Reader Asks, “Do We Need a New Religion?”

Pete Fisher
6 hours ago
• Categories: Letter to Editor

Letter to the Editor

A couple of months ago I was thinking about the meaning of Christmas. Of course it is the Christian
celebration of the birth of Jesus.

When a child is born there can be much hope for the helpless, innocent baby to grow up and be successful in life. But what about original sin?

How can such a new person already be a sinner?

Around the same time there was some controversy regarding Christian Heritage month.

There seems to be many people opposed to the idea despite the fact that Christianity is the religion of the
majority of the people who settled here and built our society.

If acknowledging the hardships the previous generations had to endure makes people more aware of how fortune we are now, then what is the harm?

Sort of like Remembrance Day is a time to reflect of the great sacrifices made to make our current life styles possible.

Some residents wrote letters to council providing reasons against Christian Heritage month. One
reason was related to flags.

Do people really get offended to see flags?

Should we get rid of all pride flags because some people might be offended?

Maybe it is acceptable to offend people if they are Christian but not if they are a member of, or support, the pride community.

Who gets the responsibility of deciding which group of people we are allowed to offend?

In one letter there is much comparison between some Christian beliefs and LGBTQ+ values.

Why should LGBTQ+ values be given preference over Christian ones?

If indeed LGBTQ+ values are superior then maybe we need a new religion. Would that be one in which a biological man can state he/she is a woman and compete in women’s sports?

Doesn’t that offend sis women who have dedicated countless hours of practice to be their best only to have it taken from them by a transwoman?

Perhaps this is an example of the rising level of anti-women’s rights that Alyson King mentions.

She didn’t really provide any concrete examples, except that some Christian religions are against abortion.

If we start a new religion we should strive to make it as inclusive as possible.

I think it is important to meet regularly so we have the opportunity to remind ourselves of our values.

Sort of like AA meetings provide on going support for alcoholics.

Perhaps once a week would be appropriate but when?

It should be a time that most people would be able to attend.

Obviously Sunday is a good day but that would exclude all the people working on Sundays.

People like farmers who need to care for animals everyday, health care workers, heavy industry that cannot by shut down like power plants and steel mills.

These are a few examples of people who do important jobs to keep our society running by providing food, energy, and transportation systems that are so necessary.

We really should include them in our religion especially when they also pay taxes from their earnings to
provide the social safety net and government services.

Services like health care and education.

Doctors, nurses and university professors all get paid by taxes.

This really makes it difficult to have a weekly meeting time that would include everybody.

Who gets to decide which people we leave out?

Maybe we should focus more on our values instead of when we will meet.

The question is what is most important to us.

There are lots of examples of very successful people telling us the most important thing in their lives are their own children.

If children are really so important, even more important than careers for some, we should focus on what is best for children.

Due to biology there are a few years that are best for women to have children. Before this the woman and her partner are often too young to provide for the needs of the child.

After a certain age it is more difficult to become pregnant and there is more risk to both the mother and child.

Given these facts it is in the best interest of women to have children in their best child bearing years, if they want to be mothers.

Is this being communicated to young women? Should it be?

From different sources of information, children, in general, are better off with both a loving mother
and father.

If having children is so important to most people, women and men, then they should be focused on finding the right partner.

The best time to find the right partner is likely late teens to mid twenties. This is a time of becoming an adult and increasing maturity.

If people are able to find partners during this time then they can have children together during their best child bearing years.

Unfortunately for women many of them are in college or university where there are more women
than men.

Men are more likely to be working in the trades or heavy industrial jobs like mining.

Men are more likely to be working longer hours doing dirty, dangerous jobs compared to the types of
jobs women do.

Of course some women work in jobs with risks. Nursing is one example of a job that can have long hours and contact with dangerous drug addicts.

All this makes it difficult for women to find suitable men to have children with. During the best years to find a partner some young people are instead trying to find what gender they are.

How did we get so messed up?

There are examples of women, like my good friend, a partner in a major law firm, who have achieved high levels of career success.

She met her husband while completing her law degree.

It has worked out very well for them and their children.

You don’t need to have this type of job to be happy or successful.

Indeed most people will never reach this level because only a small number of people can be at this level in our society.

But there are lots of people who can have very fulfilling lives if they are able to achieve their personal goals.

We need to be sending this message to young people. Maybe they don’t want to have children, that is OK. For many people children are more important than a career.

It is possible to have both. Maybe focusing on one at a time is best.

Getting back to our religion, we need to find a time to meet, the values we want to teach to young
people and to be inclusive as reasonably possible.

Perhaps Christianity isn’t so bad when we look at it that way.

It is far from perfect but of course nothing is. If we learn from past mistakes and improve what we already have then maybe we would be better off.

All major religions already have some version of the rule about treating other people the way you would like to be treated.

Any new religion will most certainly include this rule.

If only we could find a way to get rid of original sin, like pouring holy water over the babies head.

Maybe if instead of thinking babies are sinners we think that baptism is an opportunity to remind
ourselves we are all sinners or at least we could do a little better to help other people.

Maybe we really do need to be reminded of how fortunate we are to live is such relative luxury.

Are you doing anything to help those less well off then you?

Kevin Burt

Cobourg