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WHITBY FREE PRESS,'WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1984, PAGE 5 "I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." - Thomas Jefferson pmr 1~tffhîi~ ~nd THEA CROW'S NEST by Michael Knell Fundamentalists are attacking freedom Jerry Farwell, his cohorts and followers scare the hell out of me. What frightens me even more is that their influence may be spreading into Canada. Over the past few years, especially in the United States, the fundamentalist Christian movement has risen to prominence and their power has reached beyond the Kingdom of God into the Kingdom of Man. What these people have been doing and are doing is narrowing the separation between Church and State. They have been going even further, they have been trying to tell the schools what to teach, people what to read or watch on television, who to vote for and basically what to think, to feel and how to act. And they are doing all of this in the name of God. One would think that those who profess to bring to man the message of Christ would be advocating such things as peace, love, freedom, tolerance and brotherhood. Over the past few years they have been advocating that the Western World arm itself in preparation for a Holy War against the godless communsts. They have been spewing forth dog-eat-dog capitalism, censorship, rigid patriotism and have been working overtime to see that public officials follow their dogma, for if they don't, they will try and try successfully (if you don't believe me, look at the re-electioypf Jesse Helms in Nortb Çarolina) tq, defeat those who hold differing views. Iphae hèaÃ"d eveal people òf this particular persuasion remrk over the course of the last several months that they intend to join the Progressive Con- servative Party at both the provincial and the national level in an effort to see that.only "Christians" are elected to office in this country. What I fear is that they only want "Christians" who meet their standards to be elected to office. These fundamentalists do not believe that Catholics, Anglicans, Presbyterians, or members of the United Church are Christians. Only they have the truth, these other people are leading us down the path to hell. And what they have to say about Hebrews, Buddists, Hindus and the followers of Islam is even less polite. The fundalmentalist movement that is sweeping through the United States and showing signs of invading Canada is not interested in the rights of other people. If you are not one of them, you are against them and they will take every measure they possibly can to deny you your democratic rights. A few years ago, right here in Durham Region, one of these fundamentalist ministers attempted to force the board of education to ban from schools such literary classics as "Catcher in the Rye", "The Lord of the Flies" and others. Fortunately, he was not successful. But earlier this year, in Texas, the fundalmentalists were successful in get- ting these kinds of books banned. The fundamentalists claimed that these classics in literature were obscene and warped the minds of young people. What they meant was that these books didn't conform to their sense of what was right and wrong. As far as I'm concerned, they are not just trying to tell us what to believe but what to think as well. The tactics currently employed by some of these groups remind me of the horror that engulfed Germany during the 1930's. The Nazis tryed to engage in mind control by destroying the work of scholars and writers who held opposing views. In these cases we are not talking about pornography. When they address that issue they don't talk about the irreparable damage done to our mothers, sisters, wives and daughters but say that these films create an aura of permissiveness. What they leave unsaid, but clearly understood, is that they believe such material entices and promotes bizarre sexual activity. But what is worse, they advocate pre-marital sex and encourage couples to live together outsid-e of the dictates of the church. This is the year of Orwell,'this is 1984. What I'm afraid of is that instead of the computerized society he predicted in his classic we will find Big-Brother in the pulpit of the church. Both scenarios are distasteful in the extreme. To be completely honest, T'm not sure what can be done about this. I believe that many well intentioned people, who want to make a better world, will em- brace the fundalmentalist movement because it offers two things: stability and a sense of order. But Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, Genghis Khan, Alexander and other figures throughout our history have also offered us the same things. A writer who I'm fond of, a political conservative, once "you can have security and you can have freedom, but don't count on having both at the same time." I am afraid that we will exchange our freedom for the security of stability and sénse of order that the fundalmentalists offer us. As a journalist, I prize freedom of speech, thought and opinion above all else. The right to criticize, to