Dear Editor,
I have to disagree with some of Stephen Ross‘s comments regarding imposing one’s “beliefs” on others. The problem for me is what Stephen thinks of as a “belief” I consider a right/rule or law. Canada along with most western democracies was built on the basis of certain inalienable and presumably unalterable rights or rules. One of those rules was “You shall not kill.”
I understand that the so called “progressive left” does not believe in rules or laws that are “Chiselled in Stone”. Unfortunately the fact that the majority does not agree with a certain fact does not alter the fact. For hundreds of years Americans believed dark skinned people were inferior to white skinned people. The fact that the majority believed this to be true did not make it true. In the 1930s in Germany the majority believed Jews should be sent to concentration camps and killed. Again the majority was wrong. Today in Canada the majority appears to believe killing unborn children or people with certain infirmities is an exception to the rule that “you shall not kill.”
I agree that I should not impose my beliefs on others, but I also believe I have a duty to inform and educate those that are wrong even when they are in the majority. I believe all Canadians know killing is wrong. The problem is the majority seems to have decided that in cases of convenience for an expectant mother or a person with a select category of medical aliment, we can abdicate our collective responsibility and let the individual kill their child or themselves.
I don’t really think not killing people is “ultra conservative” as Stephen implies. I have many beliefs that I would never attempt to impose on others, but when it comes to not killing; that is not a belief it is a rule that should not be broken.
David Nielsen, Walnut Grove
