Don’t get hung up on a typo…and I won’t get hung up on the typo you made in the line “And do you the meaning of the word “ignorance”” which should contain the word ‘know’ after the word ‘you’ and a question mark at the end. We all make typos, so I’m not going to discuss that any further.

The ignorance I was pointing out was on these issues:
Just because you lived in Steinbach for a year does not mean that your generalization about an entire community becomes valid. What you’re saying is in the same line as those who say ignorant things like “All Muslims are violent” or things like that. No town or culture or people is just one thing, and you seem to believe that you were the only athiest living in a town where everyone else was a fundamentalist Christian. This is ignorance, because this is clearly impossible. I know many athiests living in Steinbach, and many other people who are not fundamentalist Christians.

Let me address the specifics of your original post and demonstrate their innacuracy:

A) You say: “The public schools still use public prayer despite the fact that in every other public school I’ve ever been to (and I moved a lot as a kid) that is illegal.”
-this is the one point you made that is closest to being true. Many of the teachers, especially in the High School do not do the religious opening exercizes, and they are optional, not mandatory for students. Although, I agree with you, they should be gotten rid of completely.

B) You say: “The town got together and changed a lot of laws… they don’t even sell alcohol of any sort within city limits.”
-As of 2003, a referendum was passed that allows the sale of liquor in Steinbach. You can now down pints of Guinness like everyone else at the local British-style pub. (I’m serious). Secondly, the use of alcohol in Steinbach has never been illegal.

C) You say: “The place has 5,000 people, not 10,000 like the visitor said, and more than 30 churches.” There may be 30 churches; I’m not sure. But the population, if you check the 2006 census is over 11,000 and Steinbach is growing at a faster rate (percentage) than even places like Calgary. Even in 1999 when you say you lived in Steinbach, the census population was over 9,000, not 5,000 like you say. (If Steinbach was such a backwards place, why would so many people (and these aren’t Mennonites – these are Europeans mostly) moving there?)

D) You say: “Most, of course, were hudderite, mennonite and amish and until I came along I don’t think most of the kids knew that other people could be athiests…” This comment demonstrates a lot of ignorance, because you obviously do not know what a Hutterite or Amish is. There are no Amish people living in Steinbach. There are also no Hutterites. Hutterities live on colonies; they do not live in cities or towns. While, many Steinbachers consider themselves Mennonites, they are not of the “Children of the Corn” variety. Most modern Mennonites are indistinguishable from other people. As for the kids not knowing that athiests exist – all I can say is that I personally know many athiests, some of them teenagers, in Steinbach. And certainly the people are aware of the existence of athiests.

E) You say: “and one little mennonite child I saw at McDonald’s one day was so badly beaten I was amazed she was walking around (black eyes, belt loop marks, the whole nine yards and I doubt she was 2)....”
Talk about stereotyping. If I saw a black person or a Jew or a Native Canadian that had been beaten would it give me the right to imply that all people of that group beat eachother? No. So, why do you think you can give this example as proof that somehow Mennonites beat their children. Mennonites, in fact, are pacifists. Do some research.

F) Children with bonnets? Ha. At the public high school in Steinbach, a school of over 1200 students, there is not a single student wearing a bonnet. I don’t know where you got that idea.

So, in conclusion, I am calling your comments ignorant, not because you can’t have your own opinion, but because your facts are wrong.

It’s trendy these days to be intolerant of Christianity. And I, personally, have a lot of problems with the Christian right. But I think your comments are, in a sense, fundamentalist, because you have blocked yourself from seeing reality and have allowed your biases (what you want to believe) to distort your perceptions of things.

Have you read “A Complicated Kindness” by Miriam Toews? It was a best-selling novel about a girl growing up in Steinbach (though the name of the town has been changed). It’s a great novel, and it did cause some controversy because of how it portrayed Steinbach…but that novel at least attempted to be fair in its depiction (she at least had a sense of humour) something that you have not done.