BJ BODNAR
Opinions Writer

Many Canadians were shocked by the surprise election of incoming Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi this past week.

The shock was not as a result of an edgy or ground-breaking platform, nor because of Nenshi’s controversial stance on, well, anything.

The uproar was over the fact that he is an openly practising Muslim.

Yes, Calgary — the cowboy boot-wearing, pickup truck-driving, right-leaning capital of Canadian conservativism — elected a Muslim mayor. And as if this wasn’t enough of a kick in the face to the good and proper citizens of southern Alberta, there’s more: with Nenshi’s election, Calgary now holds the distinction of being the first major city in North America to ever elect an openly Muslim candidate. I can only imagine what the good people of Bismarck, N.D., and Casper, Wyo., are saying about the Calgarians they once respected and admired.

Not surprisingly, there has been some hostility from the more conservative Christian factions of southern Alberta who don’t seem willing to accept the “unforgivable” religious background of the incoming mayor. Questions of values, competency, intentions and morality have begun to be raised. Of course, none of these questions are grounded on his political record, his campaign or his philosophies around governance. Instead, they have all focused on — surprise! — Nenshi’s religious background.

For some, the idea of the mayor prescribing to a minority faith is downright outrageous, and is sure to come with a set of unimaginably dire consequences.

I don’t want to delve into the realm of defending anyone’s religious beliefs, nor do I want to be critical of any one group. What strikes me about this case, however, is the sheer absurdity of judging the competencies of a municipal politician based on his or her religious background and faith.

The first point to consider is that religious ideology has very little place in the decision making process of the mayor’s office. Something tells me that when it comes to maintaining water lines, updating infrastructure, repairing roadways and planning green space, major religions have little to offer in the way of prescriptive advice. If I’m not mistaken, both the prophet Mohammad and Jesus tended to focus on issues of a slightly higher moral significance than curbside recycling. I somehow doubt that they would have differed greatly on their views of how to effectively operate a city transit system or clear the roadways after a snowfall.

The truth of the matter is that religion should not be the focal point with which we make political decisions, especially in a place like Canada, where a diverse range of faiths co-exist in the same nation. If you want a government that makes decisions based on religious doctrine instead of democratic, secular values, book a trip to Iran or one of the Taliban-controlled areas of Afghanistan. Personally, I would prefer to elect political figures based on their tangible credentials to manage a government as opposed to which messiah they claim to believe in.

We have a bad habit of equating religion to morality and using this measure to assess the character of others. If we truly want to have the most qualified people in positions of power in this country, then this has to stop. In the case of Naheed Nenshi, let us hope that he turns out to be the competent, capable mayor that his credentials suggest he should be and proves that the doubts and criticisms were both baseless and unnecessary.

Dry & Toothy is a weekly critical commentary column from BJ Bodnar, who has been the recipient of the National Environmental Achievement Award, was named to the Top 20 Under 20 in Canada, and represented Canada at the World Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.

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image: Flickr