Cool Cherry Cream

The assignment I'm currently not doing for Creative Writing is concerning the Lord's Prayer. I've been told that if you follow the news, you certainly have heard about this as of late. It's not that I'm not one for the news, I'm just not one for television. Or maybe I'm just not one for leaving my room.

Apparently at the beginning of each day in Canadian parliament, the Lord's Prayer is recited, and there is/was now a movement to remove this because of Canada's growing multiculturalism — ie, not all Canadians are Christian. Our assignment is to write a replacement "prayer", "speech", "oath", whatever.

I think most of the class, myself included, is confused about the assignment. The teacher showed us an editorial cartoon poking fun at the issue, so that gave us the impression we were supposed to write a satirical take on the prayer. But when a student asked if they could do a parody of "O Canada", she said no, and that makes me think she wants a serious piece of writing.

I have not yet written anything serious in Creative Writing. I'm a comedy writer. I don't usually like writing seriously because then I'm exposing myself and my real beliefs, and so I'm open to ridicule and being wrong.

So there's the part of me that thinks, well, I can't write comedy, that's not the assignment.

But then there's the part of me that thinks, all the great comedy writers before me (see, I'm including myself in that group) would never stand for this! All the great writers period aren't going to be told what to write — they're going to write what they write. And that's why so many of these great artists had low marks in school, because they were told to one thing which was super lame, and they instead chose to do what they believed in.

So, that's why I'm not currently doing the assignment. I'm torn between writing comedy and writing serious.

So, I decide to do a little research on the topic and found some interesting reactions to the issue.

I'm not against multi-culturalism and all it adds to our country, but if you ask me, we, as Canadians, have bent over backwards to accommodate other religions, ethnic groups, cultures, etc. in order not to offend them. When do we draw the line and start standing up for our beliefs and traditions?

My belief is that if you want to come to Canada for a new and better life, maybe you should educate yourself on our traditions, like the Lord's Prayer, without being offended.

Strange. Last I checked, *I* was Canadian. I was born in Canada. My parents were born in Canada. My grandparents were born in Canada. We didn't "come to Canada for a new and better life", we were born here. I think that makes us "Canadian".

And last I checked, I wasn't a Christian.

I know it may come as a shock, but being Christian and being Canadian are two separate things. Christian traditions and Canadian traditions are also two separate things. The Lord's Prayer isn't a Canada thing, it's a Christian thing.

And did you ever stop to think that traditions aren't always right? I'm sure when they decided to stop burning suspected witches, people whined and said "but it's tradition!". Just because something is old doesn't mean it's right. And just because something is old and broken doesn't mean it shouldn't be fixed.

I'm honestly not all that offended by the issue, and though I'd prefer they got rid of the prayer tradition, I wouldn't get my panties all in a bunch if they didn't.

However, if we were still saying the Lord's Prayer in school, that's another issue altogether. Politicians are grown up and they can decide for themselves whether or not they believe in God. Children can't. If children are being taught this in school, they are going to believe it's right and not question it. And while I'm sure that was the whole point of it, it's just plain not right. Besides, children are going to be told what religion to follow by their parents anyway, so just for the hell of it, let's give these kids just a teensy bit of freedom, shall we?

The Bible says, "you shall have no other gods before me" (Exodus 20:3) and Verse 5 says "don't bow to them nor serve them." That means praying to them.

This quote just reminded me of Pete Townshend's "The Boy Who Heard Music" where he referenced this verse, then said something along the lines of: well, if we aren't allowed to worship any other gods, then that implies that they do exist, doesn't it?

This is Canada, this is my country, this is our country, and this is how we do things here. Please be welcome to come here, be welcome to be a part of the "true north, strong and free," but do not tell me that I need to incorporate your god into my government. Your god didn't build this nation, mine did!

This seems to be the common consensus among the opponents of the removal of the Lord's Prayer. If you don't believe in my God, you aren't Canadian. Well, as I said above, I damn well am Canadian, just as much as you are, and I defy you to prove otherwise.