Comments on: Visit Jesusland North

By: Talk of change or more of the same? | Edger

Talk of change or more of the same? | Edger — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 03:35:32 +0000

[...] Why would anyone want more than two choices for government, one might ask? Doesn’t having two parties make it as simple as a governing party and an opposition, and when one doesn’t work, you can vote for the other? (I have actually heard these questions from Conservative Albertans). [...]

By: Jeff

Jeff — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 18:08:33 +0000

Ian,I think that your involvment in the group has given you a screed perspective on this. .AB is pretty secular.

By: Ian Bushfield

Ian Bushfield — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 04:14:15 +0000

Actually I don’t doubt that Sask. has pretty strong religiosity too, the only difference is the amount of political/economic influence you’ve gained relative to Alberta.

By: 1minion

1minion — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 01:47:33 +0000

Swift Current, Saskatchewan (Alberta’s rectangular neighbour) has at least 30 churches for less than 17,000 people. I don’t know if that’s a record, but it’s a lot. I doubt their pews are filled every service, though.

There are many Hutterite and Mennonite villages here, and they’re all heavily religious, coming from hearty German Protestant stock, both Anabaptists. A few towns had their starts from the French Roman Catholics, Ponteix being one of them. Saskatoon, where I am, was originally designed to be a temperance colony (back in 1881) where Methodists from Toronto hoped to avoid all the evils of liquor. I wonder how many bars this city has now…

I don’t think there’s a town anywhere in this country that doesn’t have roots in a faith of one flavour or another. I don’t know how this province would rank in a religious poll though but here’s some census info for the whole country, as of 2001 if anyone’s interested:

http://www.religioustolerance.org/can_rel0.htm

By: Jeff

Jeff — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 18:39:07 +0000

I live in Calgary. Only the occasional freak goes to church. Or the Phillipinos. I’m alarmed by the numbers, but they don’t seem to have anything to do with our reality.

When a kid at school asked my daughter and her friends what church they go to, they all said NONE. And that lone kid was the freak.

By: Joe

Joe — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 00:55:00 +0000

I’d say providing solid references was part of good writing, and that personal opinion is always part of anyones writing. The trick is finding a convincing and compelling balance. So its all part of the same process.

One of the big problems with the world today is that ’sciency’ types spend all their time learning to communicate to other sciency types. And not the public at large. The wonderful part of the internet is that you don’t need to spend years and years honing your craft, just to get published.

If this site is successful, IMO, it will be because it allows people to experiment and find their voice, as well as inform others in the process. Something that takes quite a lot of effort when it comes to the written word.

By: Spike

Spike — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 19:41:28 +0000

OP wrote:

Also, I should clarify my remark about the quality of articles on this site. I didn’t mean to imply that the contributors on this site are bad writers, but I would like to see more articles based on facts and hard data, rather than editorials presented with little backing evidence (i.e. above you referenced a poll and an anecdote which you admitted was not representative of the entire province, so I ask why bother posting it?).

I didn’t realize the contributors here were so young, and as I stated previously, I do like the idea of this site, and I will continue to check in and look forward to the epic beacon of awesomeness that this site has the potential to become.

Which is what I was going to write … so I endorse his opinion 100%.

By: Optimus Prime

Optimus Prime — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 13:35:49 +0000

I can concede your point that some of the people I know may indeed believe in a young earth; but my point, really, is that you haven’t offered any evidence that they believe this because they’re creationists. Some people are just uneducated (and Alberta certainly has its fair share of these).

Further, with respect to private vs public schools, certainly religious schools fall into the “private” category, but so too do the charter schools that simply have emphasis on performing arts, sports and higher educational standards, etc. So, even if religious schools do benefit from public taxes, the charter schools do as well, and your assertion in that respect that Alberta has a bible-thumping majority is still skewed.

Also, I should clarify my remark about the quality of articles on this site. I didn’t mean to imply that the contributors on this site are bad writers, but I would like to see more articles based on facts and hard data, rather than editorials presented with little backing evidence (i.e. above you referenced a poll and an anecdote which you admitted was not representative of the entire province, so I ask why bother posting it?).

I didn’t realize the contributors here were so young, and as I stated previously, I do like the idea of this site, and I will continue to check in and look forward to the epic beacon of awesomeness that this site has the potential to become.

By: Roy Natian

Roy Natian — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 09:22:35 +0000

I totally agree!
I had no illusions that Edger would be an epic beacon of awesomeness at once…even though it is pretty damn awesome it exists.
Slow and steady wins the race, no?

By: Joe

Joe — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 07:52:07 +0000

The only way to become a good writer… is to write… and write and write.

Editing is also a tough job and takes experience to become good at it.

Keep it up, Ladies and Gentlemen!