<p>Response to: Lord’s Prayer worth keeping </p><p>Originally published on Feb 24th 2008, by: Dow Marmur </p><p>By: Matthew Dugdale, Canadian Secular Alliance </p><p>The article published on Feb 24th, in regards to the Lord Prayer in Queen’s Park was one that makes several points that I feel need to be addressed and refuted. Dow Marmur states that taking the Lords Prayer out is seen as “secular indifference masquerading as religious tolerance”. The sheer ignorance displayed by Marmur is staggering. Perhaps Marmur has simply forgotten that the world’s first major secular nation (the United States) guaranteed no religion in government as well ensuring freedom of religion was given to their citizens during a time of religious persecution in Europe. </p><p>The author goes onto realize that Canada is no longer a Christian country, however this fact should not deter from the fact that the majority of people are Christian so we should keep the lords prayer in Queens Park. I, of course, have problems with this as well. I ask Mr Marmur, in 100 years if the majority of people in Ontario are Muslim, should we switch to reciting texts of the Qur’an? Is it simply based on the majority of the people?</p><p>Mr Marmur, again fails to realize the foundations of our nation. Canada is a liberal democratic society. We believe in the protection of minority rights, if it were simply a case of majority rule every time we would eventually turn into mob rule. If it was simply based on the majority of people, we would have no need for a Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Charter shows the Canada is a place where we understand that we live in a society of many faiths, many cultures, many backgrounds and not one of those is more or less important then another. Therefore we need to keep Queens Park, (and I argue Parliament) free of any religious affiliation to provide the greatest amount of religious freedom. </p><p>The end of the article by Marmur states how the Lord’s Prayer can be applied equally throughout different faiths in order to provide the greatest encompassment. However Mr Marmur needs to understand that there are many people of no faith in Ontario and the rest of Canada. I am an atheist and I am also a member of the Conservative party. History has shown us time and time again that in order to preserve religious freedom our state must be secular and like our Supreme Court, recognize the importance of freedom from religion. </p><p>To sum up, the article written by Dow Marmur is riddled with false accusations, twisted truths and a false understanding of why we need to advocate a more secular nation. My argument is that not only do we need to do away with the Lord’s Prayer in Queens Park; we should get rid of prayer in all legislative bodies throughout Canada. I understand that unlike the US we were founded by very religious people. However we have come to a point where we understand the rights and needs of minority persons, and the more important aspects of running a government free of religious affiliation while at the same time understand the religious diversity we have in this country, which is after all, a good thing! </p>