Sunshiny Profile picture
Aug 22, 2019 25 tweets 5 min read Read on X
An Edmonton Journal article. Banning of conversion therapy. Edmonton is second city in Alberta to move towards municipal ban.

But read the comments.
Do you think the comment section Richard Smith is the Catholic Archbishop of Edmonton, Richard Smith?
Seems consistent with this Archbishop Richard Smith.

cbc.ca/news/canada/ed…
So, I’m thinking there is a high probability.

As a Catholic, I’m appalled that the Archbishop, or someone with the same name and a lot of biblical knowledge would promote conversion therapy.
I’m disgusted that any faith promotes mental abuse, but especially my own.

Most especially since the Pope promoted conversion therapy.

thinkprogress.org/pope-encourage…
I can see now why the Catholic Church and many Protestant Christian leaders are in support of social conservatives. They are losing control. Many parishioners do not support abusing a child for sexual orientation or gender dysphoria. Regardless of what Christian leaders preach.
Congregations with critical thinking skills and long exposure to Christian teachings of love, compassion and kindness have been provided the opportunity to reject central tenets of the Catholic Church and admit papal fallibility. cruxnow.com/church/2015/07…
Faced with rejecting their child and adhering to their faith, or rejecting the abusive nature of faith based conversion therapy and supporting their child, many are choosing their child. Not unexpected since every sermon used to be about love, compassion and helping the stranger.
Not anymore. A sharp change of course has occurred in the Catholic Church & corresponding Protestant faiths.

Sermons now are about obedience, respecting the word of god and ministering one’s faith to the poor in spirit.
My father in law passed away last week. He was a traditional Catholic. I am a modern Catholic. In the early years when my husband and I dated, we clashed a lot. We debated about every social issue possible and frequently had opposing views.
Once, at a large family gathering, he introduced me as his son’s radical feminist girlfriend.

But we grew to care for one another. When my boyfriend (now husband) moved in together, he did not admonish us. He took his son aside and counselled him on the rhythm method.
When we announced our engagement 10 years into our relationship, he was overjoyed for us both. By then my father in law & I were prone to long conversations about politics and social issues. We’d debate the merits of our respective ideology and listen earnestly to each other.
We wanted to get along. We wanted to understand each other’s beliefs & values. We wanted to connect. Our motivation? We both shared a mutual love of politics as well as love and affection for the man who brought us together; his son, my husband.
We both loved reading non-fiction. We both loved documentaries. Intellectually we had much in common. So we always had much to debate.

I truly respected that man. He opened my eyes to see they world from a different perspective. I believe I did the same for him.
He was kind, loving (in a jovial traditional conservative dad way), honest, generous, thoughtful & gracious. Every time we visited he kissed me on the head. My husband & children too. At first I thought it was condescending, but grew to appreciate his demonstration of affection.
Once we debated religion. He fiercely defended adherence to traditional Catholic dogma. I stumped him towards the end of the conversation. I argued god didn’t expect to have the same relationship with every person. My father in law had 3 children.
His relationship wasn’t exactly the same with each child. Each child was different, & there were differences in their relationship to him & his relationship to each child. Each relationship was unique. How could god expect every person to be homogenous when each person is unique?
We never discussed religion again. It wasn’t a crisis of faith, but he was perplexed by his belief and that revelation.

I grew to be very fond of my father in law. And he grew very fond of me. We cared deeply for one another. And I will miss him dearly.
My point in relating my experience with my very staunch Catholic father in law is to point out his kindness. Many believe conservatives have no compassion or love for anyone but themselves. I was one of those people. My father in law taught me I was wrong, by example.
We weren’t that different. Raised on the same liturgy, we had similar compassion for our fellow human beings. Different ideas on how to address problems, but we agreed on the nature of most issues.

That’s no longer what is taught in the Catholic faith.
All Alberta Archbishops were displeased about LGBTQ rights being brought to Catholic schools. No longer were they the sole directors of Catholic faith. After the worldwide child sexual abuse revelations, you’d think Church leaders would refrain from promoting conversion therapy.
But no, they’ve doubled down.

The Church, not the compassion & love it represents, was losing relevance and power because of those past abuses and the coverups. Rather than learn from their mistakes, Church leaders choose to continue to promote the abuse of the most vulnerable.
God only knows why. It’s the same as when the priest told my paternal grandmother to stay with her physically abusive husband. Then shunned her when she didn’t. She wasn’t obedient. God had chosen those trials for her to endure. What right did she as a mere woman have to disobey?
It’s not the scriptures that reflect love and compassion that are the problem. It’s the individuals who use the bible to gain, wield power & force obedience on those who have faith.

