The New World

I posted a news article a while ago about a group of Mennonites who were forced to leave their homes and province because their school’s curriculum did not meet Quebec’s standards…

I just came across another interesting piece in the National Post about a new curriculum being introduced into Quebec schools. It is very ambitious in scope and will be incorporated into students education throughout primary and secondary education.

Here is a link to a video that is basically Quebec gov’n propaganda supporting the curriculum.

I guess it has always been a struggle for me to understand the separation of church and state. If one of the key tasks of the state is to uphold justice and if justice is ultimately rooted in who God is then the idea of separation of church and state is not clear… I think its a legitimate distinction (Luke 20:25) but it’s not black and white.

The church has already been pushed out of any meaningful contribution to public policy but now the gov’n is intruding into what has traditionally been the role of the church. Their message is relativism, the religion of secularism. And… attendance is mandatory. Maybe we could make church attendance mandatory as well!

Trudeau once said that the State has no business intruding into the bedrooms of its citizens… but apparently that is the only place that is off limits.

Anyway, read this article from the NP. I think the writer makes some good points.

Return to faith in what?

People turn to faith in times of trouble but what does that mean exactly?  Here is a little video clip and also a snippet from the article in the Washington Post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2008/12/04/VI2008120401214.html?sid=ST2008120301782

Dave is wary of shamans. Will demons be involved? “I’m a committed Christian,” Dave says. “This is not my world.”
He eyes the crystals, chimes, ostrich feather and beads laid out on a table like surgeon’s tools. “Do I get a lollipop in the end?”
“If you’re good,” Larry says.
“Define good.”
Larry begins by asking Dave to remove his belt, wallet and keys, and to stand, legs spread, prison-style, so that Larry can pass burning sage between Dave’s legs. Dave looks down at Larry kneeling: “Talk about blowing smoke up your . . .”
Larry tells Dave to lie face-up on the bed, on a yellow spread printed with pink flowers. A church bell in the street below chimes 10 a.m. Larry says: “Visualize energy coming from God into your palms. Vibrancy.” Gong. “Health.” Gong. “Peace.” Gong.
Fred sits watching, no longer wondering — “Is this real?” — as he did in the hot tub days. Since then, Fred’s wife was diagnosed with leukemia. In the hospital, Larry performed a healing ritual on her. She went into remission. Now Fred is hoping that Dave will be blessed with remission. Last February, Dave, a father of three, lost a kidney to cancer.
Larry bends over Dave. “You’ve got a double challenge,” he says, “the economic challenge and the health challenge.” Dave has just completed chemotherapy. Shamanism grates against his nature, but if believing in it might cure him, he will try.
“Let your mind float, that this completely crazy wacko visualization could be something real, that it could help your body,” Larry says, drawing Dave into a trance. “Fake it till you make it.”
An hour and a half later, Dave sits up.
While in the trance, Dave had felt Larry brush his face with feathers. “What, did I have a duck on my head?”
Larry pats Dave on the back. “God and the angels, you had the whole gang here,” Larry says. “Drink a lot of liquids today.”
Dave says he’s feeling both strong and shaky. “Back to work,” Dave says, threading his belt through pant loops. “Back to reality.”