Don't Mess with God

Last week, Wednesday, August 26th, the opening of the B.C. Legislature took place. Prior to the official opening, there was a brief time of prayer for the government and the work it has set for itself.

I heard about this on the CBC Early Edition with Rick Cluff asking if it was appropriate to open the Opening of the Legislature with such a practice? The following day comments poured in.

“This kind of thing should never be allowed”, “Was it warranted?” “I thought it was rather pleasant”, etc. etc. All those for and against weighed in.

As I was listening to this, I realized that this practice had probably been used at every opening of the Legislature for a number of years. This point was borne out later by Rick’s guest the following day who confirmed that opening with a prayer has been the tradition since the first Legislature sat in B.C. I was asking myself why the appropriateness of the practice should suddenly be questioned now? If the Legislature feels that it must appeal to a higher power to guide its path in government decisions and policies, then so be it.

Listener replies were many and varied, the main question being the necessity of separating the church and the state. John Redekop a visiting professor from Trinity Western University assured listeners that there was no constitutional law or legal requirement in Canada to separate church and state. That prerogative was left to our neighbours in the south.

There was also the remark that we all prayed to the same God who not only listens to prayers as rendered on Wednesday, but also sanctions suicide attacks on innocent people. The professor hastened to assure us that the latter was not the God of his faith.

Surely the above is all perception – a faith or collective peoples’ opinion of what their God would have them do, not necessarily what God wants them to do.

What was intoned in prayer to God on Wednesday was something that we British Columbians all hope for, so what is the point of questioning the practice.

Benjamin Disraeli once said, “Never Complain and Never Explain”. What a fantastic piece of advice for all of us.

As the learned professor said, there should be no marginalizing of different faiths. What I say is that we should get on with the business of non-condemnation for those who hold different ideas from the ones we hold. Whether atheist, agnostic, Christian, Jew, Hindi, Muslim, Buddhist and with all due deference to the many other faiths not mentioned, respect other people’s views and religions, go about your own business, but don’t mess with God.