dissent from popular opinion is the catalyst upon which a civil society matures. We must never allow any organization, political or religious, to succeed in any attempt to restrict our freedom. I am talking about dealing with pornography. I am talking about ideas. Far- well and his ilk have launched an all out attack on the mind of man. For those who think that they have no influence in this country, a few hours in front of the television on any Sunday morning can prove an educational experience. These people have organizations in Canada, they raise money from our neighbours, tbe purpose of which is to bring their politics into Canada. God help us li they ever succeed. I have some favourite cities. They are my favourites first, because I happen to love city life, but more a "big" city, tome, is one with people. Not just people driving around looking for a place to park, or people lined up at supermarket check-outs, or packed 20,000 into a stadium. That's crowds' That's not "people." Real people in real places are what make a city. Street life. Eye contact. A variety of styles, shapes, sizes and voices and accents. You can only get it in a real city. Which excludes places like Los Angeles that was once described as a "filling station next to a palm tree." I suppose we have developed two kinds of people: those who agree with me and lust for the slightly polluted turgid air of the core of a great city; and those who have moved away to find their version of peace in a small town or sprawling suburb. Only one problem. The people who have made those wastelands where all you get are plazas and subdivisions, are now awakening to the fact that they have paid a high price for their imagined com- fort The price is that they have lost the hubbub so necessary for the human spirit. So everywhere towns with "vision" or "looking forward" or any of those "come-and-build-here" slogans, are looking for an identity. They desperately want a "downtown". They also want shopping malls. Not just the old fashioned open-to- the-street plazas (which developers are spending millions to cover over) - they want the real thing - their own equivalent to the Eaton Centre. Good luck. Good luck to every town that is trying to rehabilitate the centre that made it a "place" in the first place. Latest in the downtown regeneration sweepstake is Whitby. Government money has been promised to revitalize the downtown core. Maybe, Whitby is jealous of Port Perry, which still has a good-looking Queen St. (try it some Sunday and see) or Bowmanville which is fighting to make down- town a real place and·.(unless the new mall takes over) may succeed, or Pickering that is trying to re- establish its sense of being a village, or Cobourg with Victoria Hall all rebuilt and shiny at the centre, or Port Hope, where I think is one of the nicer down- town streets still functioning. Maybe "jealous" is the wrong word. "Eager" would be better. According to a survey what Whitby really wants is more parking. Tens of thousands of dollars has come along to "beautify". It won't work. All the boosterism in the world just won't work unless there is a will to make it work. The will comes from the people who will one day walk around downtown and not have to drive the last inch and park at the front door. The car has injured the will to make a place a people place. The super- market, the shopping mall and the subdivision have turned injury into morbidity. We have married ourselves to the joys of the station wagon and the housing development and staying at home unless you have to break that habit to go to the cottage. The Whitby Chamber of Commerce (and any other chamber of business improvement organization) had better face the truth of it. You can't counterfeit atmosphere. You can't create an ersatz setting and make it work. Oh, you can fil it with people like they do at a shopping mail, but you have filled it with plastic, portable people looking in tbe windows of plastic, portable chain store operations. There is no style, no flair, no contact. Yes, you DO need to report and rebuilt. But you need the people who will use it. Business bankrup- tcy is made of depending on surveys where people say what they want and will do. Don't count on them. If you want to see how it works - walk along Bloor St. or Yonge, or even the new Market Square. Or try Minneapolis, where it is so cold you think you have died and been crayovaced. It was always a people place. To make it even better they joined half the downtown buildings with aerial walkways so people couid stili walk and see and enjoy when its Arctic outside. I am going to raise a bit of Harry with the boosters and politicians who think that ail we need is money to turn a desert into an Eden. For the next few weeks l'Il take on a few of those attitudes. Before you start cursing, remember, I have a big stake in one small town myself. I'm not leaving. EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the first part of a many part series which will end when Solway runs out 0f ideas on the subject. idaso te ujet SOL WAY ......... ..... . dom R à 2mpm