PeterG
10-29-2012, 05:27 AM
Winnipeg police chief suggests prayer could cut crime (http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/winnipeg-police-chief-suggests-prayer-could-cut-crime-1.1007432)
Devon Klunis told a Christian weekly newspaper prayer could play a significant role in building safer communities.
Christian Week quotes Clunis as saying good things could happen if people started praying for peace and acted on those prayers.
Good l/Lord...
An ethics professor at the University of Manitoba says Clunis should not be advocating religion from a public office.
Arthur Schafer says there is no evidence to show that religious countries have lower crime rates.
How about atheist countries having higher crime rates?? :P
And news about the backlash:
Winnipeg’s new police chief’s call for prayer stirs controversy (http://www.troymedia.com/2012/10/28/winnipegs-new-police-chiefs-call-for-prayer-stirs-controversy/)
His comments were celebrated by some, pilloried by others and ridiculed by those who doubt that prayer can stop a bullet or prevent a crime in a city that often has the highest rates in Canada for murder and other violent offences. “Might as well pray, nothing else has worked,” commented one wag on an online forum.
However, the article goes on to say:
What few stopped to consider is that Clunis is advocating something that already happens every day. The work of people who pray has actually done a lot to prevent crime in the worst parts of Winnipeg and many other Canadian cities.
As Clunis knows well, he only has to stroll a block or two from his downtown office to see religious groups do important work in the fight against crime.
Nearby at the Siloam Mission, a mission of the evangelical Christian Church of the Nazarene, hundreds of homeless people are provided with food, clothing and shelter daily, giving them an option other than begging or stealing...
More examples of religious groups doing work to make the lives of disenfranchised people better follow.
So what are your thoughts? This is an issue in my community as there is a backlash against those who are homeless and/or with mental health issues and/or have drug dependency issues. The most visible organization here working to bring about positive change for these people is The Salvation Army. A lot of the criticism is aimed at this organization in that it is felt they should move elsewhere. A NIMBY (not in my back yard) scenario. Like this organization should move into the industrial area (which would not be easily accessible to the people they are trying to serve). And I doubt the warehouse owners and workers want this in their area either. It's very frustrating to read about the negative views some people have, so insensitive to those who have led such horrible lives. All the while saying, "I'm not a heartless person!" (Umm...kinda sounds like it...) :shuffle: Maybe I should start praying for these NIMBY'ers! :lol:
Devon Klunis told a Christian weekly newspaper prayer could play a significant role in building safer communities.
Christian Week quotes Clunis as saying good things could happen if people started praying for peace and acted on those prayers.
Good l/Lord...
An ethics professor at the University of Manitoba says Clunis should not be advocating religion from a public office.
Arthur Schafer says there is no evidence to show that religious countries have lower crime rates.
How about atheist countries having higher crime rates?? :P
And news about the backlash:
Winnipeg’s new police chief’s call for prayer stirs controversy (http://www.troymedia.com/2012/10/28/winnipegs-new-police-chiefs-call-for-prayer-stirs-controversy/)
His comments were celebrated by some, pilloried by others and ridiculed by those who doubt that prayer can stop a bullet or prevent a crime in a city that often has the highest rates in Canada for murder and other violent offences. “Might as well pray, nothing else has worked,” commented one wag on an online forum.
However, the article goes on to say:
What few stopped to consider is that Clunis is advocating something that already happens every day. The work of people who pray has actually done a lot to prevent crime in the worst parts of Winnipeg and many other Canadian cities.
As Clunis knows well, he only has to stroll a block or two from his downtown office to see religious groups do important work in the fight against crime.
Nearby at the Siloam Mission, a mission of the evangelical Christian Church of the Nazarene, hundreds of homeless people are provided with food, clothing and shelter daily, giving them an option other than begging or stealing...
More examples of religious groups doing work to make the lives of disenfranchised people better follow.
So what are your thoughts? This is an issue in my community as there is a backlash against those who are homeless and/or with mental health issues and/or have drug dependency issues. The most visible organization here working to bring about positive change for these people is The Salvation Army. A lot of the criticism is aimed at this organization in that it is felt they should move elsewhere. A NIMBY (not in my back yard) scenario. Like this organization should move into the industrial area (which would not be easily accessible to the people they are trying to serve). And I doubt the warehouse owners and workers want this in their area either. It's very frustrating to read about the negative views some people have, so insensitive to those who have led such horrible lives. All the while saying, "I'm not a heartless person!" (Umm...kinda sounds like it...) :shuffle: Maybe I should start praying for these NIMBY'ers! :lol: