KEEP IT SEPERATE

Re: "Faith is personal," Editorial, and "Canada called minor pot player,"
July 20.

Bibles and pot were both in the news recently; one being welcomed, the other
being asked to leave.

Canada is a strange political beast and every once in a while shows its
ability to think on its own; newly sworn-in Canadian citizens will no longer
be insulted by being handed a Bible by some Bible thumpers who may very well
symbolize some of the reasons these people left their homes in the first
place and came here.

Religion working with the state is ridiculous. Every major conflict was
based upon whose God is better or stronger; the last words of the Sept. 11
hijackers were to praise Allah and plow into history at 581 km/h.

We do not need any religious overtone in our government. I was born in
Quebec where the Catholic church ruled and I saw the social isolation it can
cause. Common sense is far better at dictating your lifestyle than some
self-serving, dogma-spewing, religious zealot.

Maybe the government should treat religion the same way it intends to deal
with pot; tax anything over five Hail Marys or perhaps limit the amount of
self-righteousness you can walk around with at any given time.

Robert Saint Amour

Surge Narrows, B.C.