“Make Love, Not War” Canadian Society Needs Some Navel Gazing.

My publisher, editor and long time good friend John Gardiner has got it right.  When talking about some of the lofty issues of the day, I have often seen him quoted and heard him say, “Make love, not war.”  In the tradition of the 1960’s that saying still resonates today.

In our 2007 hypersensitive media world it would seem everybody should take a Valium, oh wait a minute, some of us should take a Viagra and make love not war.  Media reports over the past week of the CRTC coming down on the Miracle channel over fundraising and Herouxville Quebec’s immigrant policies shed new light of what drives our society in 2007.

In Quebec over the past week its all been about a small town with very big rules involving potential newcomers.  The policy, which was partially published on the town’s web site, was taken from a CBC account.

“We wish to inform these new arrivals that the way of life which they abandoned when they left their countries of origin cannot be recreated here,” the declaration reads.
“We consider it completely outside norms to… kill women by stoning them in public, burning them alive, burning them with acid, circumcising them etc.” Unquote.
In the Canada and Quebec of 2007 it was pretty repudiating stuff.  Since the quiet revolution of the 1960’s Quebec has moved toward being a secular society.  It is not that religion is not present in Quebec; it is only that greater society will be governed secularly, outside any influence of religion.  Church attendance has plummeted in Quebec since that time.  Many Quebecers think of themselves as not only colour blind, but religion blind too.

So along comes Herouxville with its bizarre declaration.  It happened at a time when Quebec is engaged in a public debate about how secular Quebec should embrace new immigrants who don’t reflect Quebec’s secularism.  The national media pounced on the story.  Last heard, a couple of Muslim Canadian groups are filing a human rights complaint over Herouxville.

Of course none of this needed to happen.  However, in our hyper sensitive world there is no embargo on stupidity.  Everybody needs to take some responsibility for the hype.

That takes me to the Alberta based “Miracle Channel.”  Last week the CRTC came down on them saying they could lose their broadcast license in the future if they don’t change what they say about “asking for money” over the airways.  The controversy came about because some hosts of a 2004 fundraising campaign had urged viewers to cash in RRSP’s and charge up credit cards.  They were also attributed to have said God might reward viewers with higher real estate values.

Now that’s pretty preposterous stuff, more stupid than anything else.  Of course the media pounced on it, portraying the Miracle Channel, which has plans to expand over the air broadcasting to Edmonton and Calgary as some wild-eyed rubes.  At the end of the day, the CRTC and the Miracle Channel came to terms.

Now a lot more people are aware of the Miracle Channel.  Whether they wanted that or not I don’t know.  However, I don’t think major media outlets would be as busy about something on the Outdoor Life Channel or the Golf Channel.  What evangelical Christians should do is embrace secularism in our society.  That effectively guarantees their religious freedom.  However not everybody agrees with that so there is always some debate within society about religion’s public role.  Unfortunately for the Miracle Channel, they got a taste of it last week.

The same could be said about Herouxville.  Of course I’ve never been there, but now I sure know where it is.  The whole country does.  Last weekend the CBC led off some of their newscasts with a visit of several Muslim women who were traveling to Herouxville in an obvious attempt to publicize the town’s policy.  The resultant media event was splashed all over the Quebec media.

And it’s all to do about nothing.  No, I’m not saying there aren’t issues here.  There are.  However let’s put it in perspective.  We live in a society for the most part, which is open and free, where everyone is guaranteed equal protection under the law.  It’s a wonderful place, a bit cold at times maybe, but a wonderful place for all peoples compared to some other parts of this world.

The moral of the story is to, you guessed it.  Let’s make love, not war.  We spend too much time in this country worrying about things, which shouldn’t be on our radar screen.  So let’s celebrate Valentine’s week.  Let’s all get busy.