Oh, Canada - Chapter 10 - Flagging Faith
The death of religion, the decay of commitment to a nation and its traditions, and the breakdown of families mean the removal of the most important foci of particular loyalties that in the past sustained such moral traits as duty, service, sacrifice, loyalty and fortitude. What is left is not an amoral or an immoral society but one that can make only limited moral demands on its members.
The Strange Death of Moral Britain - Christie Davies
"the best political thinkers must affirm "the universality of the Church against the particularity of the city" and display "a skepticism toward every human self–assertion that remains particular." That is, they must defend the republic, civilization, and the Church against barbarism. But at the same time, and no less urgently, they must defend the truth—and thus freedom of thought, the individual, and the Church—against the despotism toward which all nations tend when they resist the influence of the truth of revelation"
The American Republic - Orestes Brownson
I went to the Flag Shop in Vancouver yesterday. I wanted to buy a flag for the flagpole on our dock. With Canada Day approaching, I entered the shop thinking I would buy a Canadian flag. I had it in my hand but I returned it to the rack and left without buying it. I am not certain this was a watershed moment for me as I was able to purchase a BC flag, but I was struck by the rush of feelings that swept over me as I looked at the 72"x 36" red Maple Leaf.
I did not feel as I thought I ought to feel in the presence of my country's flag. I didn't feel patriotic or proud. I felt sad and disappointed and slightly melancholic, I felt a sense of loss.
As hundreds of new Canadians are sworn in as citizens this Canada Day what are the uniquely Canadian traditions and values we expect them to embrace? Are there any moral traits that we Canadians can urge upon our new citizens?
Tolerance and diversity have become the new traditions of Canadians. Politicians, police chiefs, fire chiefs and clergymen now trip over themselves to be seen front and centre in Gay Pride parades.
How many would attend if we organized a Christian Pride Day and paraded down the streets of Toronto and Vancouver on the Feast of Corpus Christi? Would it be the number one news item on CBC Newsworld? Would the major TV stations have reporters lining the streets to interview the participants and the observers? Would the mayor of Toronto proudly announce "we are the the most faithful city in Canada" or does being the Gayest City trump all comers?
More likely we would be criticized, derided and ignored. The media would find some poor misanthrope in our midst and he or she would become the media's poster person. Tolerance has become a one way street in the new Canada and a dead-end one at that.
The rhetoric directed to the new Canadian is abundant. Canada is the envy of the world because of the freedoms we enjoy here we tell them. We parade our new citizens through the streets of our own Potemkin village and point out our universal health care system (while ignoring its brokenness), our unique bilingualism ( while ignoring the rise of Quebec separatist sympathies), our rich aboriginal traditions (while ignoring the lunacy and wastefulness of our paternalistic policy toward our aboriginals), our economic strength (while ignoring our crippling taxes bureaucratic wastefulness and political corruption), our role in the world as peacekeepers (ignoring our plummet down the ranks due to a neglected military).
Christie Davies suggests a society such as ours has become neither amoral nor immoral. We have become antinomian as we have rejected our traditional socially established morality in favour of a new causalism, a society obsessed with rights while ignoring duty and service and sacrifice.
We have gone the way of the world described by Dennis Enright:
- "The world has become man's right and everything in it has become a right: the desire for love the right to love, the desire for rest the right to rest...the desire to exceed the speed limit the right to exceed the speed limit, the desire for happiness the right to happiness, the desire to publish a book, the right to publish a book, the desire to shout in the street in the middle of the night the right to shout in the street. That's the way the world has gone."
I want to fly the Canadian flag, but I feel I would have to fly it at half mast. I am not ready to fly a white flag either.
So in my insignificant way I will continue to encourage thinking Canadians not to stand by and let all of our traditions die.
The Strange Death of Moral Britain - Christie Davies
"the best political thinkers must affirm "the universality of the Church against the particularity of the city" and display "a skepticism toward every human self–assertion that remains particular." That is, they must defend the republic, civilization, and the Church against barbarism. But at the same time, and no less urgently, they must defend the truth—and thus freedom of thought, the individual, and the Church—against the despotism toward which all nations tend when they resist the influence of the truth of revelation"
The American Republic - Orestes Brownson
I went to the Flag Shop in Vancouver yesterday. I wanted to buy a flag for the flagpole on our dock. With Canada Day approaching, I entered the shop thinking I would buy a Canadian flag. I had it in my hand but I returned it to the rack and left without buying it. I am not certain this was a watershed moment for me as I was able to purchase a BC flag, but I was struck by the rush of feelings that swept over me as I looked at the 72"x 36" red Maple Leaf.
I did not feel as I thought I ought to feel in the presence of my country's flag. I didn't feel patriotic or proud. I felt sad and disappointed and slightly melancholic, I felt a sense of loss.
As hundreds of new Canadians are sworn in as citizens this Canada Day what are the uniquely Canadian traditions and values we expect them to embrace? Are there any moral traits that we Canadians can urge upon our new citizens?
Tolerance and diversity have become the new traditions of Canadians. Politicians, police chiefs, fire chiefs and clergymen now trip over themselves to be seen front and centre in Gay Pride parades.
How many would attend if we organized a Christian Pride Day and paraded down the streets of Toronto and Vancouver on the Feast of Corpus Christi? Would it be the number one news item on CBC Newsworld? Would the major TV stations have reporters lining the streets to interview the participants and the observers? Would the mayor of Toronto proudly announce "we are the the most faithful city in Canada" or does being the Gayest City trump all comers?
More likely we would be criticized, derided and ignored. The media would find some poor misanthrope in our midst and he or she would become the media's poster person. Tolerance has become a one way street in the new Canada and a dead-end one at that.
The rhetoric directed to the new Canadian is abundant. Canada is the envy of the world because of the freedoms we enjoy here we tell them. We parade our new citizens through the streets of our own Potemkin village and point out our universal health care system (while ignoring its brokenness), our unique bilingualism ( while ignoring the rise of Quebec separatist sympathies), our rich aboriginal traditions (while ignoring the lunacy and wastefulness of our paternalistic policy toward our aboriginals), our economic strength (while ignoring our crippling taxes bureaucratic wastefulness and political corruption), our role in the world as peacekeepers (ignoring our plummet down the ranks due to a neglected military).
Christie Davies suggests a society such as ours has become neither amoral nor immoral. We have become antinomian as we have rejected our traditional socially established morality in favour of a new causalism, a society obsessed with rights while ignoring duty and service and sacrifice.
We have gone the way of the world described by Dennis Enright:
- "The world has become man's right and everything in it has become a right: the desire for love the right to love, the desire for rest the right to rest...the desire to exceed the speed limit the right to exceed the speed limit, the desire for happiness the right to happiness, the desire to publish a book, the right to publish a book, the desire to shout in the street in the middle of the night the right to shout in the street. That's the way the world has gone."
I want to fly the Canadian flag, but I feel I would have to fly it at half mast. I am not ready to fly a white flag either.
So in my insignificant way I will continue to encourage thinking Canadians not to stand by and let all of our traditions die.
posted by Ben Buan | 9:46 p.m.
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