Reading my facebook news feed has my blood boiling today. I keep seeing people posting statements about how we need to stop Syrian refugees from coming to Canada, how Islam is an evil violent religion and how we need to protect our nation. Seriously people? You need to shut off Fox News and watch the history channel.  You need to get off facebook and go read a history book, because unless you are a native person, you are an immigrant.  Our white Christian ancestors came here fleeing war, famine and religious persecution.  Those pilgrims that we talk about at thanksgiving, they were persecuted for their religion and came to North America to escape. My Irish ancestors came here to escape starvation and poverty.  They were persecuted, not allowed to vote and treated as sub human heathens when they got here. If it wasn't for immigration none of us “ Old stock Canadians” would likely even exist right now, so who are we to say that future Syrian Canadians shouldn’t have the same rights to make a new life here as our ancestors did?

 Statements such as, “Muslims are war like and violent” make me want to remind you all of a few things.  Shall we list some of Christianity's violent awful past? Hilter.. Christian, the crusades..Christian, Slavery… Christian, the near annihilation of native people…Christian, residential schools..Christian.  To paint a religion of millions as evil because of the action of a few... Ridiculous.  Are there any Catholics reading this? Are you child molester? Many of your past leaders were, so is it fair to say all Catholics are child molesters??? Of course not!!!  Did that statement offend you? Next time you want to make a statement like, “ Muslims are terrorists “ remember that!

We just had Remembrance Day where we remembered how our young men fought an evil dictatorship for freedom. That foe was a Christian nation that was not acting in a Christian way.  Our history shows us that although we fought them, as a nation we did a lot of terrible things too. We persecuted and interred German and Japanese Canadians. We denied Jewish refugees entry to Canada because we feared some of them were German spies coming to bring their war to our soil. Many of those Jews ultimately died because of our ignorance and fear. We all stood around last Wednesday and said "Lest We Forget" but here it is Saturday and we have already forgotten!  We have forgotten that our ancestors came here to have a better life, that we are all immigrants, that no religion is perfect, that misguided and evil people do evil things. We can't let the sins of a few bring punishment to many innocents.  

I believe in Jesus and he told a story about a good Samaritan.  Samaritans weren’t Jewish or Christian. Jesus used the Samaritan as an example because the religious people of the day considered them the vilest heathens. Sound familiar? Being a Christian is not about whether you go to church, it's about being loving and generous and non judgmental to everyone!  Being a free nation is about giving freedom to everyone not just those who look and act like you.  Being great and diverse means that we have to continue to welcome new people who bring new and diverse experiences. My heart breaks for Paris, and Kenya and Beirut and any other city/nation that has suffered terrorism, but locking our doors and hiding under the bed isn’t the way to fight terror.  Continuing to prove that openness, freedom and equality is the way to be a great nation is the best way to fight terrorism.  That is where our success comes from!  To quote a Charlie Hebdo cartoonist, “Those who love. Those who love life.  In the end, they’re always the ones who are rewarded”