Holy Pandering

The skin crawls:

"I really do think the tragedy of our society is actually not there are so many atheists - because atheists often express themselves as generously as non-atheists - it's the fact people don't go to a place of worship every week and get reminded anymore of how important it is that we care," Clark said in her talk.

That was the Premier of British Columbia discussing her Anglican faith. Unlike many atheists I haven't the slightest problem with politicians talking about their religious beliefs. I want to know what makes these people tick and every scrap of information is useful. Political leaders gagging themselves in public leads to real hidden agendas and the juvenile gotcha journalism of the MSM. I wish Left-wing politicians would do the same. A few minutes of Libby Davies discussing the Middle East ought to ensure that Canadian Jews vote Conservative for the next few decades.

Prefacing her comments Premier Clark said that talking about religion is "risky." Please. The Anglican Church, along with the other mainline Protestants churches, are non-threatening to the Canadian Left. The United and Anglican churches espouses political positions not so different from those of the NDP. These churches are basically fellow travellers. They don't raise much of a fuss about gay marriage or abortion. They smile, nod and are eager to prove their progressive credentials. Decades ago it was said that the Anglican Church was the Tory party at prayer. That was a long time ago.

Back in 2000, when Stockwell Day talked about his religious convictions, he was mocked. From Warren Kinsella's Barney doll to the arched eye brows that greeted Day's refusal to campaign on a Sunday, poor old Stock was turned into a Bible thumping fanatic. It's doubtful that Christy Clark will be subjected to the same treatment. Why? Because Clark had the good political sense to remain in the Anglican Church. A full throated evangelical or staunch Catholic would be ripped to shreds by the MSM, unless they kept a low religious profile like Stephen Harper and Jason Kenney.

Talking about religion is politically risky when the religion in question challenges conventional Leftist orthodoxy. The "white religions" - i.e. Christianity and Judaism - are tolerated only so far as they adhere to the Leftist party line. The "non-white religions" - Islam, Hinduism - are given a pass because progressive theology holds that evil emerges into the world only at the behest of old white right wing men. Christy Clark wasn't taking any risk at all. She was trying to simultaneous pander to the Christian Right in British Columbia, not very convincingly, while signalling to the MSM that she will adhere to all the conventional attitudes.

Much like her absurd threat to block the Northern Gateway Pipeline, Christy Clark is so pathetically desperate that she'll say and do just about anything to stay in power. She's Dalton McGuinty in a skirt, if you'll pardon the terrifying visual. When she does move into matters of substance, something the Dalt generally avoided, her concrete political ideas are horrible.

The premier, whose party lags behind the NDP in the run-up to a May election, emphasized she would like to see religious groups, such as the Salvation Army, far more involved in delivering B.C. social services.

Which would be a disaster for everyone involved. Governments financing private charitable organizations, whether religious or secular, is a co-option of civil society. Organizations that feed at the hand of the state eventually become agents of the state. All organizations in time will orient themselves toward their paymasters. The Catholics schools in Ontario have been under government control for generations and are now largely public schools with some minor Catholic regalia. Such "faith-based" initiatives are a threat to our freedom. Civil society must be privately funded and privately run in order to remain strong and viable. A weakened civil society will be unable to hold the government properly to account.

The Premier concludes in a manner typical of the Liberal Party:

"I'm an Anglican. This is what we learn in church. The Bible is not a static document. It's a teaching document. Which is why we debate its contents so vigorously."

Which sounds rather like how American Leftists describe their Constitution. Emanations from the Penumbra and so forth. From intellectual mush such as this we get the political mush that is modern Canadian politics. The voters of British Columbia would do better to search for a new Premier among the potheads of Stanley Park. At least they'd have a good excuse for their incoherence.

Comments

[John Chittick]

In BC, the main difference between the Liberals and NDP is that while they are both leviathan growers/maintainers, when it comes to their attitude toward business, the Liberals can best be characterized as statists with a happy-face while the NDP only know the dour grimace of humourless labour union thuggery and Green Ivy Tower snobbery. Christie is much more fun at at Party.

There aren't enough real conservatives in the province to warrant their own party as they are out-numbered by the 17.5 principled libertarians who will, no doubt run again to satisfy their ongoing unresolved masochism.

The anyone-but-the-NDP coalition which evolved into the tired, mushy, centre-left BC Liberals is now where their Socred predecessors were after the Vanderzalm (former and always liberal) leadership left them - exhausted and ambivalent enough for another round of NDP eco-feminist labour-pandering complete with the obligatory resulting economic carnage.

[nomdeblog]

“Prefacing her comments Premier Clark said that talking about religion is "risky." Please.”

She’s correct and here’s the proof:
“when Stockwell Day talked about his religious convictions, he was mocked”.

“A full throated evangelical or staunch Catholic would be ripped to shreds by the MSM” ...not if that Catholic is a Liberal.

For example the Liberal Party with help from their MSM appendages had hypocritically used fear mongering about religion in a Toronto riding where Liberal Joe Volpe, a Catholic and social conservative, ran against Joe Oliver (the current Energy Minister) and Oliver would be attacked at a door canvassing for his Conservative hidden agenda on social issues. When digging into the matter Joe Oliver could explain to the voter that they had exactly the wrong impression of both candidates.

That is a good example of how cultural/religious matters that drive politics get intertwined and need to be openly discussed well before and during an election so that we can “know what makes these people tick and every scrap of information is useful.”

[Cytotoxic]

Catholicism is the worst. Basically socialism on a cross. They've provided fuel for the Latin American left for decades.

BC: the BC Liberals are evil and can't win. The NDP is going to take it. May as well vote Conservative even though they've basically blown whatever shot they had with their lousy leader.

[Ryan Ludwick]

Just so you realise - every mainstream denomination and religion has its own wings and sects. In Anglicanism, there is the tradition of 'high Church' (Anglo-Catholic in outlook), 'low Church' (more evangelical and socially conservative) and 'broad Church' (which is kind of middle of the road and more socially liberal).

I know there are wings within Catholicism as well. To arbitrarily say that one's denomination is 'socialist' or 'conservative' is bloody nonsense. Some might tend more towards one side, but very few are completely one sided.