One of the fundamental problems in our troubling era is that the public has lost respect for its elite leaders and institutions. They include the media, judges, politicians, and even many mainstream Christian churches that are fast sinking into a sea of political correctness and denying Biblical truths.
Institutions and the elite have demonstrated countless acts of deceit, duplicity, and hypocrisy over the years, so much so that their disgraceful acts have now become inherent in their operation. In fact, this deceitful behaviour has become so assimilated in society that the public now expects our institutions and leaders to operate by betraying basic principles and decency. It is little wonder, then, that the public has lost respect for its leaders and institutions. Who today trusts a journalist’s narrative, a politician’s promises, or believes that a court’s decision is based on the meticulous application of the law? Further, the “updating” of theology by churches attempting to adapt to the culture, has resulted in the emptying of the pews. Who believes a religious leader’s sermon when it is not based on sound, religious belief, but on politically correct opinion?
The hypocrisy, deceit, and lack of critical thinking by the establishment is ever expanding. A few such examples are:
- Physician-Assisted Suicide
- Justice Sonia Sotomayor of the U.S. Supreme Court, in January 2021, spoke out fiercely against the death penalty for convicted murderers. She, however, is also a supporter of assisted suicide. Both these deaths are caused by the same procedure – an injection of the same lethal drug. Sotomayor believes the difference between allowing killing by euthanasia and executing a prisoner is that, in euthanasia, an individual provides consent to the killing which has been legalized by the state. What has consent got to do with the issue? It is the state-sanctioned killing that is the issue and consent does not make it right. Assisted suicide is testimony to the failure of our healthcare system, which is failing patients by killing them rather than treating them. Why are patients not being properly cared for so that they can live out the rest of their lives in comfort and security? Where is the palliative care that would alleviate their concerns and loneliness?
- The venerable Reader’s Digest, which has been in existence for 98 years, and has been a comforting source of information, warm human stories, and humour, has now changed in that it is promoting euthanasia as a celebration to be enjoyed, and a worthy end to one’s life. According to Reader’s Digest articles, euthanasia is a great experience that gives control to the patient and it is an appropriate way to end one’s life. The magazine assists the individual in this pursuit by providing guidelines to go about ending one’s life.
These guidelines are not truthful, as they point the individual in only one direction, that is, death by injection. Alternatives, such as the compassionate services of palliative care and the reduction of pain that can now be controlled, are ignored. By omitting this critical information, Reader’s Digest is misleading its readers. This is not honest journalism which the readers can trust.
In its attempt to be progressive and woke by promoting physician-assisted suicide, Reader’s Digest has betrayed its faithful readers and is providing indoctrination, rather than balanced information on a highly sensitive matter.
- Politicians
- Prime Minister Justin Trudeau figures he has all the answers for women residing in the developing world. Since 2017, Canada’s foreign policy, promoted by Global Affairs, has been to prioritize feminism and abortion in foreign aid programs. This narrow-minded approach indicates that Canada’s foreign policy under Trudeau has absolutely no respect for women, as the majority of women living in the developing world reject these policies for cultural and religious reasons. These women decline such policies as unreasonable and unhelpful.
Such women in the developing world are in need of sound infrastructure, clean water, health care, education, and funds to protect themselves and their families from terrorism. Where is the aid money for these genuine needs? Instead, Trudeau gave approximately $8 million of taxpayers’ money directly to the Marie Stopes International abortion chain, which operates largely in Africa. This abortion chain recently changed its name to the innocuous “MSI Reproductive Choices Agency” to cover up the fact that its namesake and founder, Marie Stopes, was a eugenicist, who did not much like non-white babies to be born.
Another example of Trudeau’s wasted largesse in a developing country was money given to Afghanistan between 2014 and 2020 in the amount of $270 million. This grant was designated for projects to encourage the rights and empowerment of women and girls.
A review, carried out by Global Affairs to determine the effectiveness of this aid, was published on the department’s website in December 2020. The review indicated that Canada has made the grant without “a deep understanding of Afghanistan’s local, cultural context and Islamic tradition”. The review was startling in that it actually stated that, in order for grants to be effective, they should include men and boys, as well as the larger community. This failure to take into consideration the culture and religion of the country in making the grant, ended up with Canada imposing programs on Afghanistan which did not improve local conditions or satisfy the country’s needs.
The criteria for good foreign aid should begin with listening to the needs of the recipient, not trying to turn another country into the West’s own image with its values. Trudeau’s attitude toward the developing world is paternalistic and hypocritical. - During his leadership campaign in 2020, Conservative leader Erin O’Toole promised to fight the “cancel culture”. Yet, his lips remained sealed when the Big Tech companies recently purged conservative voices from their platforms. Perhaps O’Toole didn’t notice that Big Tech also operates in Canada.
O’Toole was also hypocritical when he removed social conservative, MP Derek Sloan, from his caucus. This, too, was a typical cancel culture tactic.
For Canadian democracy to be healthy and sustainable, it is necessary that political parties be built upon respect for free speech, freedom to think, and freedom to criticize. Silencing Mr. Sloan is no way to achieve this and it has exposed Mr. O’Toole as an untrustworthy, duplicitous politician.
- Toronto’s Confused Catholic School Board
In a rational world, one would expect a Catholic school board to promote Catholic teaching. They have the legal right and obligation to do so under the BNA Act and the Charter of Rights, as well as numerous court decisions.
It seems, however, that there are trustees on the Toronto Catholic District School Board, the largest Catholic board in Canada, who are utterly confused, and, instead, are pushing another agenda. They wish to adapt the Catholic board to a secular, woke philosophy in order to promote homosexual ideology and to deliberately ignore Catholic teachings.
When a debate arose in November 2020 over this issue, one of the trustees, Norm Di Pasquale, demanded that a delegate to the meeting cease reading a paragraph from the Catechism of the Catholic Church on homosexuality. He claimed this was “dangerous” because it was detrimental to the LGBTQ community. Chair of the board, Maria Rizzo, who is personally facing litigation on numerous other matters, described the recitation of the Catholic catechism as “unacceptable”. To put a finishing touch on the debacle, the board reinstated the website of an organization called LGBT YouthLine, that promotes homosexuality and transgenderism, as a resource to be used by Catholic students. This resource had previously been removed from the website, but was reinstated after the board met with members of the LGBT YouthLine. The meeting resulted in the restoration of the link, despite the fact that the link includes a sex guide for trans men, articles on sex and dating for lesbians, trans, and non-binary people, and a trans woman safe sex guide. It also provided the questionable advice that “sex work can be a viable way to support oneself to pay for hormones and surgeries required for transgenderism”. This resource further provided information on how to participate in different types of homosexual sexual acts.
It is not unreasonable to ask how these topics fit into a Catholic education. It would be difficult to explain to parents that this website is a valuable resource for their children.
Why are these trustees sitting on a Catholic school board? They obviously do not want to promote Catholicism, despite the fact they are being paid to do so. In fact, they are doing exactly the opposite and are hypocrites for doing so.
The Toronto Catholic District School Board has created a problem for its unfortunate students. Why are the Catholic schools in Toronto run by mindless, confused, and hypocritical trustees? These trustees would do everyone a favour by resigning their positions and not running in any future Catholic Board elections. Catholic schools need to preserve their integrity.