I am withdrawing from the CPC caucus voluntarily; the decision is entirely my own. Given the circling trolls, I do not intend to entangle the most multi-racial, multicultural and multi-faith caucus in parliamentary history in my decision to defend my beliefs.
It is sad that the current media/political environment forces people of faith to regulate their views away from their party so as not to damage the party, but right or wrong, that’s the world we live in.
Update: According to the Ottawa Citizen Editorial Board Lunney’s just, ya know, a crack-pot. After all, the media would never frame religion in a negative light.
Let alone the opponents:
James, you have my respect, my admiration and my friendship…happy trails my friend and thanks so much for all you have done.
A man of principle. God bless him.
I think those who make an issue of out of a person’s beliefs about evolution are the basest, most mean spirited, intolerant, self-righteous bigots anywhere, many of them with truly wacky, and consequentially harmful “beliefs” like governments create jobs or we’re overheating the planet or we need bigger government (oversight) for more freedom. They make a mockery of religious freedom, rational thought and debate. Though they probably have pretty good government jobs. What harm is there to this politician’s views, as if there’s any relevance whatsoever to his fitness for public office due to his views on evolution? Nasty bunch, them.
Class act. We need more folks like him in government, not less.
Evolution is science?
On close examination, the theory of human evolution is largely faith based. There’s a whack more missing than a missing link or two…..
I enjoy visiting primate exhibit at the Calgary Zoo. It is a blast when one of the caged critters starts masturbating and throwing feces at the on lookers. That’s when I ask in a loud voice if there is a believer in evolution in the area. If the answer is yes I ask them to please ask there uncle Chimpy to quit making a spectacle of himself, and embarrassing all of the other evolutionists present.
Let’s try not to let this devolve into an evolution thread, please. We all know where that goes and how it ends.
Some interesting evolution insights here:
http://www.pathlights.com/ce_encyclopedia/Encyclopedia/01-evol1.htm
Good luck and smooth sailing to James. This decision took guts and a lot of thought. We could use more people like him in our government!
the current … environment forces people of faith to regulate their views away from their party …
Sounds good to me. Separation of church and state should be encouraged, no? And mosque, temple…
This is the problem with big government. The minute anyone feels they are getting less standing among the elite, they light the crazy pipe.
“Separation of church and state should be encouraged, no?”
Separation of church and state is a red herring. And an American one at that.
We are talking about someone’s right to espouse political ideals based on their beliefs in a democracy. If it’s OK for someone to base their political ideals on socialism, environmentalism, humanism or conservatism, then it’s OK for them to base them on, say, Catholicism.
Or Islam, for that matter.
It’s up to the voter to decide whether that’s the MP and platform they want.
when in politics you are a servant of the people, try leaving god at church were he belongs
NME Leave your straw man at home where he belongs.
Eagle, the single most ill-used phrase in talk about religion and politics has to be “separation of church and state”. The vast majority seem to think that it means keeping them separate. Nothing could be further from the truth.
What it actually means is keeping the state from proclaiming a state religion, not keeping the religious out of the state.
You know, like the old Church of England, their relationship with the Puritans and other religious emigres to the New World forming the basis of America where separation of church and the state is codified.
But, whatev’s, history only counts if you care.
Why leave ? Why not stand up and fight for what he believes in and let his constituents decide whether they agree or not ? Why pay attention to the circling trolls ? There is no stand a person could take on anything without attracting trolls. Thin skin and politics are not compatible. Does he think that going independent will get rid of the trolls ? Not. Neither will that traditional Christian handicap,….turning the other cheek.
Good point Lance. I recently read a biography of Charles Carroll – American Cicero. Although Carroll was a wealthy man, he was not entitled to vote in Maryland because he was a Catholic Christian. Anglican clergy were paid by the province [state]. Carroll argued for the separation of church and state to protect religious freedom.
“The history of mankind is full of those who gladly destroy the slowly evolving and carefully laid foundations of the good society for their own personal benefit. Men in the gratification of sensual appetites, are apt to overlook their future consequences; thus for the present enjoyment of wealth and power – liberty in revision will be easily given up.”
http://www.amazon.com/American-Cicero-Charles-Carroll-Founders/dp/193385989X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427838922&sr=8-1&keywords=american+cicero
A man of principle, people of his integrity are becoming very rare in politics. It will be a great shame to lose him.
You miss the point, peterj, he is standing up for his beliefs.
He knows that his history will be brought up. He knows that the vultures will be waiting. He knows they’ll associate his beliefs to the party in general.
