Recent letter writer Jim Drummond fails to recognize that our democracy was shaped by a value system deeply rooted in religion, thus the preamble to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms reads: Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law.
And our national anthem includes an important line that reads: God keep our land glorious and free.
So religious types don’t need to force their views upon others. They are already well-represented in our noblest of documents.
If an MP wishes to advocate an anti-abortion position through either their personal conscience or as a representative of their constituents’ collective conscience, what right has Justin Trudeau to interfere?
Is he afraid that such fairness might convert others to a different point of view? Is parliament any less a marketplace of ideas, free to express unpopular agendas with passion? If so, they forgot to tell Svend Robinson.
Thankfully in Western democracies, vulnerable minorities are protected from a majority mob mentality that might easily claim slave ownership to be an intensely private affair that only affects the property owner and his property. Outside parties (including government) have no business in these matters, unless we finally recognize that in the case of both slavery and abortion, there is an additional person involved that deserves thoughtful consideration as a human being.
This is, sadly, lost on Justin Trudeau.
John Chambers
Parksville
