Prejudice doesn’t belong in opinion

Dear editor: Two things caught my attention in the July 13th and July 14th issues of the Daily Courier. One headline stated “Young people favour reason over religion (written by Guy King) while the other was from the Wise Words column which stated; “Prejudice is a great time saver. You can form opinions without having to get the facts,” by E.B. White.

So how does that quote by Mr. White have anything to do with Mr. King?

King’s letter referred to a Canada Day column by Pastor Tim Schroeder entitled “Canada Day a challenge for Christians” (Okanagan Weekend, June 30). King writes: “Naturally Schroeder presents not a jot of evidence to support his beloved Christian faith other than Jesus would not have approved of some current 21st century developments.”

I assume Mr. King is genuine about the untruths he perceives in the Christian faith or he would not have taken the time to write to the Courier. If he wrote just to state his opinion, then a letter to the editor is a good format and there is no point to me writing this response.

If, however, he was trying to make a valid point, here’s a tip. By themselves, opinions have little power to convince. You must always let your reader know what your evidence is and how it led you to arrive at your opinion. (Source: Fowler, H. Ramsey. “The Little, Brown Handbook”.)

An example of using opinion without researching any facts is when he writes that “if the importance of critical thinking was taught from infancy it would counter unhelpful belief in supernatural entities and events that never can be proven.” Critical thinking is partially defined as the objective analysis of facts to form a judgment. (Source: Wikipedia.)

What critical thinking is not and has no place in serious argumentation is prejudice, a half-baked opinion based on insufficient or unexamined evidence. (Source: “Distinguishing Between Fact, Opinion, Belief, and Prejudice,” Writing@CSU.)

Although Mr. King accuses Pastor Schroeder of not supplying “one jot of evidence to support his beloved Christianity,” why didn’t Mr. King pursue his questions rather than making unsupported generalized statements with, as he accused Pastor Schroeder of doing? Not a jot of evidence to support what he had written.

So, which is important to you? Opinion or facts? One takes no effort, the other takes time and willingness to seek the truth. Your choice.

Murray Elliott Kelowna