denition of Catholic, it does me universal...my batismal certificate says I was baptized into the Catholic faith...just not the "Roman" Catholic faith. Stupid adjective anyway, why would you place limitations on something supposedly universal. True Christianity is universal, and you can achieve it without Jesus.

I am Catholic, just not "Roman" Catholic. My Bible includes Gospels the Roman pagans who organized the faith deemed as heresy...Gospels of Timothy, Thomas etc.

I myself am a Christian Mr. C...however I draw on the true faith, that which existed before Rome took it over, corrupted and altered it. Love how a Roman Emperor (Constantine), a pagan decides how the Christian faith should be organized. (Gordie sees a fire burning and brings his gas can

Let's burn all the heathans, or boil 'em in oil...in keeping with RC tradition.

Herr Canada stepped over the line, WAY OVER.

FWIW bush_cheney, I grew up in NJ/NY and Oregon (all blue states, sorry)....I was born in Canada but we moved stateside before I was a year old. So I have a good understanding of the US political system, it has its plusses for sure...but also some minuses. I love the US constitution...imo the greatest political document ever written. I can still recite the preamble from memory (thank you schoolhouse rock). I don't like the attachment of riders to bills...that just bugs me, and I don't like the role $$$ plays in your elections. Ideally I would love to see Canada adopt a more republican model, but that'll never happen...for the same reasons that an Obama like figure could never erupt on our political landscape...we're too resistent to change in this country.

Okay...I can't resist chiming in here. I'll keep it to one issue though, Abortion. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but if I'm hearing Mr. Harper correctly he is telling Canadians that "THIS" government will not be re-opening the debate on abortion. Kewl. The reason I put THIS in brackets is that the answer to me seems cryptic. We just elected our 40th government (I think its the 40th and I don't want to check right now) to parliament, so "this" government won't be touching it....got it. But what about the "NEXT" government? If after the next election, what if the 41st goverment on parliament hill is a Conservative Majority led by Stephen Harper? Would "that" government reopen issues like abortion or same sex marriage?

Okay...I agree with you on something. That a figure of Obama's ilk would have extreme difficulty gaining national prominence given our political culture. Our system doesn't lend itself to populism, even if someone were to gain huge notirity (sp?), he/she would still have to break through the political back rooms with which our parties operate.

Obama wouldn't stand a chance in Canada? You mean to be elected??? What polls were you reading??? Or what were you smoking while reading the polls about Obama's popularity in Canada?

Call nobody God but he who is your father in heaven. Sorry, have so much trouble with contradictions in the NT (and OT too). On top of that, all the stuff in John that doesn't exist in the other 3 gospels....makes me think John's Jesus was different from the one Matthew Mark and Luke were following. I am the way and the light etc etc....MLT, where you guys take off to when he said that? Why'd Johnnie miss that bit about mustard seeds, John was hearing impaired maybe.

When polls indicated 3/4's of Canadians who regularily attend church services support the CPC...that's telling you something right there. "The Base" doesn't just refer to card carrying members of the party. The Liberals have a base too, there's lots of morons in this country who will vote Liberal until their dying breath no matter what they do.

That type of socially regressive agenda is a recipe for electoral disaster for a minority government, and Harper knows it. If he had a majority? Then maybe...early in a mandate. Unless or until that happens he's left to tinker around the fringes.

Rome adopted, amended and regulated the Christian faith...in many ways to Christianity's detriment...and no amount of reformation has been able to expunge some of their mistakes. As Mark Twain once said, "If Jesus were alive today, he wouldn't call himself a Christian".

You're right, there are religious extremists in every camp...not just Christians. They've found their home in the CPC.

Old Reform/Alliance members are not going to accept anyone who isn't a fundamentalist/evangelical Christian, at least I don't think they will. Personally I'd love to see the CHP or some other manifestation of the old Reform party gain some traction. I don't want to see a return to Liberal arrogance, there needs to be a viable alternative to keep them honest. The CPC as currently constructed, with all these Bible thumpers...in the end equation Canadians will wake up and see them for what they are, closed minded and intolerant.

That won't be it...there are too many CPC members in the grassroots who want this addressed now. Harper is smart though, he's not going to follow an ideologically based agenda without a majority mandate, and even then I'm sure he'd be smart enough to deal with stuff like abortion and gay marriage early in a mandate.

I can't believe this got zero attention during the campaign, Conservative icon Rush Limbaugh apparently was playing it for months. I guess a black pastor taking the US to task for its treatment of citizens of colour is more sensational. A black spiritual leader attached to Obama has the nerve to say "God Damn America" because of the way it treats certain of its citizens...ooh, that's big news. A loudmouth Conservative pitbull with a huge audience plays this kind of intolerant crap and it gets ignored....unreal.

Of course, it depends on the interpertation. Some take things literally.

Yeah I know MC, thanks..."its a mystery". I'm reading Angela's Ashes right now.

How does anyone in the name of holy Hannah think they can interpert the Bible anyway??? Even Jesus' own disciples didn't know what he was talking about half the time. "What did He say Pete...the temple would be torn down and rise up on the third day"???? "Oh!!! I get it NOW!!! He was talking about his body being a temple, dang we were all so stupid" Jesus' teachings were spoken using metaphors, and now we've got fundamentalists who want to interpert everything literally. If Jesus was talking about 'his body' when speaking of the temple...just maybe he was speaking about something else when he spoke of the second coming. D'uh...dangerous to argue with religious extremists I know...couldn't resist.