tonykeene
New Member
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First of all I'd really like to comment on the cordial and courteous nature of all these posts. This was not the case 18 years ago when I logged on here and commented on the issue of Lt(N) Scott who was court-martialled for keeping his lid on during prayers.
Both he and I were subjected to a lot of snark, to say the least. But times and people and circumstances do change, and we are witness to that.
Some of the comments here are about things like smudging ceremonies. Great. These are a perfect example of what I meant earlier by bottom-up religious events. The Aborginal members ask for it, and the CO and padre provide support and assistance. The entire unit is not praded for it under command.
Similarly, one of my colleagues in Public Affairs one day got together with some like-minded members, and held a session in one of the conference rooms at NDHQ for giving witness, which is an evangelical Christian tradition. Again, help was provided by a chaplain, and the various members' bosses gave them the time to go and take part.
Nothing I have said here is about preventing people from performing religious rituals or ceremonies. It is about ending top-down command directed religion, such as prayer on parade, at the opening of buildings, change of command etc. Once you are on parade you are a captive audience; there should be nothing done or said that in any way excludes you because of your race, religion or gender, or any of the other grounds we now recognize.
Then there is Remembrance Day (We might also include here Battle of Britain and Battle of the Atlantic), which in Ottawa for the past three years, I think, has involved only the Chaplain-General speaking about sacrifice and service, and inviting people to reflect according to their conscience.
Oh how I wish it were so elsewhere. In the city near where I live every single one of these events is an all-out Christian tent revival. They go from opening prayers to blessings, to joint recital of The Lord's Prayer, to blessing of the wreaths followed by the Book of John and on and on and on.
And yet this is a very diverse community. There are turbans and hijabs visible on parade, and the crowd also contains women in shalwar kameez etc.
I've given up, after a decade of trying to talk the Legion into at least acknowledging diversity and making some kind of invitational statement. I wonder why someone from the nearby base, or the hometown reserve unit, hasn't said something to them about it.
They remain deadpan adamantly opposed. And yet they wonder why today's veterans don't join them.
Here's something to think about. We who are retired depend on the Legion for help in dealing with VAC. I myself have used this, and I'm very grateful. The Legion has done great service to veterans for almost 100 years.
But it is failing, at a rate of about 10,000 members per year. It is almost entirely white, male dominated and comes down somewhere to the far right of Archie Bunker. There are 250,000 members, and only about 55,000 in the category that includes veterans. Yet this group also includes Coast Guard and all police services.
I've been tracking the numbers for 30 years. They are losing at least 10,000 per year, on average, and the gap between veterans and the others is widening.
Yet they remain adamant in their defence of Christian religion on any and all occasions, and it seems as if the racist incidents are increasing too. And not to make too much of it, their Vera Lynn and Brussel Sprouts view of our military history.
How long can it last?
Both he and I were subjected to a lot of snark, to say the least. But times and people and circumstances do change, and we are witness to that.
Some of the comments here are about things like smudging ceremonies. Great. These are a perfect example of what I meant earlier by bottom-up religious events. The Aborginal members ask for it, and the CO and padre provide support and assistance. The entire unit is not praded for it under command.
Similarly, one of my colleagues in Public Affairs one day got together with some like-minded members, and held a session in one of the conference rooms at NDHQ for giving witness, which is an evangelical Christian tradition. Again, help was provided by a chaplain, and the various members' bosses gave them the time to go and take part.
Nothing I have said here is about preventing people from performing religious rituals or ceremonies. It is about ending top-down command directed religion, such as prayer on parade, at the opening of buildings, change of command etc. Once you are on parade you are a captive audience; there should be nothing done or said that in any way excludes you because of your race, religion or gender, or any of the other grounds we now recognize.
Then there is Remembrance Day (We might also include here Battle of Britain and Battle of the Atlantic), which in Ottawa for the past three years, I think, has involved only the Chaplain-General speaking about sacrifice and service, and inviting people to reflect according to their conscience.
Oh how I wish it were so elsewhere. In the city near where I live every single one of these events is an all-out Christian tent revival. They go from opening prayers to blessings, to joint recital of The Lord's Prayer, to blessing of the wreaths followed by the Book of John and on and on and on.
And yet this is a very diverse community. There are turbans and hijabs visible on parade, and the crowd also contains women in shalwar kameez etc.
I've given up, after a decade of trying to talk the Legion into at least acknowledging diversity and making some kind of invitational statement. I wonder why someone from the nearby base, or the hometown reserve unit, hasn't said something to them about it.
They remain deadpan adamantly opposed. And yet they wonder why today's veterans don't join them.
Here's something to think about. We who are retired depend on the Legion for help in dealing with VAC. I myself have used this, and I'm very grateful. The Legion has done great service to veterans for almost 100 years.
But it is failing, at a rate of about 10,000 members per year. It is almost entirely white, male dominated and comes down somewhere to the far right of Archie Bunker. There are 250,000 members, and only about 55,000 in the category that includes veterans. Yet this group also includes Coast Guard and all police services.
I've been tracking the numbers for 30 years. They are losing at least 10,000 per year, on average, and the gap between veterans and the others is widening.
Yet they remain adamant in their defence of Christian religion on any and all occasions, and it seems as if the racist incidents are increasing too. And not to make too much of it, their Vera Lynn and Brussel Sprouts view of our military history.
How long can it last?
