Let me make myself clear...

I feel I must reiterate or make clear my points that I have not yet made perfectly clear to some. I DO NOT hate or wish to incite hatred towards anyone, whether they be religious or not. I DO NOT anywhere claim to be unbiased and uncritical, so therefore it should not be a shock to anyone reading this blog that I have a certain view. I find it problematic that religion, on the basis of being religion so often is placed above national and legal authority. So far one of the best texts I have found relating this problem in a Canadian context is Uneasy Partners: Canada and Multiculturalism. The first writer, Janice Gross Stein, admits to being a Jew but still finds problems with her own synagogue which systematically discriminates against women. She says that most religious institutions are considered "private" and as such are not subject to the Rights and Freedoms which are guaranteed to ALL Canadian citizens. She then points out, however, that most religious establishments do not need to pay property tax and also receive charity status for tax purposes. Therefore, while one could argue that the place is funded by the public, one could also say that they are able to so easily receive funding because the people donating receive compensation from the government, and therefore the institution is not so private.

It is obvious what my views are on religion but please note I am not making any statements about the existence of any god or gods; I do not claim to be all-knowing about existential matters, I merely want to point out human issues that are obvious to anyone looking at these religions critically. Institutions that force women to sit at the back of a room, or exclude them from a job on the basis of being female are considered discriminatory and should be considered so without exception.

Here are my main issues:

- Catholic schools are funded by the government in Ontario (one of the few, if only, Canadian provinces with this benefit)... Why should this be allowed?
- Many religions discriminate against women, gays, and even people of other religions, and are allowed to do this on the basis of freedom of religion. I do not believe that freedom of religion should be taken away, but rather equality freedoms be placed above it.
- Many religious institutions are exempt from certain taxes and can even receive charity status to more easily fund themselves. I do not deny that many religious groups are part of charities which benefit people in Canada and around the world, but I also feel this is an insult to humanity that we must claim we need religion to do "good." I also acknowledge that many of these institutes function as community centres, but other community centres which do not claim religious affiliation do not get to benefit also from this privilege.
- While we are guaranteed freedom of religion, the very document this comes from states there is some form of a god. I do not wish this to be changed to "there is no god", but rather omit this mention or tie it back to a more humanist and earthly inspiration.
- I also wish to bring to light the fact that there are many horrific (and I do use that word purposely despite the suggestion I avoid opinionated adjectives, because this is my opinion) passages in the Christian Bible. Such passages include the stoning of rape victims, the stoning of disobedient sons, the "dashing" of babies' heads against rocks, to just name a few. Obviously and with good reason, from what I can see, Canadian Christian churches today do not follow such laws, yet claim they must follow the other sexist and homophobic laws because the Bible is "divinely inspired". If human reason can oppose the examples I gave, to the extent that the Church no longer preaches them, why then cannot it be applied to other laws as well?

I will repeat: I am not arguing for forced atheism or punishment for belief, but rather an emphasis of value on equality rights. There are too many times where hate speech is tolerated against homosexuals because it is the "Church" saying it. There are too many times where women are denied jobs within their own church, synagogue or mosque because of the religion. It is problematic that many religious "values" contradict rights and freedoms.

Perhaps I went a bit off topic with the last post so let me please tie it into the issues. I will admit I wrote it on very little sleep and should have put it through an editing process. I did not realize that people reading my blog would be shocked that I have an opinion and am not approaching this completely unbiased. Nowhere do I claim this virtue. I was expressing an opinion. It was not a xenophobic or hateful opinion against the women fighting UPS; I was upset that once again, religion seems to trump other laws on the basis of being religion. It seemed rather hypocritical that these women were claiming they were discriminated against for being female, when their very religion does this. I do not mean that UPS has a right to be sexist, not at all.

Once again, I do not hate religious people, nor do I wish to incite hatred against them. The goal of this blog is to bring up events and concepts which I (I personally, I with an opinion) find problem with. Nowhere do I claim to hold divine power or to be all-knowing. I am a concerned citizen, that is all. I am not naive enough to actually believe that my opinion is the only "right" one, or the only one for that matter. I truly do appreciate feedback, but it also saddens me what some people are taking away from what I am saying.