Defending the faith
Ottawa Citizen
Published: Monday, September 08, 2008
Christians and members of other faiths complain that secular society has become not just contemptuous of believers but downright hostile. The experience of religious broadcasters in Ottawa suggests the complaint is well-founded.
The broadcasters are Christian, and they want to create a couple of radio stations that would appeal to their demographic. One proposal, for example, envisioned Christian-related music such as hymns and classical music, mainly for an older audience.
The proposals didn't fly with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. Navigating the broadcasting bureaucracy is a complex business, and it's hard to say what what the CRTC was really thinking (the regulator declined to speak with a Citizen religion reporter.
But it's clear that the elites who occupy important policy-making decisions in Canada can be phobic about religion. In the 1990s, some CRTC commissioners expressed concern with religious programming in Canada by citing the experience in Bosnia and the Middle East where religion promotes intolerance.
Ottawa is not Tehran. A radio station that broadcasts easy listening hymns to backyard barbecuers in Kanata has no connection to stations that broadcast hate-filled sermons to listeners in Cairo slums. Canada has laws against incitement and hate propaganda.
It's ridiculous to lump all "religion" into one big, dangerous basket, without taking into account cultural, geographic or historical context. Guess we can thank Osama bin Laden and others who over the years have killed in God's name. The biggest victim of religious violence is, as always, religion itself.