Calgary mayoral candidate Larry Heather slams Mayor Naheed Nenshi’s Muslim faith

[CougarKing]

While this is somewhat related to the "Multiculturalism or Melting Pot" thread, the Calgary mayoral race is a topic that deserves its own thread...

I don't how see how this Larry Heather can simultaneously preach about the city's need to "renew a convenant with God" according to his faith while simultaneously disparaging Naheed Nenshi's faith for not "separating Church (Mosque) and State".

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While I'll leave it to actual Calgarians here to comment, I just got the impression (at least from watching this from Vancouver where I am) that Nenshi was pretty secular/non-religious in the way he did things there in AB...

Yahoo News

Calgary mayoral candidate slams Naheed Nenshi’s Muslim faith

By Andy Radia | Canada Politics – Wed, 9 Oct, 2013.

(...)

Well, meet Calgary's colourful mayoralty candidate: Larry Heather, a gospel radio show host looking to oust current Mayor Naheed Nenshi.

Heather, 59, describes himself as the campaign's Christian choice.

On his website, Heather takes a direct swipe Nenshi's Muslim faith.

In light of the recent Islamic terrorist Attacks does it make sense for Calgary voters to endorse a Mayor who will and has sworn into Office with his hand on the Koran?

Of Course, equating criticism of a religion's failings with racial discrimination ( race is a God ordained and sacred thing by the way ) is an example of shoddy, illogical thinking. Both Christianity and Islam are multiracial faiths. But the consistent application of the written beliefs produce entirely different results as we see in the nightly news.

When a mayor's office is sworn in, that person represents the people of Calgary corporately as an entity. And the faith sworn upon corporately should be capable of maintaining a democratic system that originated upon the Judeo-Christian values base. Also be assured, that the Islamic world makes no separation of Church (Mosque) and State.

While Heather contends that "discrimination against race and religion is wrong", he made similar comments at a recent all candidates meeting.

"We have a broken covenant with the God of the Bible that needs to be renewed," he said, according to CBC News.

Heather's religious slant doesn't mean he isn't a legitimate candidate with a well thought out platform.

According to his website, he believes in social conservatism, free enterprise and is particularly concerned about the 32 per cent rise in taxes under Nenshi's reign.

In 2010, Heather sought a public school trustee position finished in seventh place (2nd last) with 1,577 votes.

According to the Huffington Post, Heather is also being chided on message boards for his dated website which really does look like it was created in 1995.

Mr. Heather, however, seems to take those criticisms in stride.

"This is a slam against my website skills, which are not of the cookie cutter variety," he wrote on the site.

"But nevertheless,on Sept. 24th 2013 the website went viral and half way through the day had clocked 7,042 unique visitors and 9499 page clicks. The opening page expresses the lingering sorrow and shock of the 2010 mayoral outcome, with the loss of a Christian view representing that office."

Calgarians go to the polls on October 21st.

 

[pbi]

"But nevertheless,on Sept. 24th 2013 the website went viral and half way through the day had clocked 7,042 unique visitors and 9499 page clicks. The opening page expresses the lingering sorrow and shock of the 2010 mayoral outcome, with the loss of a Christian view representing that office."

Perhaps his rather limited idea of what constitutes a "viral" website by today's standards explains the rest of Mr Heather's viewpoint: he just doesn't quite get it.

I'm tempted to indulge in one of my favourite rants against religious fundamentalism in all its stripes, but I won't bother. Heather is free to say what he wants, and the people of Calgary are free to vote the way they want.

 

[jollyjacktar]

I'm an "ex-Calgarian" as duty has planted me on the East Coast.  Mayor Nenshi has only been someone that I've seen on bits and drabs of news clips as of late, especially from the floods this past spring.  He left me with a very good impression (or at least the video editing did), if I'm correct in my impression of his Worship, then he's bang on as a Mayor or at least is what I would desire as a citizen of Calgary and would have my vote hands down.

I'm sorry to see that there is some mud slinging happening in this campaign.  But if I was still a resident in Calgary, Nenshi would have my vote as he's demonstrated he has the stuff.  Calgarians aren't stupid, they'll see the candidates for what they are I'm sure and will select the best of the litter to run the city.

 

[Blackadder1916]

Maybe I should be paying greater attention to the upcoming municipal election but it seems to be a foregone conclusion that Nenshi will retain the mayor's chair.  Frankly, this is the first time that I've heard of this Mr. Heather, but then again, I don't listen to gospel radio at all (or much gospel).  As much as it was notable in the last Calgary municipal election (Nenshi's first) that the religion/heritage of our current mayor didn't matter or was even discussed locally except for a mild "so what", the greatest focus on the issue was an attempt by some national/international media to portray it as an iconic turning point in the values of the city.  We still didn't care.  The greatest significance (in my opinion) of Nenshi's last campaign was the brilliant use of social media.  Since then he has definitely become the pre-eminent "celebrity mayor" in Canada and that has undoubtedly bolstered his campaign this time.  But since the major rival among big city Canadian mayors for media attention was Mayor Ford of Toronto, it's hard not to shine.

As for Mr. Heather, he's a fringe candidate within a fringe element of the city's population.  Fringe of a fringe? Sounds like lint and will probably be as much of a distraction in the coming election.

 

[pbi]

  ...As much as it was notable in the last Calgary municipal election (Nenshi's first) that the religion/heritage of our current mayor didn't matter or was even discussed locally except for a mild "so what", the greatest focus on the issue was an attempt by some national/international media to portray it as an iconic turning point in the values of the city.  We still didn't care...

And that, I think, is where we want to get to in this country: to "who cares". By that I mean, just let a good leader be a good leader. Never mind if a person is black, aboriginal, female, gay, Muslim or whatever. Just shut up about that, and worry about what kind of a job people really do.