The Emerson Avenger Gives A Trudeau Salute To "Corpse-Cold" Unitarians On The Day Of The Dead
What with today being The Day of the Dead and all I was reminded of Ralph Waldo Emerson's famous crack about "corpse-cold" Unitarianism. Some people either misheard, misinterpreted or transmogrified that Emersonian epigram into "corpse-cold" Unitarians which, needless to say, The Emerson Avenger tends to agree with. . . The incredible cold-heartedness of U*Us that The Emerson Avenger has witnessed for well over a decade now is truly stunning. Corpse-cold Montreal Unitarians have trudged zombie-like past his picket signs that protest against well-documented U*U injustices, abuses and hypocrisy for well over 8 years now without making the slightest effort to engage in any responsible self-examination of their apparently ice-encased hearts and frozen-over consciences.
On this All Souls' Day aka The Day of the Dead let's remind ourselves how a certain "fundie" atheist corpse-cold Unitarian minister paid his respects to a deceased Roman Catholic Prime Minister of Canada. . .
A UU Minister and Religious Intolerance
Posted by Dean Fisher on December 14, 19100 at 12:04:36:
Hi folks,
I just want to highlight an Opinion article printed in a Montreal newspaper that was written by a UU minister, the Rev. Ray Drennan of the Unitarian Church of Montreal. The URL is below.
I found it to be a particularly pathetic example that demonstrates how low some UU minsters will go in bashing religion. I would certainly think that a UU minster would respect the right of anyone to have their funeral be performed within the tenants of their own faith. To trash a religious ritual like a persons funeral the way Drennan does takes a person that is diametrically opposed to religious tolerance, not embracing it.
We may find many practices within other faiths that we disagree with and may even work against, but a man's Catholic funeral mass shouldn't be one of them. That's just plain mean spirited and ignorant.
Thanks to our new found friend Robin Edgar for bringing this to our attention.
See ya,
Dean
Herewith the text of an unpublished letter to the editor that I submitted to the Montreal Gazette in response to Rev. Ray Drennan's appropriately headlined 'Wrong Message' opinion editorial.
Robin Edgar
15 Lafleur apt.11,
Verdun, Quebec
Canada, H4G 3C3
Tel.: (514) 769-7322
E-mail: robin_edgar@altavista.com
The Gazette
Letters to the Editor October 12, 2000
Dear Editor(s),
(This is still long but some additional points have been made while removing any reference to my direct personal experience of Drennan' arrogant hostility towards believers and other hypocrisy. Please try your best to publish this as a letter to the editor if not as an editorial response to his comment piece. Cut whole paragraphs if necessary but not the initial or concluding paragraphs please. Phrases and sentences within brackets may be deleted from paragraphs R.E.)
As a Unitarian, I believe that Ray Drennan owes an apology to Quebec Catholics and the family of Pierre Elliot Trudeau. His description of P.E.T's funeral as "a sham" is deeply insulting to Catholics in general and the Trudeau family in particular. Drennan's self-professed "uneasiness," "irritation," and even "anger" because Jean Chrétien "read from the Christian scriptures," an Ave Maria was sung, and "Joe Clark, John Turner, and Chrétien all lined up for holy communion" during Trudeau's funeral demonstrates that he is quite incapable of practicing "simple tolerance" let alone living up to Justin Trudeau's noble call for us to "develop real and profound respect for each human being, regardless of their beliefs, origins or values."
Drennan's claim to "hold dearly - as Pierre Trudeau - the right to live and work and celebrate and mourn as the diverse people we are" is directly contradicted by his very own words and actions. Pierre Elliot Trudeau's state funeral was a Roman Catholic mass because Pierre Elliot Trudeau was a practicing Roman Catholic, and in many ways an exemplary one. What about the Trudeau family's right to live and work and celebrate and yes... mourn as Roman Catholics? What about Trudeau's fellow Roman Catholics' right to celebrate and mourn a departed member of their own faith?
Drennan says this Roman Catholic mass made a "mockery" of the Canada Trudeau fought so long to create and that "it seemed there was no recognition of diversity, no acknowledgment that anyone mattered in this country outside of a very small group of Catholics." I thought a very diverse cross section of Canadian society were welcome at the funeral, including many ordinary Canadians who waited most of the night to gain general entry. Jimmy Carter, a Baptist, and Fidel Castro, a Communist, were there side by side as honourary pall bearers engaging in respectful dialogue. If that's not a concrete expression of Trudeau's high ideals I don't know what is.
Castro was welcome and participated as fully as might be expected from a presumed atheist. I didn't see Catholic clergy checking peoples' Catholic credentials when they served communion at the funeral; indeed, had Castro decided on the spur of the moment to take communion himself, I have reason to believe that he might not have been refused by Montreal's Catholic clergy.
