Even God should chip and pay taxes
Dear Editor:
RE: Kelowna鈥檚 taxman does right by the Big Guy (Courier, July 19)
Thanks for the chuckle Ron Seymour.鈥擶e always appreciate a good satire, even when it鈥檚 printed as an opinion piece.
You鈥檙e absolutely right, we Humanists do spend too much time on social media. Mostly trying to figure out why churches don鈥檛 pay taxes, send money to global missions, while food banks beg for donations. Why are Kelowna taxpayers paying for them? But I digress.
You asked, somewhat dramatically: 鈥淲hy can the so-called Humanists not address Kelowna city council?鈥
We asked ourselves that too. We had a report, a delegation, and backup slides! But alas, no public hearing = no soapbox. We weren鈥檛 expecting to re-enact Les Mis茅rables at City Hall鈥 just to question why $422,600 in tax breaks to the city, and approximately $600,000 in tax breaks to schools, hospitals and library are instead going to fund global missions, political activity, and groups that don鈥檛 always welcome everyone in the community (you know, the whole public).
Sorry, these organizations 鈥榳elcome鈥 people, but they still want to change their sexual orientation before they can become as full members.
You also claimed: 鈥淭his isn鈥檛 news.鈥
Fair. After all, religious organizations not paying taxes has been going on since... well, before dial-up internet. But just because it鈥檚 old doesn鈥檛 mean it鈥檚 not worth revisiting鈥攍ike Daylight Saving Time or pineapple on pizza.
And no, we don鈥檛 just 鈥減ick on Christians.鈥 We鈥檇 like to review all religious tax exemptions鈥攔egardless of faith. The only reason Christian churches came up more often in our report is because... well, they own most of the land. You can鈥檛 criticize what鈥檚 not there. Trust us, we鈥檙e equal-opportunity skeptics.
You said: 鈥淩un a slate of candidates!鈥
What an idea. 鈥淰ote Secular: We鈥檒l take your churches鈥 tax breaks and fix your bus service!鈥 Tempting. But we figured we鈥檇 start with a petition, education campaign, and peaceful protest. You know, classic democratic engagement.
And finally, to the dig about our little protest group maybe not outnumbering the 14 parishioners at your church:
Fair play again. But size isn鈥檛 everything, Ron. It鈥檚 what you do with your voice.
Especially when approximately $1,000,000 of collective silence adds up. Remember, Kelowna taxpayers have to pay for religious organizations鈥 property taxes, so maybe we shouldn鈥檛 be so silent.
So come Tuesday, July 22nd at 3:30pm, whether there鈥檚 14 of us or 40, we鈥檒l be outside City Hall. Not to cancel religion. Not to throw Bibles. Just to ask why those who preach sacrifice aren鈥檛 asked to pay their fair share.
Hope to see you there. We鈥檒l save you a sign.
With all due reverence and a hint of sass,
The So-Called Humanists
P.S. We have looked into Ogopogo鈥檚 secret mistress. She lives near Peachland, doesn鈥檛 believe in taxes either.
Nina George
Kelowna
What happened to prayer?
Dear Editor:
Nowadays, there is an excessive culture of the project: you have to have projects cooking for everything; you have to justify everything, explain everything. Today you can spend your life reflecting on yourself and nothing more.
For me prayer comes out of the realities of life. It is a crying out in need, a way of overcoming our everyday powerlessness. It is born in tight corners and it feeds on them. The poor and the needy know how to ask! In the Gospel Jesus teaches us to pray constantly. Liturgy protects the world and secretly illuminates it.
Hoping for peace is another dimension of prayer in places where you find war, radical incomprehension, walls of hatred that seem impossible to human strength. I am thinking of prisoners and simple people, of those who cannot imagine their future without terrible anguish. People know, through prayer, that the inner voice of the Holy Spirit speaks in the depths of the human heart; opening up roads we cannot see, untangling painful situations that strike us as impossible.
I have come to notice that Church events today, like Baptisms, Weddings and Funerals often lack the soul of prayer. After all, the Church, our most pure mother, has received us into her family in Baptism, cancelling out our sins seventy times seven, putting a divine seal on the love of our fathers and mothers and nourishing our souls at Sunday Mass. All this through her priests and Sacraments.
Finally, the Church, will give us the last farewell; she will put us on our way to the house of God. Prayer is the key to belonging to this divine adventure.
Fr. Harry Clarke
Kelowna
A suggestion for WestJet
Dear Editor:
I was surprised that WestJet flight #3337 from Calgary to Penticton on July 16 at 10:03 p.m. did not land here but instead returned to Calgary.
It came in from the north over Okanagan Lake but didn鈥檛 land. I believe it may have made another attempt, then flew south toward Okanagan Falls, and then headed back toward Penticton before suddenly turning eastward and continuing in that direction. Looking at Flightradar24 online, it was obvious they were headed back to Calgary.
I would have expected鈥攕ince they sometimes do this in winter when the cloud ceiling is low鈥攖hat the flight would circle for a while, hoping for better conditions to land at YYF. This flight did not do that. I鈥檓 not sure whether this was the pilot鈥檚 decision or a matter of WestJet鈥檚 rules regarding weather conditions. Perhaps they were told that the winds鈥攂lustery at the time鈥攚ere not expected to subside, and so made the tough decision to return to their home base in Calgary.
I would imagine that a lot of the passengers on that flight were quite upset, as were those in Penticton expecting to fly out the next morning on the 6 a.m. flight. I doubt WestJet would be responsible for putting anyone up in a hotel in Calgary, since it was a weather-related cancellation and not mechanical in nature.
Besides, there would hardly have been time to use a hotel if they intended to be on the next plane back to Penticton. That return flight arrived here at 7:22 a.m., somewhat making up for the cancellation the night before.
It鈥檚 very odd, however, that the North Okanagan experienced higher winds than the South that night鈥攕everal thousand people were without power鈥攜et there were no disruptions in our area. Even more curious is that YLW (Kelowna) was unaffected; flights landed and departed all evening.
In a perfect world, wouldn鈥檛 it be great if, when weather conditions prohibit landing at YYF, WestJet would consider diverting to YLW and bussing passengers down to Penticton? It would seem to be a better solution than having to return all the way to Calgary.
A.C.L. Stark
Penticton