Sermon rips anti-bullying bill
Hugh Freaking Dillon
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The pastor of a large Steinbach (Manitoba Canada) church has warned local politicians, teachers, media members and other local citizens in prominent jobs that God can replace them if they stay silent on the call to oppose the province's Bill 18.
At his Feb. 24 sermon to thousands of parishioners at Southland Church in Steinbach, Pastor Ray Duerksen specifically cited Hanover and Steinbach councillors, Hanover school trustees, doctors in the regional health authority, MLAs and MPs, police, firefighters, teachers, and media members and said: "God did not place you in your position because you are the only person who can do your job that well.
"If you don't do it, God will set you and I aside, and raise up someone who will."
Bill 18, which aims to fight bullying, guarantees any student in a public or private school who asks to form a gay-straight alliance must be supported by the school. Some Christians in southern Manitoba have said the bill infringes on their right to support schools that reflect their religious values.
A source in Steinbach who requested anonymity said Wednesday there is local talk that some church members are planning to run their own slates in the 2014 school board and city council elections, to try to "stack" the public bodies.
Duerksen said in his Feb. 24 sermon God placed people in their positions -- including him -- for a reason.
"We have influence. You are an Esther or a Mordechai because you have influence," the pastor said, apparently referring to a Book of Esther story in which two characters who had influence in the court of a king are praised for standing up for the "people of God" despite personal risk.
"It's (Bill 18) a legitimate fear, and I should do something about it.
"God doesn't need us," Duerksen said. "Too many people take for granted their positions of influence."
Duerksen did not respond to an interview request Wednesday.
The sermon came the same morning as a meeting and prayer session later that evening that drew 1,200 people to Steinbach Christian High School to oppose Bill 18 -- Duerksen used his sermon to exhort his parishioners to attend.
Duerksen asked those who choose to remain silent on Bill 18 how they can ever explain themselves to their children and grandchildren.
Several area municipal councillors are reportedly members of the Southland congregation. In his official online biography, Tory education critic MLA Kelvin Goertzen (Steinbach) says his family has belonged to Southland for 15 years.
If Bill 18 passes, Duerksen said in his sermon, "We're going to lose our religious freedom.
"We lost the abortion debate in the '70s... we lost the same-sex debate," and it's not going to happen again, he said.
Duerksen said if Steinbach Christian High School is forced to allow a gay-straight alliance in the school, "that is an attack on our religious freedom."
Steinbach Christian has 235 students in grades 5 to 12.
Meanwhile, Steinbach Regional Secondary School has 1,394 public school students in grades 10 to 12 and is the fourth-largest school in Manitoba. The Hanover School Division has told Education Minister Nancy Allan it will comply with Bill 18, and will accommodate any student who requests a gay-straight alliance.
In his sermon, Duerksen said any sex outside of the parameters of a man and a woman married to each other "is wrong." Duerksen said Bill 18 is the greatest challenge facing Christian churches, and said it is part of a hidden agenda to destroy Christianity.
Duerksen said the Bible is being treated as "hate literature."
The church and the community are in "mortal danger" over the legislation, Duerksen said.
Southland Church has scheduled a prayer session on Bill 18 Friday from 8 p.m. to midnight.
The pastor of a large Steinbach (Manitoba Canada) church has warned local politicians, teachers, media members and other local citizens in prominent jobs that God can replace them if they stay silent on the call to oppose the province's Bill 18.
At his Feb. 24 sermon to thousands of parishioners at Southland Church in Steinbach, Pastor Ray Duerksen specifically cited Hanover and Steinbach councillors, Hanover school trustees, doctors in the regional health authority, MLAs and MPs, police, firefighters, teachers, and media members and said: "God did not place you in your position because you are the only person who can do your job that well.
"If you don't do it, God will set you and I aside, and raise up someone who will."
Bill 18, which aims to fight bullying, guarantees any student in a public or private school who asks to form a gay-straight alliance must be supported by the school. Some Christians in southern Manitoba have said the bill infringes on their right to support schools that reflect their religious values.
A source in Steinbach who requested anonymity said Wednesday there is local talk that some church members are planning to run their own slates in the 2014 school board and city council elections, to try to "stack" the public bodies.
Duerksen said in his Feb. 24 sermon God placed people in their positions -- including him -- for a reason.
"We have influence. You are an Esther or a Mordechai because you have influence," the pastor said, apparently referring to a Book of Esther story in which two characters who had influence in the court of a king are praised for standing up for the "people of God" despite personal risk.
"It's (Bill 18) a legitimate fear, and I should do something about it.
"God doesn't need us," Duerksen said. "Too many people take for granted their positions of influence."