Drennan belittles and maligns Quebec's Catholics by saying that "barely 17 percent of these Catholics even practice their faith, while 80 percent of them would choose a religious funeral." Practicing ones' faith means more than just going to church regularly, it means living one's life according to the basic principles of one's religion. By this standard most of the Catholics I know are doing just fine (and Drennan clearly is not). In fact, when it comes to genuinely practicing "real and profound respect for each human being, regardless of their beliefs, origins or values" the Catholics that I know do a significantly better job of it than the Unitarians that I know, Ray Drennan being a case in point.
( I will add that it is quite foolish for Drennan to play such a numbers game when he knows full well that even if every single card-carrying member of the Unitarian "community" in the province of Quebec was to fill the pews of Notre-Dame basilica there would still be plenty of room left over for a couple of thousand Catholics to celebrate a mass.)
Drennan deplores that Trudeau's "sham" "state funeral" was a "private Roman Catholic mass." I am not privy to Trudeau's last wishes but I expect that his funeral was much less private, and far more public, than he or his family desired. Agonizing compromises were probably made between the wishes of his family and the wishes of the Canadian public and "state." Trudeau championed the rights of the individual over the state. Drennan does the exact opposite in his desire to override the wishes of the Trudeau family.
As a Unitarian I too would have liked to have seen some more religious diversity in the funeral ceremony itself but I would certainly not denigrate Quebec's Catholics nor the Trudeau family for failing to turn a funeral into an inter-religious event. (No doubt, as an atheist who refers to God as a "non-existent being" and says belief in God seems "primitive" in his sermons, Ray Drennan sees this Roman Catholic ritual as not only "exclusive" but also "meaningless.") It is not up to Ray Drennan, or anyone else, to tell the Trudeaus how to bury their dead. I would uphold their right to have had a completely private Roman Catholic funeral to which no dignitaries and no members of the public were invited if that was their wish.
Ray Drennan purports to "dream of a Canada that is inclusive of all its citizens, from whatever linguistic or cultural or religious group, and that allows each one to rightly claim a piece of the centre ground of Canadian life and to rightly have a voice in the shaping of Canadian values and rituals etc." Why then can't Roman Catholics "rightly claim a piece of the centre ground of Canadian life" and rightly practice their own "values and rituals" when a former Canadian Prime Minister of their own faith dies? Regrettably, Drennan's purported dream is in fact a "sham" in the true sense of the word as he evidently makes a "mockery" of it in his missive and within the Unitarian "community" itself. Drennan's (arrogant and hypocritical) missive also makes a genuine "mockery" of the stated principles and purposes of the Unitarian "community" which amongst other things call for "respect for the inherent worth and dignity of every person." Fortunately, Canada has already implemented much of Drennan's purported "dream" thanks to the hard work and dedication of Pierre Elliot Trudeau and many of his fellow Roman Catholics, (practicing or otherwise.)
Sincerely
Robin Edgar
On this All Souls' Day aka The Day of the Dead let's remind ourselves how a certain "fundie" atheist corpse-cold Unitarian minister paid his respects to a deceased Roman Catholic Prime Minister of Canada. . .
A UU Minister and Religious Intolerance
Posted by Dean Fisher on December 14, 19100 at 12:04:36:
Hi folks,
I just want to highlight an Opinion article printed in a Montreal newspaper that was written by a UU minister, the Rev. Ray Drennan of the Unitarian Church of Montreal. The URL is below.
I found it to be a particularly pathetic example that demonstrates how low some UU minsters will go in bashing religion. I would certainly think that a UU minster would respect the right of anyone to have their funeral be performed within the tenants of their own faith. To trash a religious ritual like a persons funeral the way Drennan does takes a person that is diametrically opposed to religious tolerance, not embracing it.
We may find many practices within other faiths that we disagree with and may even work against, but a man's Catholic funeral mass shouldn't be one of them. That's just plain mean spirited and ignorant.
Thanks to our new found friend Robin Edgar for bringing this to our attention.
See ya,
Dean
Herewith the text of an unpublished letter to the editor that I submitted to the Montreal Gazette in response to Rev. Ray Drennan's appropriately headlined 'Wrong Message' opinion editorial.
Robin Edgar
15 Lafleur apt.11,
Verdun, Quebec
Canada, H4G 3C3
Tel.: (514) 769-7322
E-mail: robin_edgar@altavista.com
The Gazette
Letters to the Editor October 12, 2000
Dear Editor(s),
(This is still long but some additional points have been made while removing any reference to my direct personal experience of Drennan' arrogant hostility towards believers and other hypocrisy. Please try your best to publish this as a letter to the editor if not as an editorial response to his comment piece. Cut whole paragraphs if necessary but not the initial or concluding paragraphs please. Phrases and sentences within brackets may be deleted from paragraphs R.E.)
