This is an issue that has recently popped up in the media in Ontario. The situation is whether to remove the Lord's Prayer from the opening sessions of the Ontario Legislature. There are many parts of our society where we permit religion. These include public places, businesses and recreation areas. There are also a few places where religion shouldn't be permitted, including places of law and places of politics. It is that reason why we don't allow for Islamic, Jewish, or any other religious law, when there is the law we have in place now, which does its best to be as inclusive as possible.
This case is no different. Back in the founding days, the province and the legislature were dominated by Christians. That has changed radically over the years, with people of all religious and racial back rounds move into Ontario. So now we should do our best to change how we do politics in the Legislature to reflect the population change.
So far, a few other provinces in Canada have decided to make this change, one example including British Columbia (BC) where they have a moment of silence in which everyone can reflect or prayer before the days activities.
Many of the Members of Provincial Parliament are non-Christian. So how inclusive are we if we have a prayer that might be separate from theirs? If we take out the prayer, we are not going down a moral slide, we are climbing up the inclusiveness ladder and we allow more people to feel welcome.
Yes, the founding fathers may have been Christian, but why have the one prayer in the Legislature? We wouldn't be destroying anything if we remove the prayer, instead what we are doing is creating an equal environment.
If we want to discuss who or what came first, maybe we should be praying to the Great Spirit of many Aboriginal faiths, which was present before the settlers came along.
What would happen if the majority population became Muslims or Jews over time, would we replace the Lord's Prayer with something else?
No.
Regardless of the past, this is the present and things have changed. We need to adapt to allow for everyone to have a say, not just the say of those from the past.