The Place of Religion in Government

       Devon Clunis, Winnipeg's new police chief, recently told a Christian magazine that prayer is a "powerful weapon" that he hopes will lead to positive action and community involvement, and help reduce crime in the city. He also spoke at length about how his faith has helped him personally, and said that no matter what is happening in Winnipeg, God is in control. He told the interviewer,

"This is about the health and the welfare, the well-being of our community. I'm not trying to create converts into any particular faith or religious belief system – that's not what this is about. But because I know this [faith] is such an integral part of so many individuals, why would we not engage that in terms of fighting crime and creating a better city for all our citizens?"

       You can watch the interview by clicking here (it is about 15 minutes long).

       As is to be expected in today's society, many strict secularists have called Mr. Clunis's comments inappropriate, postulating that religion is a private matter with no relevance in public settings and something that should definitely not be mentioned by any prominent government official. Unfortunately, some have even reached the conclusion that Mr. Clunis is unfit to be Winnipeg's police chief, merely because he talked about his personal faith and suggested that prayer is beneficial to society.

       Here is what I think. Canada should have a full separation of religion and state, for three main reasons. Firstly, because religious institutions should not be able to dictate government decisions. Secondly, because the government should not be able to dictate the decisions of religious institutions, nor the spiritual decisions of individuals. Thirdly, because every citizen should be able to contribute to society and a person's religious faith should not determine whether or not he or she can hold a position in government.
       That being said, Canada's constitution also guarantees religious freedom and freedom of speech, two basic human rights that are necessary for a country to be free and democratic. Without the freedom to make spiritual decisions for yourself and develop an individual worldview apart from government interference, and without the freedom to express those spiritual beliefs and act according to your own worldview, a nation cannot be a free and democratic country. Because these freedoms are so vital to Canadian society, our government should not proscribe or even discourage its citizens from expressing their religious beliefs (with the exception of hate speech that directly encourages the use of violence against any group or individual, which is incontrovertibly wrong and detrimental to society). Without this freedom to express spiritual beliefs and act upon them, freedom of religion is paralyzed and useless.  Even the citizens of the dystopia depicted in George Orwell's novel 1984 could think as they wished. However, Big Brother forbid his citizens to act out on their beliefs or express them openly, killing the usefulness of their free will.
       I believe wholeheartedly that these freedoms must correlate directly into government as well. Civil servants of all shapes and sizes must be able to determine their own beliefs, act upon those beliefs, and express those beliefs openly, even while on the job. The principle that government officials must "leave their religion at the door" as they begin their job and refuse to discuss matters pertaining to their core beliefs is not only anti-democratic, dangerous, and in violation of human rights, but also next to impossible. You cannot cut a person's mind in half to completely separate their beliefs pertaining to God and their other beliefs (such as those pertaining to politics, government, other people, and their job). A person's core beliefs will influence their job, whether they believe in Christianity, Islam, atheism, agnosticism, or any other worldview. This is especially evident with Mr. Clunis, who says that his Christian faith is foundational to everything he does.
       Furthermore, a democratic government is supposed to represent all of its citizens. For that reason, government departments in Canada try to be racially diverse and include minorities. I see the inclusion of religion as a mere extension of that diversity. Government will never be able to get rid of religion. Our governments should instead embrace religion, realizing that allowing government officials to be religious while on the job is another way of representing their citizens more fully and enabling their officials to serve the public better.

       In conclusion, I think government should be religion-inclusive, not religion-free. Devon Clunis's comments were certainly appropriate, and I will be praying with him for the people of Winnipeg.

Reflecting God

This beautiful picture of a mirror I got from ikea.com!

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. - 2 Corinthians 3:18  NIV

    As a son of God, there are two main things I should do - reflect the Lord's glory, and be transformed into his likeness. I'm like a mirror... sadly, an imperfect mirror. But I'm always striving to be able to reflect God better, by getting rid of the sin and imperfection in my life that gets in the way of God's reflection. Reflecting God (which includes witnessing and missions) and becoming more like God are my two main jobs, which I can only accomplish through God and with his grace and power working in my life.
    But I always forget. I'm always am putting myself first, both consciously, when I blatantly sin, and unconsciously, when I pretend to be doing things for God but my motives are more self-centred. Of course, I can do everything through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13, my baptism verse), but I also cannot "bear good fruit" without Him (John 15:4). This reminds me of a great quote: "Don't try harder, trust God more!" I usually just try harder and try harder, and then get frustrated at myself when I don't achieve all my goals and don't live up to all my expectations. From now on I'll try to just trust God, and let Him transform me, because I know I can't transform myself.
    Which brings me to my final point - humility is very important. It's important because without God I'm nothing, and without humbleness I won't be able to reflect God well. I know that, but often live like it's not true - I often live like I'm number one, not God. Humbleness is not my strong point, but while I merely try to reflect God and become more like Him, hopefully I will improve in my personal humility.

