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10 ‘Terrace Review — Wednesday, May 20, 1987

The Fu ndamentalist push 1

COMMENTARY

- How fundamentalism survives is a mystery to me ‘and

I can only understand it by acknowledging -that mankind has a deeply rooted ability and indeed, a need, to delude himself that he will live forever if he adheres to a particular mindset and that some benevolent guy will come out of the sky and save the fidels if you pre- tend he exists and really love him.

This ability to detude ourselves also makes it possible for us to wage wars and to prepare and arm ourselves for the ‘last holocaust, as indeed mainstream society under good Christian leaders has been doing ever since the last great war.

Slightly. increased intelligence confers on its benefac- tors increased fears and with this, a need for consolation so that we can remain operational, despite the realiza- tion of what is going on around us. It is partly to satisfy this need that fundamentalism exists. -

It also enables us to ignore reality, which is exactly what the fundamentalists do best. To be a fundamen- talist, one needs to ignore Darwin, relativity, evolution,

_the mutability of atoms and radio-activity, quantum mechanics and the age of the earth, the serious destruc-. j

tion of habitat caused by over-population which the

Pope promulgates by his views on population, the:

testimony of over-70 Nobel Laureates, and i in general, ‘science and reality.

What is so abundantly clear to me is that fear, ig- norance, money and power are at the roots of the fun- -damentalist brain-washing the simple, ignorant masses “are receiving on TV,.radio and everywhere else. Further, this movement is plagued with scandals and profiteet- ing. The fore-fathers of the United States recognized that

- Church and State must remain separate to maintain the

ace. We have fu.gotten or perhaps never learned that |

SSO, :

Moralizing and religion are- creeping back into government, Our very constitution is founded on the ‘recognized supremacy of God’’, which is a statement that denies non-believers their constitutional rights to believe as they wish.

' Then there is Reagan, who thinks that there i is going to be a last Holocaust and perhaps: is even. planning to help it along with Star Wars and continued nuclear arms

' production.

Then there is Vander Zalm who pushes the Catholic view on abortion onto the rest of the population, thereby denying representation of the people by the peo- ple for the people, a basic principle of democracy. _

I cannot likewise respect a movement that persecutes

overtly or covertly, people who do not agree with the

fundamentalist idealogy or who think that the world was made by God for the consumption of man or who

uses public money to finance religious indoctrination of —

young, innocent, gullable, children.

I cannot respect a movement that has as its founda. tion, the arrogant opinion that only adherents to its par- ticular view will be rewarded and. only they have the franchise on being able to love. Hogwash. ’

Fundamentalists are by their very nature, racist. They ff

chauvanistically think that they are right and: everyone else is wrong. Lastly, I cannot respect a movement that wages war

to impose their way of loving. Look at history, The.an- -

cient Persians used religion to unite the masses and to make them better servants for warfare,

The same people today, wage war in. Iran, and Iraq because their religious views differ. They think that: there is a place in heaven for them if:they fall in battle and that this i is a great honor, To kill and to die is a great

honor! So it is in Afganistan and so it is when: fun- ~.§

damentalists unite to pray. for their fallen comrades the world over, So it is with the Irish Catholics, ‘Protestants, Jews and

Muslims, Sunni Muslims and. Shiites and Druze. So itis. also between the rightest- Reaganites who believe that —

the Godless Communists are evil and must be stopped. It was the British Missionary Society that sent Cecil

Rhodes of South Africa a congratulatory note on, his .

destruction of the Matabele culture because they stood ° in the way of the chauvanistic missionaries and their ambitions,

It was the cross at the Head of. the Crusadés of the middle ages and leading the procession destroying and. - plundering the Mayas, Aztecs and Incas, and also in at- tendance at the burning. of. many. ordinary people suspected of being witches.

Fundamentalism is the denial-of reality while science is the experimental search for truth and understanding and reality,

They are irreconcilable and we must not let this i irra-.

tionality flood the public airways and TV networks.

Now more than ever before i in the history of mankind,

we need reality, truth and science and must quit burying

our heads in the fundamentalist sands. oe

_ Jorma J yrkkanen, Terrace resident.

' Energy —

‘don’t really anticipate. --

even though the owner-

ship question has been around for some consider- able time -- that there will -be a major problem in

_ reaching an agreement,

In the first place, there is a new mood of co- -operation between the fed- eral government and the provinces,,as shown by the

‘Meech Lake. Constitu-

tional Accord. _ And in addition, I’m ‘yery optimistic that the

new British Columbia- .

Canada Council of Minis- ters, established to deal with matters of concern to the Pacific Region, will help serve as a very useful vehicle in helping to resolve the ownership issue. . It won’t be as if we're breaking new ground. Precedents already exist in terms of the ownership of offshore resources with agreements already in ‘place between the federal government and the pro-

-vincial governments of .

Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. Under them, a joint

o federal-provincial agency ~ govertis offshore mineral

‘collect

continued from page 5

exploration and develop-

ment but the provinces revenue from royalties and taxes,

In addition, Ottawa has contributed money, ‘sub-

’ stantial amounts I might

add, to help .in’ the

“development of the off-

shore infrastructure in the case of both provinces, _ One thing I do want to make very clear is that if and when -active explora- tion and development is undertaken, such activity will only be permitted under the strictest en- vironmental rules and regulations.

As Premier, I see the

imposition of such pro-

cedures as a‘critical pre- requisite to any offshore activity because we must ensure stringent’ safe-

guards are in place to pro- ©

tect and preserve other im- portant industries like fisheries and tourism.

While the prospect of a

major gas or oil discovery.

is tempting, we can’t and

we won't risk jeopardizing

or impairing established sectors of our economy

which are proven and in-.

creasing in value,

About §0 people braved cool weather to attend the Pro- Life silent vigil in Terrace.

Silent vigil held

by Isobel Brophy

and Pam Whitaker TERRACE —In accor- dance with 255 Pro-Life groups across Canada, the Terrace Pro-Life Educa- tion Association con- ducted a silent vigil at Mills Memorial Hospital on Thursday, May 14,

It was a Silent Vigil for _a Silent Holocaust. Silent

because the 76 victims of

abortion at the local hos- pital could not speak for themselves. A vigil, be-

cause it means ‘to watch in

-order to prevent harm or Jf ‘Surely death by -

abortion of over one mil-. lion pre-born Canadian ‘babies is a national dis-

disaster.’

aster,

The vigil lasted 76 minutes, one minute for each life taken by abortion

-at Mills Memorial Hospit~-

al in Terrace in 1986. ° 1987 marks the eigh-

teenth anniversary of the

1969 changes to the Crim-

inal Code allowing freer

_ access to abortion.

Reasonable Rates

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Directory of | | ‘Terrace | "Churches

~ Sacred Heart _ Catholic Church |

. Pastor: ae | Saturday: 7:30 p.m. Fr. Allan F. Noonan, Sunday: 9:00 a.m. O.M. 1

| 11:00a.m. 7 cane

4830 Straume Avenue. _. | 036-2913

“St. Matthew’s Anglican. |

Episcopal Church

- Sunday services: _ Rector Rev.: 7 9:00am... Canon Lance Stephens

11:00 a.m. Tel.: 635-5855. i

"4726 Lazelle Avenue | 635-0019:

Christ Lutheran Church ©

Sunday School _ Pastor Rev.: and Adult Class: Michael R. Bergman - 9:45 am. | Sunday Worship: . , (11:00am... ; og. | 3229 Sparks Street - . . 635-5520 #- Terrace Seventh-Day Adventist I a Church - Sabbath Schoo!: Pastor: Saturday 9:30 a.m. Ed Sukow — 635-7642 i Divine Service: Prayer Meeting: Saturday 11:00 a.m. _ Wednesday 7:00 p. m. 3306 Griffiths , 635-3232 - Evangelical Free Church — Sunday School: Pastors: . (for all ages). Jim Westman 9:45 a.m. Bob Shatford Sunday Services: a , 11:00 a.m. Prayer Meeilng: } ~ 6:30 p.m. | Wednesdays 7:00 p.m. | 3302.Sparks Street _ 7. 635-5115 | Knox United Church | Sunday Worship: Minister = _ 10:30 a.m. Stan Bailey.

- , Adult study th hout the Sunday Sch ool; west Ca ‘churches for Youth Group: .

6:30 p.m. 4007 Lazelle Ave . 635-6014. Terrace Pentecostal Assembly Early Service: Pastor: 78:30am, _—_-dohn Gaplin ‘Sunday School: Assoc. Pastor: 10:00. a.m. Len Froese Morning Service: ~- Evening Service: (715.a. m. 6:00 p.m. 3511 Eby Street - 635-2434

The —— Church

Family Bible School: —_— Pastors: 9:45 a.m. S. Coutts oe ‘The Choralliers” J.T. McNair (Interim) (11:00 a.m, oe a Fellowship Service:. _Ajl-are cordially invited 6:00 p.m.

_. Youth Ministries * Home Bible Studies * Visitation 4923 Agar Avenue ‘635-7727

The Salvation Army

‘Sunday Services:

9:45 a.m. Christian Education (all ages) 11:00 a.m. Holiness Meeting © mc 00 p.m. Salvation Meeting -

For further Information call 4643 Walsh Avenue 635

For the love of God.. Give.