| Righteous Men and Women
In response to the article “In Ottawa, faith makes a leap to the right,” with quotations, Globe and Mail, 23 September 2006, www.globeandmail.com.
The Christian right’s response to their defeat on gay marriage in Canada’s Parliament is an example of how progressive change is always met with regressive resistance. Despite the right’s efforts to place “righteous men and women” in positions of authority, change will come. Love’s many expressions are not bound by gender distinctions. Same-gender love will win out. Instead, the “righteous” everywhere might reflect a little on their own failings, particularly regarding the West’s gluttony and the ill health of our planet. Rather than joining the ranks of right-wing Christian movements, the “righteous” youth of today, if they are truly feeling radical and politicized, might adopt the behaviour of the truly radical Jesus, a man who not only preached poverty but also lived it. They might turn their sights on the real outrage in our midst: the excesses and inequalities of capitalism. Indeed, they might join the left in making the economic sacrifices that their generation must make to fairly distribute the earth’s wealth in a globalizing world and to reverse global warming. The other option is for religion to remain “a wedge that pushes people apart” as well as a pacifier that soothes us into denial about our wrongs and thereby into inaction. 24 September 2006
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