Greetings from chilly Vancouver, where I’ve been visiting the University of British Columbia for the last few days. Besides breathtaking topography and amazing Pacific cuisine, a big advantage of the region is that you can’t swing a cat without hitting an atheist around here. That’s right: no religion was the largest reported “denomination” among B.C. residents, with more than twice the number of Roman Catholics, the second-biggest group. Thanks to Scott Oser for pointing this out.
(There don’t seem to be many Jewish people in B.C. I suspect that Moshe is the only one, and he was traveling during my visit.)
I have to admit, though, that I’m confused. People here seem relatively friendly, and there is quite an effective social safety net, including universal health care. Where did all this niceness and compassion come from, without God to tell them how to behave? I’m pretty sure that I’ve heard that godlessness leads to a selfish, cutthroat, me-first attitude, so much unlike the selfless regard for the less fortunate that characterizes our religious culture in the States. These Canadians are probably a bunch of backstabbing Enlightenment hedonists under their smiling facades.
(hmm was re #22)
‘backstabbing Enlightenment hedonists’??
Nah, without formal religious ties, we’ve just got nothing to be hellbent about…
“The Bechrians”, answered Autolycus, “have these peculiarities: They speak the truth, are monogamous and faithful to their wives, do not make war on their neighbors and, being wholly ignorant of the existence of any gods or godesses , spend their lives without fear of retribution for their sins. They believe that when a man dies, he dies utterly, and therefore are unafraid of ghosts. Their land is also free of the fevers which plague their neighbors, and as fertile as one might wish. I have often considered settling among them; only that, when I came to die, my bones would remain unburied, which would be a terrible thing for a Greek as religious minded as myself.”
from Hercules, My Shipmate by Robert Graves – p 245
Strange for a man who if dead, should be consumed by, “where his bones should lie.”
Puzzling.
Sean,
as a backstabbing atheist Canadian, I have to confess the smiles are all a facade as you suspected.
But as a friend of Tommy Douglas (see the Mouseland clip above), I can tell you that he started out as a Baptist minister and went on to be one of the most effective leaders in Canada. Not only did he create Medicare, he was also responsible for the 40-hour work week, and a bill of rights which preceded the UN version, and more.
But what I remember most vividly was his sense of humour — nicely captured in this quote:
“I don’t mind being a symbol but I don’t want to
become a monument. There are monuments all over
the Parliament Buildings and I’ve seen what the
pigeons do to them.”
Health Care Information, it would have been more appropriate to post a spam message with a link to cheap Canadian drugs 🙂
As somebody who obtained my advanced degree in Vancouver, I can testify to the relatively reduced orthodoxy on religious matters in B.C. and Canada. Those numbers make sense now, as I had qualitatively arrived at the same conclusion.
Expanding on some of the comments above, it is useful to note that religions especially God belief of the monotheistic kind (Christianity and Islam) have been the least tolerant and have shed a lot of blood. (Crusades then and Jihad now). Missionaries continue to “save” heathens at great cost to the local culture in poorer nations. Mother Teresa seems to be just as guilty of this type of aggressive proselytism. Sorry, my early Catholic “education” has left me somewhat disillusioned. Curiously, the non-theistic, polytheistic and pantheistic ones were the most tolerant. Ultimately, we are all “theologians” of some sort (msg #15 above) but surely experimentalists are on better ground…