Belittling a child at Alberta Next meeting was un-Christian
By Lethbridge Herald on October 4, 2025.
Editor,
On Sept. 30, I made the mistake of checking social media first thing in the morning. I was greeted with a video from the Alberta Next panel in Calgary, where a teenager — a child – began to ask a question about the teacher strike, only for his mic to be cut.Â
There is an argument that his question was not related to the topics the panel meant to address. But instead of saying that to the child, the moderator — the person whose job it is to keep things civil — told the child he ought to be punished. Physically. The moderator’s words were “your parents should turn you over their knee.”
Not only that, but he accused the child of ”not making sense.” I’m not sure how he felt qualified to make that judgment, since the child was cut off only a few seconds in.Â
Throughout the lead-up to teachers’ strike, the book banning debacle, and pushback over their LGBTQ+ policies, the UCP has repeatedly stated that they care for children and have children\’s best interests in mind.Â
They have claimed to be against censorship and open to civil discussion. So where was the civility in the moderator\’s response? Where was the respect and care for the child he was addressing? To preach freedom and family values while silencing a child, especially in such a hostile way, is hypocritical.
I’m not usually one to write letters to the editor, or to post about my political views on social media, but this event upset me too much to say nothing. As a religious person, I know many people support the UCP because they believe the UCP upholds their religious values. Of course I can\’t speak for everyone who shares my religion, because, as in any large religion, there are wide variations in beliefs.Â
But the Jesus I follow rebuked people who belittled children — even when those people were his closest friends. He told them to “let the little children come to me.” For my fellow believers, I have to wonder: do you follow the words of Jesus, who actually practiced what he preached about children, or will you continue to follow our Albertan Pharisees – a band of liars and hypocrites who are so determined to hold onto power that they will silence and encourage violence towards children?Â
Can we please, for the love of God, do better than this?
Lee-Ann Groenheide
Lethbridge
12-11
And how many so-called Christians keep voting for the unchristian-behaving UCP?
Ultra far right wing politics may appear to think that they hold the dibs on christianity…actions, and in this case, words, speak loudly, and unchristianly.
Further, is it thought by this UCP moderator and his UCP cohorts, that this young man, his friends, family, and acquaintances, would be likely to vote for the UCP in the future after him being treated this way? Do they care? If not, their toxic arrogance and presumptiveness is stunning. Is it a situation of the UCP can do, and say, anything they want without repercussions?
Here here
You’d think the morally and ethically bankrupt will eventually be called out for being unchristian.
2025 can easily be 1625, 1425, 1025…if we simply disregard technology and the massive degradation of the living planet.
in fact, while many prefer to feel technology and economic numbers are the markers of our growth and brilliance, it seems to me that the real markers of human evolution are ever heart and wisdom.
to that end, we may have notched a up teeny bit relative to centuries past. however, when you see enough of the masses get behind the likes of the ucp, trump, putin (hardly a revolt over far too many years of him, in a land that is not unfamiliar with revolt), charlie kirk ( yeah, i know, a martry bordering on jesus himself what with all the love he spewed), the numerous hater groups that abound, the bigots and intolerant that purport to have jesus as their lord and saviour, no less – oh, the irony – (truly, i doubt that one gets to be a nasty lout with a cold heart and gets to go a heaven simply by accepting jesus as son of god), and when you see a nation as wealthy as the usa (ok, rather impoverished at its core), and in a time of rapid info flow, not be able to acknowledge the stench of fascism enveloping its democracy so as to actually hit the streets to say the line has been drawn, well, we are watching in real time a pretty good sketch of what happened in the 1930s in several european countries that were also beholden to the fascist spell.
looking back from some future time, the difference between today and the 1930s will mostly be that newsreels from today are not filmed in black and white.