Neil Jones, Dundas

Re: Canadians free to spend Easter however they choose, Letters, Nov. 15

Canadians are free to spend Easter however they choose. Well, not if you are Christian and working at the Eaton Centre this Easter. In this case you are persecuted for your religious beliefs.

Canada is Christian nation founded on Christian principles. There is also no separation of church and state in Canadian law. Hence there are limits to pluralism. If this were not so there would be no law at all and the result would be anarchy.

The author of this letter to the editor may be an atheist, and the number of atheists may be growing in Canada. But this does not exempt him or other religious bigots from following Canada’s Christian laws any more than it would exempt a Christian from following the religious laws of Israel or Saudi Arabia – were they living in those countries.

The letter-writer admits our labor laws must accommodate those who wish to attend religious services and practice their religious faith in public. He errs in assuming that all Christian employers will not incur “undue hardships” by working on Easter.

Indeed, if a Christian was made to work on Easter, he or she would not be “practicing religion in peace and freedom.”

If the letter-writer wants to practise his atheism, he is welcome to it. But he should not try to impose it on others. Perhaps he might be happier living in a communist country where religious persecution is considering a high value.