Personally, I’d rather go to hell, than abuse a child. Threaten all you want Archbishop Smith.
I will never obey the Church’s command to abuse LGBTQ children or adults, or shun them, or shame them.

If god created LGBTQ, maybe it’s a trial for the faithful to love and show compassion or to blindly obey a command to hate.

I choose love. I know I’m not the only one.

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More from @sunnshiiny

Apr 23
PP’s main political ad states, “anyone from anywhere can do anything…”. That statement is the most egregious lie I’ve ever heard.

This attitude and belief is why people who support CPC are so agitated. They have been indoctrinated to believe they are entitled to power.
We have all been told we can achieve any goal if we put in the effort. But listen carefully to the content of PP’s promise.

Anyone from anywhere can do anything.

That’s indoctrinating propaganda. Not a campaign commitment.

PP has campaigned for 3 years on a broken Canada.
The official campaign narrative is a propaganda Big Lie.

Canada NEVER promised guaranteed success for hard work. That’s the “American Dream” narrative repackaged as the “Canadian promise”.

It’s slick propaganda that targets those suffering economic hardship. Image
Read 27 tweets
Apr 14
I’m actually not surprised that a couple negative experiences and people are willing to abandon their beliefs and values.

Some facts:

Journalists are human beings.

Gilmore has progressive values and beliefs.

Disinformation is used to manipulate perception & behaviour.
I have seen a tendency to favour radical left progressives in her analysis. But she remains quite accurate nonetheless. Gilmore hasn’t misrepresented facts & truth, often going above and beyond to establish a common reality & truth.

We are being forced to judge her credibility.
Where is mistrust originating? I’ll take a stab at this.

Gilmore wasn’t fired from her Friday fact checking segment. The management at CTV decided the backlash from loyal viewers wasn’t worth losing viewers (money) to establish reality.

It’s why for-profit businesses exist.
Read 24 tweets
Apr 4
This is sabotage of Liberal candidates using identity politics to destroy reputations.

Anyone under the impression these two people are pro Canada? No.

They’re antiestablishment anarcho syndicalists seeking to facilitate the social collapse we see occurring in US right now. Image
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This bullshit needs to be exposed!

It’s occurring on both ends of extreme politics.

Rebel News destroying an Edmonton candidate who had a great chance to oust Tim Uppal. Image
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When you align these efforts side by side, they’re the same.

They’re exactly the same.

Demonstrating clearly that the accusation I’ve made so many times about far left activists is 💯 accurate. Radical progressive left are NOT trying to win, they’re demoralizing voters.
Read 25 tweets
Apr 2
Ok. We all understand the bargaining chip rationale for the reason Smith should not keep mentioning export tariffs on O&G.

What I am now pointing out to Albertans is that Smith is and always has been an American bargaining chip.
Smith has done much to undermine the Team Canada bargaining position.

She is not advocating for Alberta from the position of loyal patriot. She’s bargaining on behalf of Trump’s interests; O&G oligarch’s interests.

Your confusion is understandable, she was elected as premier.
But was she really?

She was installed as leader after the former leader was ousted by radicalized religious fundamentalists in UCP. Kenney left even though he won the leadership confidence vote, but only by a small margin.

Since then, a “grassroots” movement took over.
Read 29 tweets
Mar 31
This is someone who is trying to get people to not vote.

Do not buy their bogus arguments. Image
In case you think I’m overreacting…

These are people trying to demoralize voters who have indicated a preference for the liberal party because of Trump. Because it’s clear LPC and PMMC are in majority party territory.

So this narrative is targeting the soft voter support. Image
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People who don’t typically vote Liberal but feel motivated by fear to lend PMMC support to prevent a calamity like US annexation.

Typically that would be NDP voters and centrist conservatives.

Trump & his international conspirators are seeking to create a minority government.
Read 20 tweets
Mar 29
What I find hilarious is the cons aren’t questioning PM Carney. They’re questioning the validity of his Oxford PhD.

Oxford is a top university that’s been in operation for roughly a millennia, since 1096.

Oxford is the oldest English speaking university globally.
But sure, Oxford’s standards are so weak they gave Carney a PhD without vetting his dissertation and it’s only come to be recognized as problematic 30 years later by Canadian cons desperately seeking a compromising narrative with which to smear PMMC during a federal campaign.
That accusation seems reasonable to some people? 🤪🤔🤭

Who? People who don’t have post secondary degrees or didn’t finish high school? That’s not disrespect. I have no expectations that those who don’t value educational achievement would appreciate the significance of Oxford.
Read 22 tweets

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