Christianity can handle it
Oh boy! Another Christmas, another round of "won't someone think of the Christians" moral catastrophizing from the brave, stalwart folks out on the front lines, standing up to the "PC police" (Letters & Comments, December 19). Those darn PC police, they're everywhere! Why, just the other day I had my head cracked in by one of their tolerance squads! When will the insanity end?! How much proud Christian blood must be spilled in this ghastly and interminable War On Christmas?!
News flash, for all of you brave, right-wing, 1984-citin' resistance fighters out there: Nobody but you uses the term "politically correct" anymore. The "PC attitude" you've been railing against for three decades now is nothing but a code-word, a straw man you guys use to make yourselves feel more justified in opposing the idea that everyone is deserving of respect. To make it seem like you're fighting against some nefarious enemy, rather than just jealously and desperately clinging to the unfair privileges that you have historically enjoyed at the expense of marginalized groups.
Saying "happy holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" is not going to be the death knell of Christianity. Fun fact: Canada's population is over 67 percent Christian. The other religions--- whose insidiously timed non-Christmas holidays are apparently shaking the foundations of Christianity to their core, threatening the very liberty of embattled Christians everywhere with the absurd request that they be tolerated in society--- make up less than nine percent, combined.
Your (and my) religion not only encompasses the majority of our citizens, but is so deeply built into our governments that a lot of people actually thought it was fair for the PLQ to consider banning schoolteachers from wearing hijabs, while having absolutely no problem swearing in ministers on a Bible while a gigantic crucifix hangs over their heads.
The point being: our religion is going to be just fine. "Happy holidays" isn't going to do a damn thing to undo the omnipresence of Christianity in Canadian society. As a scholar of ancient Christianity, I know that it is a religion born in hardship and persecution, and that's a reality that is borne out by its scripture. But we're not living in first-century Palestine here, and if you will kindly take your damned eyes away from that book for a moment and look around at the society you actually live in, you might realize that, here and now, this is a battle that's been won. Congratulations.
Now harden the hell up, wipe away your tears, and be a Christian. Christianity is supposed to be difficult, mainly because it's not supposed to be about you, and what you want. Stop your childish whining about how you only have most of the power instead of all of it, stop crying "Christian persecution!" anytime anybody tries to include the disenfranchised, and just generally start giving a damn about your neighbour already. Not because it's "PC," but because Jesus said so. —Dominic Lacasse, Halifax
City fail
Please please RESCIND THE MOTION TO INSTITUTE SIDEWALK CLEARING BY HRM! Give the job back to the property owners who know how to do it right! At the very least, give property owners the job of salting.
I told my councillor, Jennifer Watts, my concerns when this issue first came up, and I was right. It took me 20 minutes to walk three blocks yesterday, and that was with grippers on my boots and two steel-tipped walking sticks. Who exactly wanted this? Why doesn't this city conduct plebiscites on matters that affect every single person in a district?
I would still like to hear a reasonable explanation as to why salt spreaders cannot be attached to the back of the bobcats. That would save a lot of time, money and aggravation.
I want a reply from the mayor and other councillors on this. I and all the seniors and disabled people in old Halifax want to know why HRM policy is holding them hostage in their homes. —Janet Brush, via email
