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I'm the Canadian who was detained by ICE for two weeks

(www.theguardian.com)
1009 points n1b0m | 5 comments | 19 Mar 25 11:21 UTC | HN request time: 0.954s | source
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sebstefan ◴[19 Mar 25 12:49 UTC] No.43411166[source]▶
>I was taken to the nurse’s office for a medical check. She asked what had happened to me. She had never seen a Canadian there before. When I told her my story, she grabbed my hand and said: “Do you believe in God?”

>“I believe God brought you here for a reason,” she said. “I know it feels like your life is in a million pieces, but you will be OK. Through this, I think you are going to find a way to help others.”

You've got to be fucked in the head to think this is an appropriate thing to do as an agent that's part of a federal process. Keep your god out of work!

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ta1243 ◴[19 Mar 25 13:00 UTC] No.43411323[source]▶
America has always been a theocracy under a veneer of democracy. She's lucky she didn't get renamed to Offred.
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1. ajkjk ◴[19 Mar 25 13:08 UTC] No.43411412[source]▶
yeah no it hasn't
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2. diggan ◴[19 Mar 25 13:30 UTC] No.43411720[source]▶
Isn't the bible involved in the whole inauguration part? Besides, candidates routinely discuss their faith, and "In God We Trust" appears on the currency.

Edit: Hah, I just realized that congressional sessions open with prayer as well. Not sure what other countries does this?

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3. ta1243 ◴[19 Mar 25 14:15 UTC] No.43412315[source]▶
Freedom of religion means you get to choose which sect of Christianity you worship, and if you're quiet about it you're allowed to be Jewish.
4. ToValueFunfetti ◴[19 Mar 25 15:49 UTC] No.43413588[source]▶
The bible is involved at the behest of the inauguree; we've had christian presidents, and so they've largely sworn in on the bible. John Quincy Adams used a book of laws, and Coolidge didn't use a book at all (there are a couple others, but they were unintentional).

Likewise, the US prayer is non-denominational (it typically is monotheistic though). Ireland, Canada, South Africa, and the UK also have parliamentary prayers.

UK currency often features the letters "D.G.", which are the initials to a latin phrase meaning "by the grace of God", but other European currency references to God have ended with the switch to the Euro.

The US certainly has above average entanglement of religiosity and governance, but hardly in a sense that makes it a theocracy. Politicians talking about faith and God is a very different thing from, eg, the country being run by the pope.

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5. greatpatton ◴[19 Mar 25 20:10 UTC] No.43416720{3}[source]▶
no but other countries don't invoke the bible all the time when debating laws.