The Ghastly Return of Jesus Harper

It was like a ghostly religious apparition. Not exactly the Blessed Virgin of Calgary  (that's Jason Kenney.)

But very definitely Stephen Harper, making a rare appearance in the House of Commons to vote on a Con motion.

Not in his capacity as a failed Great Economist Leader, or the evil puppet master who is still pulling Rona Ambrose's strings.

But as the one who liked to pose as the Con cult's Jesus Harper.



The one who created the so-called Office of Religious Freedoms.  

The Liberals all but flipped off the lights on Canada’s Office of Religious Freedoms, voting Monday against a Tory motion to keep open the controversial post and saying that its stand alone status is over.

For crass political purposes.

The office had been set up by the previous Conservative government in 2013, given its own ambassador and $5 million in funding to promote religious freedoms around the world. But it was controversial from the start. 

Concerns were raised it was going too far in combining religion and politics. Having begun as a campaign promise some saw it as a ploy to win support from ethnic voters.



Only to see his creation go up in flames, like the burning bush, for all the right reasons.

The international promotion of religious freedom by Western states risks repeating “civilizing” colonial missions, imposing fixed standards without sensitivity to cultural and historical specificities, adding to the already overburdened social salience of religious difference, and neglecting other sources of tension and conflict. 

These concerns were exacerbated by the hypocrisy of a government that expressed interest in promoting religious freedom abroad while simultaneously undermining it at home, most blatantly in the case of the niqab. Moreover, by creating an office dedicated solely to the promotion of religious freedom, the Harper government appeared to attach more importance to religious freedom than it did to other human rights.

Human rights are human rights, and religion can create its own legion of victims.

For example, women and children may be denied basic rights across an entire society, whether or not they are members of religious minorities. States may imprison individuals solely on the basis of their beliefs, religious or otherwise. Viewing complex and interwoven issues through the lens of a single human right will not produce adequate responses. 

Canada should take an expansive view and advocate for the protection of all human rights.

As our so-called Ambassador of Religious Freedom so convincingly demonstrated.



Current ambassador Andrew Bennett had already seen the writing on the wall – though he remains in his position until month’s end, last week he accepted a voluntary position at public policy think tank Cardus to lead its efforts to promote religious freedoms.

By joining the group Cardus, which among other things, is dedicated to protecting the religious from bullied gay children.

A little-known provision in Canada’s Constitution could complicate Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty’s effort to force the province’s Catholic schools to allow gay-straight alliance clubs.

A leading constitutional scholar hired by a conservative-minded think tank, Cardus, says a section of Canada’s Constitution not used in more than a century could be used to challenge Ontario’s new anti-bullying law, the Accepting Schools Act, on the grounds it violates Catholic education rights.

So much for "The Ambassador." 

And so much for the Con MP Garnett Genuis, who seemed to be equating the Office of Religious Freedom with those who fight for the rights of women...



Edmonton MP Garnett Genuis, who brought forward the motion, likened the need for the office with the requirement to have one focused on the status of women, calling them both required “centres of excellence” to deal with today’s challenges.

Even though Genuis gets the blessing, or the green light, from the Campaign Life Coalition.  

Which couldn't be more opposed to the rights of women, and those of gay Canadians.

You know, although I'm an atheist I share with decent religious people, those who preach love not hate, the same hopes for a better world...



That's why I fought so hard for the rights of bullied kids when I was in school, and now struggle to find better ways to care for the homeless, and poor and lonely seniors.

And one thing I can say for sure, is that the Cons were the cruelest and most satanic government this country has ever known.

And their depraved leader was no Christian and definitely no Jesus...



Just a foul bully bigot, who used religion for his own brutish political purposes.

And what I also know is that until we send him and his depraved followers to the hellish place they belong.

Or just some horrible place in rural Alberta.

We will never ever have that kinder, gentler Canada...

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