Lost...

    I'm finishing grade eleven, and all my friends are talking about what they're going to do after high school - going to certain universities or Bible colleges, traveling, getting jobs... but I don't have a clue what I'm going to do with my life. I have all these random interests and opportunities, but they're disjointed and I just can't put them together! For example, I want to take Political Science and Law after that (if I can get in). But I also want to go to a Bible college or do something to strengthen my faith and prepare me spiritually for the challenges ahead in life.
    I've always said I want to be a lawyer or politician, but now I'm not sure. Being a lawyer, I imagine, would be rather dull and unimaginative, and politics in Canada is just way too nasty. Maybe I'm wrong; I'm not sure. I have many interests... traveling, reading, writing, skating, serving God, history, politics, ect, ect.
    I find my career opportunities branching off into a couple of completely different paths. I could take Political Science, then go into law and become a lawyer or politician. Or after Political Science I could go into journalism. Or maybe I could just completely skip university, and travel around the world, writing or just working wherever I can. That sounds the most fun, but I've always wanted to become well educated and, well, learned. And where does Bible college or missions fit into any of these...?
    I just feel lost, swimming in a huge sea of choices. Where to go, what to do? I know that God has a plan for my life, and he's going to do great things through me, but in a way that just makes me more scared - what if he leads me to do something I don't like for the rest of my life? I know that sounds silly, but really, it's scary because I don't know what God has in store for me. I know it's good to give God the reigns and just let him take me to where I need to go, but it also makes me feel helpless.
    I guess I just have to stay positive and have faith that God will do what's best for me. I need to relax... every once in a while I tense up mentally and plague myself with
"What ifs?". I'm sure it'll all work out. I'll try to keep Psalm 23 in mind...
    Anyone have any thoughts or ideas? Is Law worth going into? Is journalism hard? Is my dream of traveling the world unrealistic?

Faith does matter!

Randumb Photo

   Faith is everywhere. People put their faith in many things every day. Let's say that Average Joe is going to work one day - he puts his faith in the manufacturer of his car when he's driving - trusting that the car is safe. He has an amount of faith in other drivers on the road, that they're fairly non-terrible drivers. Otherwise he wouldn't drive! His buddy he carpools with, Mr. Normal, puts his faith in Joe by trusting him to drive safely. The road's a dangerous place, but Mr. Normal knows that Joe's a good driver. Many people die in car accidents, but Mr. Normal trusts Joe with his life.

   Average Joe sits down in a chair at work. He doesn't know the company that made the chair or how strong the chair is, but he sits down on it anyways. As you can see, faith is exercised every day. Faith matters very much and faith can also do very much - take for example Matthew 21:21-22. Jesus had just withered up a fig tree, and his disciples were amazed. Jesus told them, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." In the Gospels, many people came to Jesus with faith, and people were healed or even raised from the dead by Jesus just because of their simple faith.

   Not many people with argue with me on these points. People are always saying that faith can accomplish much (i.e. "believe in yourself"). There was even a whole chart-toping song about believing in yourself (think of "I'm not perfect, but I'm still trying," in a whiny voice).

   But our faith needs to be in the right things. Some people decide to believe in themselves, no matter how many times they get it wrong, and fail themselves and others. Some people, atheists, decide to put their faith in science. Hey, science is great - it gave us blogs! But science is also unreliable and has it's limits. If you put your faith in the wrong things, they will fail you. We must make sure we choose the right things to put our faith in!

   Faith is especially important when our eternal destination is at stake. It's easy to have faith in a chair - all that happens if it breaks is that you'll have a sore be-hind. People know that car manufacturers are generally reliable, so they have faith in cars, even though they may die if something goes wrong. But I'm talking about something even more important then when we die. Everyone will live and die - it's just a matter of when. But our eternal destination is the most important thing we could every think about - we'll be stuck there forever. And only One can calm the storm inside our souls. Only One has overcome the gates of Hell.