Re: Have faith in the new Centre, Jul 18th

  • The editor states that “intelligent skepticism and questioning…are characteristic of all mature organizations, including religions.” However, was it skepticism and intelligence that sparked the Crusades or Spanish Inquisition in our past?
    It is also not true that “the vast majority of students who would use the Multi-Faith Centre for worship are critical thinkers who question and challenge their faith tradition” when doctrines like the Bible and Quran say you can’t question your faith or else you’ll go to hell.
    If the intended use for this centre is skepticism and inquiry then why is it not named the Centre for Skepticism and Inquiry, or centre for philosphy?

Elaine Cairns

  • The response by Colin Robert Ellis was excellent; I endorse his statement about the “Multi-Faith Centre” as an “incredible opportunity for us to expand the campus and to invite the entire campus community to come together and ask questions, some of which will be difficult.”
    The comment about the Centre as discriminatory is ironic, given the inclusive nature of the message of Jesus in the Gospels;
    Given, not only the search for truth, but also the application of truth of religion in general, who is the intruder in the university?
    Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life”. Given the origins of western education and of the University of Toronto, in and through the Church, how can the secular world wing now raise questions about intrusion?

Eunice Yantzi