NEWS STORY: Atheists want God cut from Canadian constitution

c. 1999 Religion News Service “Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of GodâÂ?¦”_ preamble to Canadian constitution VANCOUVER, British Columbia _ A Canadian member of Parliament plans to present a petition to that body this week demanding God be removed from the Canadian constitution. The 1,000-signature petition, sponsored by the Humanist […]

c. 1999 Religion News Service

“Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of GodâÂ?¦”_ preamble to Canadian constitution

VANCOUVER, British Columbia _ A Canadian member of Parliament plans to present a petition to that body this week demanding God be removed from the Canadian constitution.


The 1,000-signature petition, sponsored by the Humanist Association of Canada, claims the reference to God in the preamble to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is”offensive to millions of Canadians who are non-Christian or non-religious.” Svend Robinson, a controversial New Democratic Party MP from the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby, said last week he will present the petition in Ottawa Tuesday (June 8) while a group of atheists holds a supportive demonstration outside the House of Commons.

Robinson said he personally believes the mention of God should be removed from the Canadian constitution, but doesn’t necessarily endorse the exact wording of the petition.”Canada is a secular society, and our constitution should be as inclusive as possible. This is a serious issue, and I’m sure this will spark discussion, which is a positive thing,”said Robinson, Canada’s first openly gay member of the House of Commons.

The Humanist Association of Canada’s petition argues that the constitutional phrase”Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law”should be replaced with”Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of intellectual freedom and the rule of law.” The petition was started last year by Ray Blessin, who calls

himself an”aggressive atheist,”and British Columbia’s Fern Wayman.

In addition to finding the constitutional phrase discriminatory, Blessin says he is offended at hockey games when he’s asked to sing Canada’s national anthem, with its line”God keep our land glorious and free.” Although Canadian justice officials in the past have said the constitutional reference to God is a formality with no effect on individual rights, the petition maintains the God reference amounts to a government endorsement of religion and excludes nonbelievers.”(It) belies the whole intent and purpose of the charter of rights and freedoms,”the petition says.

The petition’s argument is opposed by Harro van Brummelen, dean of undergraduate studies at Trinity Western University, an evangelical liberal arts institution in Langley, British Columbia.”I think the reference to God is appropriate, because it doesn’t ask everyone to believe in God,”van Brummelen said.”It simply says the country is founded upon a tradition that recognizes the supremacy of God.” Keeping God in the constitution is a way to recognize that most Canadians _ including Christians, Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims, Jews and native Indians _ believe in God, van Brummelen added. Polls consistently show more than 80 percent of Canadians claim faith in God.

The constitutional reference to God, van Brummelen said, also legitimizes how Judeo-Christian values, such as compassion and social justice, form the bedrock of Canadian ethics and law.

He said it would be difficult to hold Canadian society together if national values were based on a haphazard range of personal opinions.


Robinson, who has never shied away from controversy, recently returned from a trip to Kosovo where he opposed NATO bombing. He has been arrested at environmental demonstrations and actively sought to legalize assisted suicide.

However, he acknowledged the petition writers may not have recognized how difficult it is to change the Canadian constitution, which was signed in 1982.

The humanist petition, which calls for Parliament to enact legislation to remove the God reference, fails to note that the agreement of the provinces would also be required to make an amendment, Robinson said.

Any constitutional amendment requires consent of two-thirds of the provinces with at least 50 percent of the population.

DEA END RNS

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