He’s saying, I’m not going to muzzle myself for politics, but in the interests of the party, I’ll segregate myself. As far as I know he’s still going to run and he wrote he would still vote with the CPC.
If he does run, that opens up some interesting things. Does the CPC run a candidate against?
Sad, i will respect Mr Lunney for his views and for his choice to position himself politically. However his capitulation to the progressive chattering class just make it more difficult for honorable Christian people to live their lives and beliefs in peace. Ultimately sir that makes you a coward.
http://taxicabdepressions.com/?p=1193
I’m in James Lunney’s riding and have known him for many years. Good guy overall and he’s done a lot – not only for his own constituency, but for those to the south in an NDP held riding whose long serving representative has been the usual useless socialist.
To correct the record, Mr. Lunney announced some time ago that he ill NOT be a candidate in the fall election. If memory serves, he has three terms already and he’d like to retire back to Vancouver Island.
As far as I know him, James is not a ‘bible thumper’ but certainly a man of serious conviction and thus he is likely doing what he believes to be a principled act.
His statement is forthright and clear. I wondered, at first, if there had been some internal pressure for him to conform, or retract, or deny his beliefs.
That does not appear to be the case.
He is pointing directly at the media.
Yes, Kinsella came to mind today…pass the gravol.
More like….”Dodged a Bullet for the team”
I tend to agree with peterj. If he is truly keen on his convictions he should shout them down, not duck and cover. Answer honestly then tell them to f*ck off if faith isn’t a good enough answer.(And that is coming from an atheist). There is no crying in politics. Conservative politicians show a similar timidity to enthusiastically promoting the benefits of conservatism, but I guess that’s another thread.
To my thinking, the real tragedy here is that the same “faith” questions are not bombarded by the media at Muslim leaders to expose their ultimate incompatibility with western democracies before it’s too late.
The MSM is absolutely corrupted.
I know, “Lance”, that one poor fella got in trouble for calling the jobless ‘no-good bastards’ just like Jesus did!
But since you and Kate both consider religion a bunch of twaddle that only only the the dimwitted or the deranged could believe in – isn’t it better to have them OUT of gov’t?
no ,straw man at all. You seem incapable of understanding that Christians can practice their faith without public announcements. One who lives the Christian life by example needs say nothing to prove they are a Christian. I’v known a few ppl who lived by example, rather than by verbalization. Most of my friends are Christians, and they don’t preach at me, they respect my “beliefs”, something some in here could learn from.
LANCE
no, you are wrong, separation of state and church is to stop the church from it’s past methods of “subjugation” the people. In times gone by the church, state, and upper class basically treated the working class as slaves, and that was/is unacceptable.
I refuse to entertain your rewriting of historical fact NME. It is not debatable whether you believe otherwise or not.
Kinsella’s devolved so far down the political scale that his beloved Liberal party knows he’s too toxic to be of any benefit,while Mr Lumley leaves his career with his core values intact.
Sooooo, if evolution has been proven to be true then I guess it’s time to cut off all research money. We can now divert those funds to explaining infinity. Shouldn’t take long…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Dr. James Lunney: “Freedom of Religion is foundational to democracy; if we don’t get that right, it always leads to persecution.”
Exactly right. Which is why we need to stand up for principled men like Dr. Lunney, push back against the secular Left, and reclaim Christmas. And also ban the niqab.
Seriously people would pick their candidates on whether they believe random change or a Creator started it all…..SERIOUSLY!!!! What kind of blithering idiot would use that as a criterion for elected office!
So blithering idiots such as yourself pick their candidate based on his or her belief in a fraudulent climate meme — Global Warming or the fact that he (Justin Trudeau) had a father who was PM or she (Hilary Clinton) had a husband who was President or that he (Tomas Mulcair) is leader of a party that holds the ideology of a system of government (communism) that has caused the murder of more humans than all crime, war and other despots in previous human history combined.
Yeah that makes sense — if you have no morals — which we know you don’t.
sporty BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. You got the wrong guy! I saw through the AGW scam likely before you were born. I also saw through the population bomb back when it was becoming popular. I could have voted for Trudeau senior but didn’t. He had too many character flaws and misplaced beliefs for my taste. I think he was one of the most corrupt and corrupting PMs Canada has had the misfortune of suffering under. I thought GWB was an intellectual lightweight and I would NEVER vote for Hillary. Nor would I ever vote for Mulcair. His ideology helped keep Saskatchewan a ‘have not province’ for decades while I sat on the Alberta side and wondered why intelligent people would vote for their own poverty.