As a Unitarian, I believe that Ray Drennan owes an apology to Quebec Catholics and the family of Pierre Elliot Trudeau. His description of P.E.T's funeral as "a sham" is deeply insulting to Catholics in general and the Trudeau family in particular. Drennan's self-professed "uneasiness," "irritation," and even "anger" because Jean Chrétien "read from the Christian scriptures," an Ave Maria was sung, and "Joe Clark, John Turner, and Chrétien all lined up for holy communion" during Trudeau's funeral demonstrates that he is quite incapable of practicing "simple tolerance" let alone living up to Justin Trudeau's noble call for us to "develop real and profound respect for each human being, regardless of their beliefs, origins or values."
Drennan's claim to "hold dearly - as Pierre Trudeau - the right to live and work and celebrate and mourn as the diverse people we are" is directly contradicted by his very own words and actions. Pierre Elliot Trudeau's state funeral was a Roman Catholic mass because Pierre Elliot Trudeau was a practicing Roman Catholic, and in many ways an exemplary one. What about the Trudeau family's right to live and work and celebrate and yes... mourn as Roman Catholics? What about Trudeau's fellow Roman Catholics' right to celebrate and mourn a departed member of their own faith?
Drennan says this Roman Catholic mass made a "mockery" of the Canada Trudeau fought so long to create and that "it seemed there was no recognition of diversity, no acknowledgment that anyone mattered in this country outside of a very small group of Catholics." I thought a very diverse cross section of Canadian society were welcome at the funeral, including many ordinary Canadians who waited most of the night to gain general entry. Jimmy Carter, a Baptist, and Fidel Castro, a Communist, were there side by side as honourary pall bearers engaging in respectful dialogue. If that's not a concrete expression of Trudeau's high ideals I don't know what is.
Castro was welcome and participated as fully as might be expected from a presumed atheist. I didn't see Catholic clergy checking peoples' Catholic credentials when they served communion at the funeral; indeed, had Castro decided on the spur of the moment to take communion himself, I have reason to believe that he might not have been refused by Montreal's Catholic clergy.
Drennan belittles and maligns Quebec's Catholics by saying that "barely 17 percent of these Catholics even practice their faith, while 80 percent of them would choose a religious funeral." Practicing ones' faith means more than just going to church regularly, it means living one's life according to the basic principles of one's religion. By this standard most of the Catholics I know are doing just fine (and Drennan clearly is not). In fact, when it comes to genuinely practicing "real and profound respect for each human being, regardless of their beliefs, origins or values" the Catholics that I know do a significantly better job of it than the Unitarians that I know, Ray Drennan being a case in point.
( I will add that it is quite foolish for Drennan to play such a numbers game when he knows full well that even if every single card-carrying member of the Unitarian "community" in the province of Quebec was to fill the pews of Notre-Dame basilica there would still be plenty of room left over for a couple of thousand Catholics to celebrate a mass.)
Drennan deplores that Trudeau's "sham" "state funeral" was a "private Roman Catholic mass." I am not privy to Trudeau's last wishes but I expect that his funeral was much less private, and far more public, than he or his family desired. Agonizing compromises were probably made between the wishes of his family and the wishes of the Canadian public and "state." Trudeau championed the rights of the individual over the state. Drennan does the exact opposite in his desire to override the wishes of the Trudeau family.
As a Unitarian I too would have liked to have seen some more religious diversity in the funeral ceremony itself but I would certainly not denigrate Quebec's Catholics nor the Trudeau family for failing to turn a funeral into an inter-religious event. (No doubt, as an atheist who refers to God as a "non-existent being" and says belief in God seems "primitive" in his sermons, Ray Drennan sees this Roman Catholic ritual as not only "exclusive" but also "meaningless.") It is not up to Ray Drennan, or anyone else, to tell the Trudeaus how to bury their dead. I would uphold their right to have had a completely private Roman Catholic funeral to which no dignitaries and no members of the public were invited if that was their wish.
Ray Drennan purports to "dream of a Canada that is inclusive of all its citizens, from whatever linguistic or cultural or religious group, and that allows each one to rightly claim a piece of the centre ground of Canadian life and to rightly have a voice in the shaping of Canadian values and rituals etc." Why then can't Roman Catholics "rightly claim a piece of the centre ground of Canadian life" and rightly practice their own "values and rituals" when a former Canadian Prime Minister of their own faith dies? Regrettably, Drennan's purported dream is in fact a "sham" in the true sense of the word as he evidently makes a "mockery" of it in his missive and within the Unitarian "community" itself. Drennan's (arrogant and hypocritical) missive also makes a genuine "mockery" of the stated principles and purposes of the Unitarian "community" which amongst other things call for "respect for the inherent worth and dignity of every person." Fortunately, Canada has already implemented much of Drennan's purported "dream" thanks to the hard work and dedication of Pierre Elliot Trudeau and many of his fellow Roman Catholics, (practicing or otherwise.)
Sincerely
Robin Edgar
Comments
Maybe in another decade or so, after corpse-cold Unitarian U*Us have thrown in the proverbial towel and formally acknowledge the unjustices, abuses and hypocrisy that I am entirely justifiably accusing them of. . .