4 ~- Wednesday, May 27, 1992 - North Snore News Should church mix with state in Canada? SHOULD “GOD” be in the Constitution? This is the question that is keeping you awake at nights, tight? Just like me. Naturally, 1 have mixed feel- ings. Maybe you don't. Maybe, for you, the answer is really easy: God should be in the Constitu- tion, pure and simple. But then you would probably be somebody who doesn’t put ‘he word **God”’ in quotation marks. Which is fair enough, although obviously there are plenty of believers in God who understand the value of keeping church and state as apart as possible, other- wise you wind up with an unfet- tered theocracy. There are enough theocracies left in the world to make one shudder. They all seem to embody the principle that ‘‘the corruption of the highest is the worst.” Particularly tragic is the spec- tacle of Thai Army troops shooting down their fellow citizens in the streets of Bangkok. Thailand is an officially Bud- dhist country — and not just of- ficially. There are shrines to the Buddha on every street corner, and, indeed, inside the seediest bars. Nowhere in any of the Bud- dha’s recorded teachings is there anything saying it’s OK to fire submachine guns (partially paid for by Canadian ‘‘aid’’) into crowds of people demonstrating in favor of democracy. Even though | haven’t read it, I strongly suspect there is some ref- erence in the Thai Constitution to the Buddha, which would at least imply adherence to the traditional Buddhist doctrine of ‘tno harm- ing,’’ literally intended as a pro- hibition on doing harm to any liv- ing being. This is why the cows can’t be killed in India, although the In- dian Army can wage a ruthless war of repression against Sikhs in the Kashmir, while still paying of- ficial homage to Gandhi. No matter what the official na- tional religion is, not all Thais are Buddhists, of course, no more than all Indians are Hindus or Canadians are Christians. Yet Canada’s current Constitu- tion says **Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God."’ Say what? The supremacy? There’s the ‘*S’* word again, other “S"* words being supreme, supe- rior and superiority. Dangerous concepts, all, since they would place one group above the other, establishing hierarchies of power and privilege. Surely no one needs to be reminded that while there are only a few places left in the world, like Iran, that are outright theological oligarchical dictatorships, there are plenty of nations, especially in the Middle East — Kuwait comes to mind immediately — where monarchism continues to exploit its primitive connection with religion to maintain a royal power base. Not ail of these places are in far-away exotic lands, depending of course on how you define exot- fc. A Saudi king on his face pray- ing in the direction of Mecca while continuing to grow obscene- ly rich on the profits from oil ex- ports is no more absurd and hyp- ocritical, after all, than the billionaire Queen of England on her knees before the Archbishop of Canterbury. Both players are trying to miain- tain the pretense of a direct pipeline to the Big Dude in the Sky. This is pretty disgusting in itself, but not anywhere near as disgusting as tyrannical rule by a priesthood. Even in Tibet, where Buddhism long savored the political stature now enjoyed by Islam, the monkhood became parasitic, as any bureaucracy is bound to in due course, thereby creating the social conditions that gave Com- munist China its pretext for inva- sion. Compliments of Pepsi & Fletchers Fine Foods ____ VALID MAY 30, 1992 to JUNE 13, 1992 PRESENT THIS COUPON AND RECEIVE $5.00 OFF FULLY PAID REGULAR ADMISSION, NOT VALID WITH TWILIGHT RATES OR ANY OTHER OFFER! Bob Hunter STRICTLY PERSONAL Being a mere mortal, like everyone eise I know, the question of whether God exists, in what form (or non-form), why, how and what for is not just beyond my jurisdiction, it’s undoubtedly beyond my small capacity to phrase the question in the first place. Lam rather drawn to the notion that the deepest (or highest) level of my being is plugged via some kind of spiritual umbilical cord into some sort of divine essence that is probably a wavelength, as it were, of the central guiding force behind sentient existence in this universe as well as every other dimension and plane. But this is just my guess. Visit the Woodwyn n Store Nearest You... 44 /f Canada is to achieve a new Constitution it will have to be a document that speaks for 26 million increasingly diverse individuals ...99 I get nervous, personally, when people tell me they know. How do they know? Because their Constitution tells them so? Because some guy wearing a dress quoted a book that quoted a shepherd long ago? Because Mom and Dad told you? Because everybody in the neighborhood agrees? As somebody remarked, there is no such thing as society, only people. I'd say that there is likewise no such thing as religion, only beliefs. Obviously, religious organiza- tions and bodies of thought exist, as do nation-states. But neither a religion nor a society actually breathes and thinks and dieams and feels. 1f Canada is to achieve a new Constitution — if it is to survive — it will have to be a document that speaks for 26 million increas- ingly diverse individuals from all around the planet. As well, it will be including, for the first time, the aboriginal peo- ple whose mystical beliefs as well as whose cultures were crushed almost out of existence by soldiers, priests and politicians ac- ting in the name of a supreme God. That particular God turned out in practice to be the god of avarice, greed, imperialism and pillage. A term like ‘“‘the supremacy of God” has no place whatsoever in a new Constitution. Instead, we should be recogniz- ing the right of every individual to believe in whatever gods they want to believe in — or not believe in. The state has no business in the churches of the nation, and vice versa. ANDALS FOR LADIES only LA GEAR WORKOUT BLACK OR WHITE PRICES EFFECTIVE JUNE 3 — JUNE 7 Selection will vary by store. Woodward's Sowntown 684-4967, New Westminster 521-1153. Guildford 584-1018. Lansdowne 270-9683. Coquitlam Centre 464-7539. Metrotown 433-6327. Ist & Renfrew 253-3437. Willowbrook Mall 533-5200. Haney Place Mall 467-0899. Park & Tilford Centre 993-2626. Port Alberni 723-1161. Victoria Mayfair 385-1196. Courtenay 338-6533. Sevenoaks 853-5689. Penticton Cherry Lane 493-1900. Kelowna Orchard Park 763-9200. Salmon Arm 832-5077. Reison 352-6515. Trail 364-5644 Chilliwack Southgate Centre 792-5943. Nerthilis Mail, Kamioeps 554-2900. Ladaer Trenant Park Scuare 946-8486. 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