Duerksen did not respond to an interview request Wednesday.
The sermon came the same morning as a meeting and prayer session later that evening that drew 1,200 people to Steinbach Christian High School to oppose Bill 18 -- Duerksen used his sermon to exhort his parishioners to attend.
Duerksen asked those who choose to remain silent on Bill 18 how they can ever explain themselves to their children and grandchildren.
Several area municipal councillors are reportedly members of the Southland congregation. In his official online biography, Tory education critic MLA Kelvin Goertzen (Steinbach) says his family has belonged to Southland for 15 years.
If Bill 18 passes, Duerksen said in his sermon, "We're going to lose our religious freedom.
"We lost the abortion debate in the '70s... we lost the same-sex debate," and it's not going to happen again, he said.
Duerksen said if Steinbach Christian High School is forced to allow a gay-straight alliance in the school, "that is an attack on our religious freedom."
Steinbach Christian has 235 students in grades 5 to 12.
Meanwhile, Steinbach Regional Secondary School has 1,394 public school students in grades 10 to 12 and is the fourth-largest school in Manitoba. The Hanover School Division has told Education Minister Nancy Allan it will comply with Bill 18, and will accommodate any student who requests a gay-straight alliance.
In his sermon, Duerksen said any sex outside of the parameters of a man and a woman married to each other "is wrong." Duerksen said Bill 18 is the greatest challenge facing Christian churches, and said it is part of a hidden agenda to destroy Christianity.
Duerksen said the Bible is being treated as "hate literature."
The church and the community are in "mortal danger" over the legislation, Duerksen said.
Southland Church has scheduled a prayer session on Bill 18 Friday from 8 p.m. to midnight.
Gimli 1993
Fargo 2003
Winnipeg 2005
Winnipeg 2011
St. Paul 2014
Fargo 2003
Winnipeg 2005
Winnipeg 2011
St. Paul 2014
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Because that's going to make my Sundays a lot more boring.
I mean... Last Ash Wednesday I must have told about 200 people "your priest needs to clean his belt buckle."
http://community.pearljam.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=205310&p=4948858#p4948858
Oh for fuck's sake, drop the "thought police" screed, it's fooling nobody.
There is not a single person who's trying to teach kids how to "feel." Saying that "people have been bullied for centuries" doesn't really cut it, either. People owned slaves for centuries and we also use to publicly flog women who got pregnant out of wedlock. Those weren't OK, either.
We're not talking about saying "haha.. you can't throw a ball." Bullying today isn't the same thing you grew up with. Bullying today involves long-term, vicious and unrelenting attacks, organized by groups of kids, often using even the internet thus making it possible to now publicly shame and humiliate teenagers to a world-wide audience even in their bedrooms. Bullying is also a major catalyst for teen suicide.
And while I'm sure you'll never understand the ghastly experience of growing up being told on a daily basis that you're worthy of death or being too scared to even go to school because of the endless threats you receive at all times of the day or night... I can assure you that you would most likely not be able to handle it.
So stop wishing your brats could still rung gleefully around the schoolyard shouting "whale slut n*gger bitch" at the fat black girl at their school.
And if you're going to tell me that your kids would never act like that... then I'll tell you "then this won't affect you or them in any way other than THEY are also not allowed to be called 'Dumbass Priest-fucking bimbo christian' or have students start rumors that they got herpes from having sex with your brother.
Yes... in fact.. this protects them, too.
After reading that post I have wonder where you stand on sex education in schools
Bet I can guess
Well... congratulations on being a champion.
And in the meantime... there are countless children that do not get the proper guidance at home... spending the majority of their day fomulating their ideas about how the world works within their school setting. School is not the African plains and survival of the fittest. Many kids need adult intervention to make conditions bearable for learning and for their social emotional development (among so many other things). Many kids also need to be mentored so that they stop hurtful behaviours and develop the appropriate levels of empathy and acceptance that help our society move forward.
If one was to think kids provide the entire picture to their parents in their nightly 20 minute dinner conversations... I would be inclined to think one had their head lodged firmly in an unpleasant place. I am always amazed at the ignorance some parents have towards the genuine character of their children: continually making excuses for their kids when they act out and blaming other kids, teachers or the system for their poor conduct.
Schools are for much much more than academics. Get serious.
Why not get the parents of these kids that have no empathy and have them learn empathy? Have them learn parenting the way they should......Is it because that is not what they are teaching children. Is it because the schools want to indoctrinate the children to accept anything?
You do not know the hell I grew up in, and you have no idea what you are talking about when you act as though you know me. I made myself rise above it and became the person that was NOT like the ones that made my childhood hell. If it was not for my Christian Aunt I was able to spend the summers with I don't think I would have turned out to be the functioning person I am today. Believe me I know what it is like to have a hard childhood.
