Politics

Should Alberta Separate? Why one Christian decided to vote no

“Canada is like an old cow. The West feeds it. Ontario and Quebec milk it. And you can well imagine what it’s doing in the Maritimes.”
~ attributed to Tommy Douglas, premier of Saskatchewan from 1944-1961

I am a true-blue Albertan, born and raised in this province, and I truly haven’t found a better place to live. However, with a referendum looming in October I’ve been presented with the choice of whether my allegiance is to Alberta or to my country Canada. In October, Albertans will vote on the question:

“Should Alberta remain a province of Canada, or should the Government of Alberta commence the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada?”

Maybe your back goes up immediately – with words like disloyal, unpatriotic, and betrayal going through your mind. Or maybe you feel disillusioned with Canada and understand why a province would want to separate.

If I’m perfectly honest, I never felt like Alberta independence was a real thing. It’s been an idea at the back of Alberta political dialogue for my whole life, but mostly proposed in a joking way – “Wouldn’t we be better off if we were our own country?” But now the sentiment is real enough to send enough signatures on a petition to get the question put to a referendum.

Despite my skepticism of independence, I have always been sympathetic to western alienation. But my instinct was still to vote “stay” – that there was something good about loyalty, that grievance wasn’t enough of a reason to leave, that respect for my country meant not tearing it apart. But my instinct was not enough. So, when faced with writing this article, I knew what I had to do – I had to go beyond my own feelings and impressions. I needed to go out and talk to other Albertans, to figure out what exactly was going on, and to hear in their own words why they supported or did not support independence. But more importantly than that, I needed to compare their thoughts and opinions to the Word of God. What should Christians think of all this separatism talk?

Background

Let’s first start with the “why” behind the independence movement. I have sympathy for western alienation, and in my view it started with the eastern provinces viewing the development of the West as a resource for them to profit from. And while that makes sense from the perspective of Central Canada, the West never felt fully included in Canada.

Oil complicated this picture. It turned Alberta from a “have not” province based on farming to a “have” province based on oil, and gave it some power in terms of financial wealth. However, the federal government saw this as further resources to profit from, and implemented a series of taxes and programs to spread the financial wealth around the rest of Canada.

For example, here is how one prominent supporter of Albertan independence, Tim Stevens, put it in a speech on April 10:

“Alberta, having about 12% of the population of Canada, contributes nearly 20% to the federal tax revenue. And when this takes place, we have very little influence over the political future of our country. For instance, many of the elections are decided by Ontario and Quebec. And before people here even cast their vote, who our next government is going to be has already been decided.”

There is a feeling in Alberta that many provinces in Canada are happy to take our money as long as we don’t have any opinions on either how the country is run or what the federal government wants to do in our own province. Separatists will argue that through all these years, Albertans have tried through various political means to reform this system, to give Alberta a louder voice in a country they fund. Their conclusion is that the lack of success makes separation our only option.

So this is why I’m sympathetic to some of the arguments of the separatists. However, this raises several questions. Is “grievance” enough of a reason to base a new country on? Or even just the simple fact of being treated unfairly? God calls us to respect and obey our leaders, which means we have some responsibility in the place where we’re at. When do we judge we’ve made “enough” effort and our responsibility has come to an end? Lastly, there’s the question of the harm it would cause to our brothers and sisters in the rest of Canada. Even the mention of separation causes some economic instability. Is this justified?

I’m sympathetic and yet I feel a deep loyalty to Canada, and the home it provided to my Dutch ancestors fleeing the aftermath of WWII, to my husband when he immigrated, and now provides to our family.

“Personally, I argue that Alberta independence is compatible with biblical Christianity,” says Michael Wagner, another well-known supporter of independence, “but desiring Canada to stay together can also legitimately be a Christian perspective. So I don’t think the Bible requires Alberta Christians to support independence.”

Each Christian needs to think about why they are voting one way or the other.

Love for country, love for neighbor

While the motivations for separation are understandable, so is the backlash against the idea. For those who love Canada, it stirs up strong emotions. It’s like a sibling threatening to leave the family or to go “no contact.” This is true not only in the rest of the country, but in Alberta itself. While much of Alberta feels alienated from the political apparatus out East, many still feel deep loyalty and patriotism for Canada itself. Some have even become Canadian citizens specifically because they love Canada, and don’t want to be part of a different country. This is why this issue has become so divisive.

I began to reach out to various friends to hear how they’ve been thinking this issue through. “We have also been given political responsibility as those who vote,” one says to me.

