Sarah Evans
City Hall came close to the divine a couple of times last week. Last Monday, the Toronto Area Interfaith Council hosted a mayoral debate, where the candidates proposed ways to increase faith in the life of our city.
A few days later, we were debating whether to allow shopping on statuary holidays. Someone suggested we keep Christian holidays sacred, and controversy seemed to break out immediately. We have to stop panicking every time we talk about faith, especially Christianity, and start embracing it as part of our diversity.
We can start with George Smitherman's suggestion of calling a Christmas tree a Christmas tree. We are supposed to now call it a holiday tree so we don't offend anybody or make them feel left out, but it has the opposite effect on me! As a Christian who enjoys celebrating Christmas, I don't feel welcome to publicly acknowledge and celebrate my beliefs in this culture of political correctness. I (and I'm sure many others) would enjoy seeing other symbols like menorahs in public spaces as well. 
There was also a suggestion of having an interfaith day or week. Rob Ford and Joe Pantalone said they wouldn't know how to be fair in acknowledging all belief systems, but I think this misses the spirit of the idea. Our faith is an important part of who we are as individuals, and we should use it as an opportunity to learn about and celebrate with each other.
This sounds so elementary, and yet we won't do this because we're too afraid to offend someone. We talk about tolerance, but that has a connotation of reluctance. We really need to start talking (and thinking) in terms of acceptance - maybe even enjoyment!
At the mayoral debate, Smitherman proposed bringing together faith groups to help the city's less fortunate, such as the homeless and those struggling with addiction. I think this is an excellent idea that brings out the best of what many beliefs have to offer. Many faith groups (and their smaller study groups) volunteer to help others.
A great example of what can be done when people work together is the Out of the Cold program. For this program, different venues, including places of worship, take turns offering homeless people safe shelter and a warm meal.
If the city were to develop and co-ordinate more of these initiatives, our help could be spread around and it would cut down on administrative issues for organizations. We would also be creating services for the countless individuals who currently fall between the cracks.
Many people acknowledge a spiritual side of themselves, and the sooner we stop being afraid to talk about it, the sooner we will be able to see the best in each other and enrich our diversity.
June 6, 2010 at 4:48 AM
When searching upon articles for my scrapbook, the article above caught my attention due to a recent Civics class discussion concerning Reasonable Accommodations. When going back into the discussion various topics arose such as wearing religious/cultural clothing (example: hijabs) and serving certain foods at places. You would think something as simple as a choice of clothing for example, would never be raised as such a large issue but has. In my opinion, when talking upon the topic of religion, it can be risky because not only in Canada, but in the world, many people are easily offended.
With this article it brought up the specific issue of having a Christmas tree, being called a “Christmas tree.” I agree with what the author Sarah Evans said after, “We really need to start talking (and thinking) in terms of acceptance - maybe even enjoyment!” By showing acceptance rather than being offended by the perspective of what someone calls a “Holiday tree” or a “Christmas tree” I personally feel (being that I do not belong to any religion) that I would not take offense if I saw a Buddha, Christmas Tree, Menorah or any other religion piece because it is just someone expressing their who they are as a person but a different concern brought to mind was that if someone decided on trying to convert me to a certain religion which I would understand why people have the concern of offending people with things like calling something a “Christmas tree.”
I also agree with the title “Getting Over Our Fear of Religion will Enrich City's Diversity.” The reason is because by getting over our fear of religion, our city will be more open to change and realize that everyone is the same and should be treated the same. The fear of religion is also stopping our city, as well as the world from being in the past rather than in the present and future. Many are still stuck in history and treating ones better than others just because their religion.
The reason this article is related to our Civics class because it shows that if our city can change our ways of fearing different religions than our diversity levels will increase drastically. Our government will also be very beneficial because many different people will put more thought into how our government works and would take more initiative to be involved! Also, this article is one of many different pieces of alerts showing how many people are hesitant in being open to seeing different religions and cultures as we saw in a Civics class where a group of people burned the cross and hung side a rope just because a white woman married a black man.
By fearing religion, it puts a stop to Toronto, Canada and the world's future.