Highly unrealistic. Come on. Do better than that.
Paranoia.
If it's not one conspiracy... it's another for you. The schools and teachers are doing their best to help educate our youth- there is no hidden agenda. Stay focused on your belief that the government is trying to get you and that Obama is an alien.
Then why not remember your roots and advocate for those that need advocating for?
I am not on board with people being picked on. I just think some people need to stop acting like a wuss and grow a thicker skin. People need to stop trying to legislate how others feel.
how is this being a wuss? and how is this legislating others' feelings?? this bill is about the freedom to form a support group to help each other through these types of situations. you call that being weak? you said it yourself, without your aunt you may not have made it.
these groups are the Aunts that other people don't have.
Fargo 2003
Winnipeg 2005
Winnipeg 2011
St. Paul 2014
And again... This is NOT ABOUT HOW YOU OR ANYONE ELSE FEELS. WE DO NOT CARE.
And for someone who rails about how people need to grow a thick skin, you sure did get pretty pissy and upset when I told you that you were probably too much of a whimp to take being really bullied.
Seems that you need to practice what you preach. Stop being such a wuss and address that this isn't about how anyone "feels."
Nobody cares about your feelings.
I was not up set just I just let you know that YOU do not know what your talking about.........
Says the guy who's whining about how teachers are telling his kids how to "feel." :fp:
No whining here. I'm saying it ain't gonna happen......I'm saying I am responsible for my children not the government.
"It ain't gonna happen". What do you mean by this? It makes no sense... at all.
In the perfect world... parents would all be awesome and teachers could focus strictly on academics. We know this is not- nor ever will be- the case. Aside from the homes, the school setting is the only opportunity we have to try and build positive attitudes in our children.
The teachers in front of your children are not government agents: with some exceptions... they are caring individuals that are working hard to provide another (or the only) positive role model for kids.
Do you think that your kids only need one role model in their lives? Do you think that if a child is raised without a father that bonding with a strong male influence in the school setting is a bad thing? Do you think that a teacher's efforts to provide moral guidance for a kid with a junkie for a parent are wasted?
Why do you think that impoverished countries are trying desperately to build and maintain schools?
You need to control-alt-delete yourself and look at things from a less hostile and paranoid perpsective.
I don't assume I know what people have gone through in there life and neither should anyone else.
I wonder how many people on here have Actually raise children?
But more to the point... this thread is not about what teachers are teaching kids. It's simply about providing children at risk an option. No one has to participate in these groups if they don't want to, and they are created only at the request of those students who feel they need support. Anyone who opposes that or supports this awful "man of God" is a rotten human being IMO.
kids should be able to form groups whose main purpose is to support. it's no different than having a health an wellness committee at work, or even an HR department. when someone is being wronged at their workplace, should they just be told "suck it up" and "grow a thicker skin"? no, people need assistance. that's all this group is. and unfortunately it has to become law because people, like this pastor, seem to think that supporting those who might be targets of hate should be feared.
I have two daughters, aged 6 and 3. If it turns out they were born homosexual, I'd want them to have all the support they required from their friends and peers at school. Any sensible parent would want that. It's no different than forming a "girl power" support group.
Fargo 2003
Winnipeg 2005
Winnipeg 2011
St. Paul 2014
I still want to know where you stand on sex education in the schools
I rather teach my kids myself. Honestly I don't really know what they teach any more. I know when I was in school it was more anatomy and reproduction. Which is fine by me.
My Granddaughter is eleven now and very curious with tons of questions and I answer them very truthfully. Her Mother has told her about the birds and the bees but did not tell her the tactics boys will use. I filled her in on that. Discussing this subject was hilarious for both of us. It sure did bring me back to the days when I was young and thought this stuff was gross like she does now.
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
― Adam Lambert
Go Adam
Why does it always have to default to this bizarre paranoia about "the government?"
Of course you're responsible for your kids and not the government. What does that have to do with anti-bullying rules at your kids school?
Actually... if YOU are so responsible, why are you sending them to a public school? You know that they teach them stuff there, right? Do you get upset when they teach them how to read? Do you get upset when they teach them math and make them line up to walk to the next class?
If a student gets into a fight and knocks out your kid's teeth... should that student be suspended or reprimanded by the school or is it not the government's job to protect your kids from bullies?
Ah. Got it. So since I'm a rude jackass to people who clearly are trying to come up with a good excuse to let their kids pick on others, that means we should drop all anti-bullying rules and information from schools.
Well that makes perfect sense.