“In a small way, we are those who bear the sword when we vote, when we choose what we believe is right for our nation. It is not evil to make what one believes to be the right choice in that vote. What is evil is insurrection, rebellion, and violence. But a referendum (democratic vote) is none of those things. Nor is a free discussion about why we think a political decision is right or wrong. Christians should concur with the legitimate result of the election, but they are free to think and vote as they see fit.”

It is true that mechanisms for provinces to leave have been worked out by the courts, and Alberta is not the first province to explore the option of leaving (see Quebec and Nova Scotia). It’s not immoral to explore an existing legal pathway to independence. But the motivations and reasons behind doing so may be.

Take the issue of grievances. “It’s one thing to forgive a grievance when it’s in the past,” the same friend tells me. “It’s another to remain complicit when that injustice is still ongoing. We can love (an act, not a feeling) our nation without believing that the nation has our best interests at heart.”

However, another friend argues, “As a father, I do not want to raise my boys to think that if you feel like you are treated unfairly, the answer is to threaten grievous harm to get what you want. That’s extortion and sinful.” He goes on to add, “A sovereign God has overseen this election, Carney is doing some good things in which I can rejoice, and I can pray for God’s hand in those areas that concern me and trust in Him.”

Next, I decide to reach out to my sister and get her opinion. She texts back to me: “One of the things that comes up the most often in the Bible is ‘take care of the widows and orphans and the poor’ – will separating improve people’s lives? Right now equalization payments benefit poorer provinces – isn’t that a good thing from a Christian perspective?”

I quickly text back, “One argument would be that the Bible teaches us to voluntarily help the poor, not that other people (the government) should make us help the poor.”

She replies, “I would say that it’s more that we should have an attitude of helping the poor – including through the government.”

That resonated with me, because it put into words something I had been struggling to articulate. If I want to keep Alberta’s money because I resent helping others like me in the rest of Canada, maybe my motivation is wrong. I might not agree with exactly how the government takes the money, but I should maintain my care for others even while I might advocate for better use of the money we send.

Lastly, I decide to listen to a speech available on YouTube on a Christian perspective on Albertan independence. In it, Clint Humfrey, senior pastor of Calvary Grace Church in Calgary, urges Christians to support the cause:

“That is what we need today here in Alberta. We need to expect great things from God and attempt great things for God... We ought to seek the relief of our neighbors groaning. We ought to seek the relief of our own groaning in our churches, but we also ought to seek the relief of our children’s future and the provision for them... If you have no hope, you will not be able to have the drive to see what could be done. And it starts with having hope in Jesus Christ for eternal life. And that then gives you the ability to have hope to try things… to try things all for the glory of God.”

For a brief moment, his excitement fired me up. But his vision was not my vision, though I certainly care about doing great things for God. The energy and effort required to build a new nation is not where I feel God calling me to work today, even as I try to care for my neighbors around me in my quiet, ordinary life.

Love for God

I feel somewhat lost in all the arguments for and against. My husband is one of the people whose opinions I value most in this world. So, on a recent trip out of town I took the opportunity of discussing it with him.

“Why don’t you support independence?” I ask.

“Because it’s about money,” he says. “What are we supposed to do when we’re afraid? Rely on God and keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. Yes, things are hard for people and gas prices are high. But – ” he gestures at the fields as we drive by, “wouldn’t you say Alberta is rich?”

“Ye-es,” I answer, thinking of the not-so-rich country my husband grew up in.

“So Alberta is prosperous, let’s trust God will continue to prosper us.”

“Okay, so what about this,” I say. “The argument is that the federal government does a lot of unchristian things with our money, and if we kept more of it we could use it for more Christian things.”

“Really?” he says. “Do you really think Alberta is more Christian? Alberta isn’t more Christian.”

“Why do you say that?”

“We have all the same issues as the rest of Canada.”

“But maybe statistically the number of Christians is slightly higher in Alberta?”

“Think about it,” he says. “Say the Prime Minister gives us what we want – more say, and lets us keep our money. We’d be happy, right? We say it’s all these unchristian laws, but that makes me think it’s about the money.”

I nod along because in my discussions I had come across many supporters of having more sovereignty but staying in Canada (and using this referendum as leverage to get it), or arguments that threatening separation had worked for Quebec so we should do it too. I think there are ardent separatists for whom nothing but independence would satisfy, and I hope Christians who vote to leave are not primarily motivated by the idea of leverage – but this group is smaller than the number of people who might vote “leave.”

“So, biblically,” I say, “what would you say the Christian thing is to do?”

“What does the Bible say? ‘Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s.’ That goes deeper than money – it goes to everything: respect, support, everything unless the government comes against our faith.”

