Blog 087 : The New Theocratic Party

Marco DeRossi

2017-10-20

On October 1^st 2017, the New Democratic Party (NDP) elected its new leader, Mr. Jagmeet Singh, a fundamentalist of the Sikh religion.

The NDP is a political party which defines itself as progressive and which defends certain leftist positions, such as the Canadian version of multiculturalism. However, given that it is difficult to dissociate religiosity from culture, multi-confessionalism encourages the proliferation of religions. We know that religious organizations invoke multiculturalism in order to indoctrinate children and reject objectivity and rationality. This is not socially responsible!

Jagmeet Singh, is a lawyer who has worked to uphold the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms^[1], a Charter which promotes freedom of religion and which, in it preamble, grants total supremacy to “God”! It is important to remember that, since its adoption in 1982, Quebec has still not signed this constitutional law put forward by Trudeau senior.

But just who is Mr. Singh? Allow me to explain the origins and goals of his religion.

[Fundamentalist] Sikhs can be recognized by their turban and by the wearing of the controversial kirpan which they keep on their person at all times. Founded in India by Guru Nanak (1469–1539), Sikhism is a monotheistic religion whose principal initial goal was to reject the caste system of Hinduism. The term Guru means teacher to approach God and the faithful gather at the Gurudwara for prayer in the main hall. Sikhism represents a monotheistic religion based on the book Guru Granth Sahib Ji which is considered to be the supreme spiritual authority.^[2]

Mr. Singh gives his faith priority over reason, as can be seen by the fact that he agrees with allowing Canadian military personnel of the Sikh religion to wear the turban^[3]. Furthermore, one of his main battles has been to allow motocyclists a similar unreasonable accommodation, i.e. to wear a turban instead of a helmet. How can one cannot reasonably discuss religious neutrality while wearing such an ostentatious turban? But beyond the question of religious interference, Mr. Singh displays a fundamental contradiction. He considers himself to be a progressive yet promotes antediluvian and archaic concepts by maintaining a privileged relationship with an imaginary friend and thus remains in a primitive frame of mind.

We have known other religious persons in Canada who have taken positions which are simultaneously religious and political. Recall the abbot Gravel who served his imaginary friend by acting politically for the Bloc Québécois. He had great hopes for reforming the Vatican; he was not sufficiently perspicacious to realize that the collateral damage was in his own brain. And let us not forget the Sikh Cabinet Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan, turbaned and commander-in-chief of the Canadian military. The promotion of the turban for political purposes constitutes a form of nonsense which has insinuated itself into the mental landscape in the name of so-called diversity. The new leader of the NDP does not simply pray in a darkened room, rather he makes darkness, i.e. obscurantism, his modus operandi. He supports in a conspicuous way that idea that “God” must meddle in political debates…

Once we open the door to witnesses of “God” and they have their foot in it, il becomes difficult to close that door. There is nevertheless one hope, but it requires that we invoke jurisprudence. I am referring to the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada which invalidated prayers at municipal council meetings such as those of Jean Tremblay, mayor of Saguenay (Québec).^[4] We must also actd against the proliferation of religion in politics.!

All public institutions must rid themselves of the subjective and irrational influence of religions—and not only when such influences are as conspicuous as in the case of Mr. Singh. Governing institutions must adhere to the principle of rationality in order that antiquated folk beliefs be no longer encouraged or defended anywhere.

Références

1. Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
2. DeRossi, M., Croire en Dieu est désormais inutile (Belief in God is No Longer of Any Use), Éditions Première Chance, Québec, 2014.
3. Un turban dans l’armée (A Turban in the Army), Lise Ravary, Journal de Montréal, 2015-11-09.
4. Mouvement laïque québécois v. Saguenay (City), Judgments of the Supreme Court of Canada, Lexum, 2015-04-15.