Premier Wants Lord's Prayer Dropped

Ontario Catholic Premier Wants to Scrap the Lord's Prayer from the Legislature

Yesterday, in a move the was said to have surprised legislators, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said he wants the legislature to "move beyond" the Lord's Prayer, which is recited daily. He has ordered an all-party committee to be formed to "reconsider" prayer in the legislature. Calling the Lord's Prayer "dated," McGuinty, who continues to claim membership in the Catholic Church, said he wants a more "inclusive" practice that better reflects the province's new multicultural "diversity".

"I've asked for a parliamentary committee, with representation from each of the parties and the Speaker's involvement as well, to take a look at how we can move beyond the Lord's Prayer to a broader approach that is more inclusive in nature."

Multicultural? Diversity? Is this his way of saying the Catholic Church is "backwards"?

And then there are these facts:

Yet statistics show that Canada as a whole is still an overwhelmingly Christian nation, with Roman Catholics, Protestants and non-affiliated Christians making up at least 70 per cent of the population. People registering as "no religion" come a distant third at 16 per cent. The rest consist of Muslim at 1.9 per cent, "other and unspecified" with 11.8 per cent. Ontario statistics reflect those of the rest of the country. The 2001 census found that two-thirds of Ontario's population was Christian, despite having been a major landing place for non-Christian immigrants since the 1960's, with the province's Islamic population more than doubling since 1991.

Doesn't sound diverse to me, when 70% of the population is Christian.

It's only a matter of time before Canada is similar to Europe. I pray we don't follow in their footsteps.