I’m a retired Canadian soldier who has served in the Balkans and Afghanistan, seen comrades killed and wounded, and I’ve lived in St. Albert since 1996. I think there were some problems with the St. Albert Remembrance Day ceremony that should be addressed for next year. The main speaker, although a powerful orator, was so very biased by his religious beliefs that I was irritated and a bit embarrassed that he was representing the military that I had served in, and my town. For me the occasion was soured by him speaking at painful length about how his god was what had sustained the courage, and justified the sacrifices of all Canadian soldiers since the First World War. His numerous quotations from the Christian Bible, complete with chapter and verse references, and listings from the cast of characters, that he offered as proof of his assertions made me uncomfortable and sad. It felt as though I had inadvertently walked into some sort of Christian revival tent instead of a community gathering to remember our war dead, and acknowledge the pain endured by those who survived. Thousands of Canadian military personnel who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country were Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims, Buddhists, Agnostics, and Atheists. It’s unlikely that they would have been very happy to know that at least in St. Albert in 2017, the Christian god alone was referenced as the architect of the circumstances of their passing. How many non-Christians were in attendance at the cenotaph on Nov. 11? Did they, like me, feel somewhat frustrated at the arrogance of the speaker as he used that forum as a pulpit for his flavour of faith? For me, if religion helps someone to make sense of the world, and if they don’t try to impose any aspect of their beliefs on me, I have a live-and-let-live outlook on it. But I do wonder if the speaker ever paused to consider that as do our ISIS enemies now, so too did our former German, Italian, Turkish, Japanese, and Afghan adversaries also have “holy men” assuring their fighters that god was on their side, just like he was doing. They also have “holy books”, equal to the bible in terms of good and bad advice, and fairy tales. By federal and provincial law, we live in a non-secular society, but I would have had no problem with the speaker including quotes from the Torah, Koran, etc. into his sermon, but the Bible rant wore thin, and frankly he lost me at the point where he was talking about wandering Israelites forsaking Moses to go back to Egypt to eat cucumber sandwiches. Nov. 11 should not be a preach-fest for any religion. In future I suggest that someone from the City vet any speeches planned for the occasion to ensure that they are inclusive, on point, and focused on what is important, not the speaker’s favourite religion. Daniel Hartford, St. Albert
