Kevin Annett and The United Church of Canada

Dear United Church of Canada,

Please note that it has not escaped my attention that you access my blog every time I write about Kevin Annett. You should also know that I have made him aware of this fact.

So, since I fully expect you to show up like a bad penny when I post this, I would like to take this opportunity to have a chat with you.

Don't you think it's time that you put your big boy pants on and behaved like mature adults instead of recalcitrant children having a temper tantrum and refusing to take responsibility for your rather shameless history and despicable treatment of Kevin Annett?

What would your Christ have to say about your treatment of the aboriginal children in the Residential Schools in Canada?

"Whatever you have done unto the least you have done to me!"

 What would your Christ have to say about your treatment of Kevin Annett over the past 30 or so years?

"First, take the log out of your own eye, then you will see clearly to take the little speck out of someone else's eye."

What would your Christ say about Kevin Annett?

A man who has done nothing more than take your Christ's words to heart and try to give those children a voice. The children who are now adult survivors of your abuse and those who died brutally at your hands. 

"It's better for someone to have a heavy stone tied around his neck and thrown into the sea than for that person to offend one of these little children."

We all know the truth of what happened in those Residential Schools and we all know that those adult survivors of abuse at your hands are telling the truth. So I'm not going to quibble with you or anyone else over the facts nor am I interested in hearing any rationalizations or spin on those facts.

Facts:

1.  Aboriginal Canadian children were kidnapped from their homes.

2. Aboriginal Canadian parents were forced to give up their children, often at gunpoint or through other threats.

3. Aboriginal Canadian children were forced to attend Church-run Residential Schools, both Protestant and Catholic.

4. In all of these Residential Schools, including those run by the United Church, children were routinely:

a. brutally physically abused amounting to torture

b. sexually abused both by staff and by being handed over to pedophile rings

c. prohibited from speaking their own languages

d. prohibited from practicing their cultures

e. murdered

f. had proper medical care withheld

g. were likely subjected to involuntary human experimentation

amongst other things.

I think that your refusal to:

1. publicly acknowledge your history by acknowledging that the victims story are true

2. compensate the victims as an act of atonement so that they can forgive you

Is a crime, never mind a sin against your God.

"Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled."

And your life long malicious persecution of Kevin Annett can be best described as the despicable act of cowards.

"A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control."

How can you expect forgiveness and reconciliation without atonement? 

Please:

1. end the persecution, abuse and smear campaign against Kevin Annett

2. atone for your abuse of Kevin by compensating him

And please:

1. publicly acknowledge the truth of the stories as related by the adult survivors of Residential School abuse including the ones about the children murdered

2. atone for your abuse of these children by compensating them

3. give the murdered children justice by acknowledging the burial sites and supporting any investigation into the burial sites

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives."

These acts can open the door to truth and reconciliation.

 "Physician, heal thyself"

Assuming that's what you really want and not just a means to sweep the whole mess under the carpet.

"Do unto others as you would have others do unto you."

Dear United Church of Canada, this post was written by an ethical atheist who apparently has far higher moral standards than you do. One who would never join any religion for any reason, particularly given the sheer hypocrisy and despicable behavior of many (not all) religions followers and organized religious structures like yours.

It's churches like yours and followers like you who turn more people away from your God and your Christ than any mythological Satan or Anti-Christ, although that's a convenient excuse.

Please feel free to continue to visit my blog when I write about Kevin's activities, your malicious persecution of him, and the despicable history of your church. You might learn something.

"Love Thy Neighbor"

Sincerely,

Kitty Hundal