Reciting the Lord's Prayer in Ontario's Legislature

 
Premier Dalton McGuinty started the debate in February when he called for a study of the current practice [Lord's Prayer review ordered].

Queen's Park Bureau Chief
In a bid to separate church and state – or, in this case, province – Premier Dalton McGuinty wants to end the practice of reciting the Lord's Prayer in the Ontario Legislature.

McGuinty surprised observers at Queen's Park this morning by appealing for an all-party committee to replace the prayer.

"I believe it is time for Ontario's Legislature to better reflect Ontario's reality and celebrate our diversity," the premier wrote to the leaders of the Progressive Conservatives and New Democrats.

"It is time to move beyond the daily recitation of the Lord's Prayer in the Ontario Legislature to a more inclusive approach that reflects 21st century Ontario," he said, noting the prayer was last updated in 1969.

"Our counterparts in other provinces and the federal government have adjusted their customs to reflect the diversity of the population.

"The members of the Ontario Legislature reflect the diversity of Ontario – be it Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or agnostic. It is time for our practices to do the same. That is the Ontario way," McGuinty wrote.

This sounds pretty enlightened. Later on we learned that McGuinty had in mind multiple prayers and not just abolishing the practice altogether.

The committee has been struck. One of the first things they did was to set up a website. Within days the website crashed from the volume of submissions [Proposal to scrap Lord's Prayer crashes gov't website]. Can you guess who was responding? Yes, that's right, thousands of people who want to keep the Lord's Prayer in the legislature. It doesn't matter to them if we have Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and atheist MPP's. No sireee. They all have to say the Lord's Prayer before doing any business in the house. That's only fair.

Naturally, it's the Conservatives who are leading the charge to stifle tolerance and promote bigotry. The latest example is a column from one of the editors of The National Post [John Turley-Ewart: Ontario shouldn't ditch the Lord's Prayer]. You won't believe the silliness of his argument ...

Christians across the province see the Premier's move as a sop to those who think saying the prayer is inconsistent with multiculturalism. Those who disapprove of such a move include Premier McGuinty's own mother. But that has not caused the Premier to waver in his position for change. He is on record saying: "We've got a responsibility to ensure that all people feel truly at home here."

But the move has left many Christians in Ontario wondering if the province is still their home; if it is a place that is in tune with the Christian principles that have informed the province's political and economic values — values that underpin Ontario's success story as a democratic, prosperous province. The Lord's Prayer, recited by Catholics and Protestants alike, is more than words that pay homage to God.

It represents a piece of common ground that Catholics and Protestants could agree on -- a daily ritual that helped in whatever small way to break down the intolerance that existed between the majority Protestants and minority Catholics who founded the province.

In its own small but important way, the recital of the Lord's Prayer is a symbol of the tolerance that has made Ontario the great place it is today to live. That Premier McGuinty would consider dropping the prayer in the name of tolerance is, thus, ironic. It would do a disservice to the province's history and its Christian heritage.

Ontario should keep the Lord's Prayer, add other prayers from different faiths if thought appropriate, and avoid the folly of dismissing history for feel good, fuzzy visions of multiculturalism.

Hmmm ... let's see if I understand this correctly. Forcing atheists to recite, or listen to, the Christian prayer every day, is a symbol of "tolerance."

Earth to John Turley-Ewart ... you are promoting bigotry and intolerance. If you want your Christian friends to say the Lord's Prayer then let them say it by themselves in the privacy of their offices before going to the House to do Ontario's business.

Just because a majority of MPP's may be Christians is no reason for the majority to force their religion on everyone else. That's not the Canadian way.

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