Let voters decide!
Shamrock, their point is to ridicule and demonize. This is exactly what the Bolos under Lenin did in Russia, when about 1920 they sent troops of actors around the country on trains to make fun of with the use of skits and cartoons and demonize people of faith. Then they used to media to print false or exaggerated stories to further demonize people of faith. By 1923 soldiers and Chekists were sent out to loot the churches.
Hitler used the same tactics to demonize Jews, Gypsies, gays, and other groups. After sufficient softening through the media the roundups and killing began.
Can this be far behind?
I was mistaken in my earlier comment. Mr. Lunney has FIVE terms as and MP, so little wonder he’s ready to take his pension and retire back to Vancouver Island.
Ottawa or Vancouver Island. Hmmm. Which seems more appealing when you’re in your 60’s? He’s been a VI resident for many years and you can’t be much more distant from Ottawa than that. Tough schedule traveling back and forth.
Anyway, I don’t know why he and others don’t answer the media thusly. It’s not about evolution, it’s about ORIGIN. No scientist has yet been able to account for the change from inanimate to animate, but once the wheels were in motion, evolution of course became the ‘force’ that brought us to where we are today.
Lunney and anyone with an open and inquiring mind must challenge those whose version of ‘evolution’ proclaims that inanimate elements naturally transformed into ‘life’ – unless they have irrefutable proof, of course.
He can practise his faith at home and be a good man in Parliament without letting his faith overwhelm his duty to be a representative and to get along with others. Obviously he cannot or is unwilling to let go and so we are all better off with him gone.
Since when does belief in creation have anything to do with making public policy.
The rest of you bible thumpers can shut up now and go back to your Little House on the Prairie fantasyland.
One of the purposes of the progressives and their leftist MSM mouthpieces is to drive anyone of principle or of faith that is not compatible with their ideology out of the public sphere one way or another.
Iola writes: “The rest of you bible thumpers can shut up now and go back to your Little House on the Prairie fantasyland.”
And that folks sums up the whole attitude that James has been dealing with in one rude, snide, dismissive, falsely superiour sentence. A total lack of understanding of the subject and what it means to be a christian, while being an comicly highschool in a retort. If ignorance is bliss Iola could bottle theirs and sell it as crack.
I’m always amazed that those who seek to remove religion from the public (Christmas, Lord’s prayer, religious holidays etc.) are surprized when religious people get mad.
I don’t do religion very often, but when I do, I drink Dos Equis.
How did a man of principle fall into politics anyway?
nme…. you cannot make up your own version of history.
Well said.
Lance, might be a good time to link to Ben Stein’s “Expelled”.
Inscriptions on the Peace Tower, Canadian Parliament:
THANKS BE TO GOD WHO GIVETH US THE VICTORY, from 1 Corinthians 15:57, FAITH UNTO DEATH, and ACQUIT YE LIKE MEN BE STRONG, both from 1 Corinthians 16:13. Also in this section is a crowd of people bearing shields and spears, who represent the people of Canada uniting in response to the call of the man shown in the second panel, who holds a sword and trumpet, calling “To Arms”; at his side is a child holding flowers, representing faith and courage. This section also displays the words THOU HAST GIRDED ME WITH STRENGTH UNTO THE BATTLE, from Psalm 18:39.
Iola, despite first appearing on this blog proclaiming yourself to be a Christian and a conservative and shilling for Jim Prentice, you are neither. You and your pal Jim Prentice are not conservatives.
No, not one little bit.
God save Queen Elizabeth II, Canada’s Monarch and Head of State.
Titles; by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Queen, Defender of the Faith.
Now go thump yourself.
If the wannabe Gauleiter/Kommissars have their way those inscription will be erased from the Peace tower.
carved above the two doors of the former “war cabinet” room in Centre Block (OLO office)…Fear God, Love the King. Old hands may recall the stink when Joe Clark was asked to vacate the office for the reform opposition.
He is a man of some dignity making choices firmly and standing by his beliefs. The voters in his constituency knew exactly who he was and what he stood for and they elected him several times. I find it reassuring that there are still men like this in public service.
He can practice his faith at home? Boy! that is some FAITH! That is exactly what the media wants!
He can practice his faith at home? Boy! that is some FAITH! That is exactly what the media wants!
How can I get rid of my stutter? Honest– I only pressed submit once.
How can I get rid of my stutter? Honest– I only pressed submit once.
Boy, wish he was running in this socialist Hell in Burnaby! It would give me an option for the first time.