I nod again, thinking of something similar John Calvin said that I’d read a while back:

“But Peter requires something more of us when he says, ‘Honor the king’ (1 Pet. 2: 17); and Solomon, when he says, ‘My son, fear thou the Lord and the king’ (Prov. 24: 21). For, under the term honor, the former includes a sincere and candid esteem, and the latter, by joining the king with God, shows that he is invested with a kind of sacred veneration and dignity...”

My husband looks over at me.

“And you know what? The government is coming against our faith. Why not fight that more? We’re willing to stand up for our money, to fight taxes, etc. We’ll fight when the government takes our money and gives it to someone else, but otherwise we stick to ourselves because we don’t want to rock the boat.”

He pauses. “There’s a reason God gave us this government, and put these people in power over us. Maybe it’s to teach us how much we need to call on Him.”

I think about all the energy that had gone into this separatism debate, and whether it was distracting us from other things.

He reaches over and grabs my hand. “Look at Psalms 35-40. I’ve been reading these in the morning lately. It’s all about the poor being oppressed. But who rescues them? God. Who fixes injustice? God. We need to cry out to Him. He’s the one who has our lives in His hands.”

Later, I look up Psalms 35-41. In Psalm 37, I read:

Trust in the Lord and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
… Be still before the Lord
and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when people succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.
Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
do not fret – it leads only to evil.
For those who are evil will be destroyed,
but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.

We can spend a lot of time fretting in our lives, over what we perceive as unfair, over evildoers “getting away” with something, over what might happen in our futures. But we don’t need to despair when God is on our side.

***

I want to be fair, so I reach out to Michael Wagner by email. He replies:

“The federal government in recent years has imposed policies on Alberta that undermine the well-being of many Albertans and their families. Looking for an alternative that provides a better future for Alberta has nothing to do with greed, ungodly grievances, or threats. Independence is an option that would make it possible for Albertans to choose political leaders who will adopt policies that will benefit Alberta rather than harm Alberta.”

He also says, “It’s about justice, not greed.”

I think about the issues at hand for many evenings as I rock my baby to sleep, staring at her beautiful face and wondering about the kind of future I want for my family. For me, my journey over the past couple years has been learning to fully trust God with everything in my life. To let go of control and really believe God will take care of my life. What kind of country do I want my daughter to live in?

I think about the “what if” vision that the supporters of independence have put forward, a vision of a more Christian nation we could build if we could just start over from scratch. I think about how much easier it is to tear things down rather than to build them. I think about Canada stagnating, losing its place in the world, and what that would look like for my daughter’s future. I think about the nation that I love and what I would want to tell her about it.

Ultimately I don’t have control over the future. It is enough if my daughter is able to trust herself into the hands of God.

And in the end, I will stay Albertan AND Canadian. I don’t see a compelling vision of Alberta as a sovereign nation yet, and I haven’t given up on Canada. I haven’t done everything in my power to change the country I love for the better yet. And so I will continue to trust myself and my family into God’s hands.

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Politics

Canada’s law was based on God’s Word

Blackstone, Britain, the Bible and the legal heritage of the English-speaking countries ***** Canada’s law was largely based on God’s law. That’s a claim many would dispute – they don’t want to give God credit for the freedoms, and legal protections we enjoy in our country. But disputing the facts doesn’t change them. Canada’s political and legal institution can largely be traced back to Britain – our “mother country” – and when the British laid down the foundations of their own legal system, they were an officially Christian country (with Anglicanism in England and Presbyterianism in Scotland) that had set out to build their laws and legal system on a biblical foundation. It is this Christian legal and political foundation that Britain transferred to Canada. Documenting Scriptural influence During the eighteenth century an English legal scholar, Sir William Blackstone (1723-1780), wrote a multi-volume set of books called the Commentaries on the Laws of England. This was no ordinary set of legal books. Blackstone’s Commentaries were quickly accepted as the authoritative account of English law and philosophy of law. This is noteworthy because in the Commentaries Blackstone was very explicit about the influence of the Bible upon the law of his time. Robert Stacey, a professor of government at Regent University in Virginia, has written about the significance of Blackstone in his book, Sir William Blackstone & the Common Law. In our day it often seems that the law works against Christianity, so Christians need to be reminded that our current legal situation is a deviation from our country’s history. In this book Stacey briefly traces the development of common law in England and how Blackstone deeply influenced the American colonies and the early American republic. 800s - King Alfred’s “Dooms” A key figure in the initial development of common law was King Alfred the Great of England. He formulated a body of law known as “Alfred’s Dooms” in the ninth century that relied on the Ten Commandments as well as other aspects of the Mosaic Law and the New Testament. Stacey writes that the Dooms were “steeped in Christian principles of right and wrong” and they “became the starting point for English law to come.” 1200s – Magna Carta In 1215 some prominent English citizens forced King John to sign the Magna Carta which placed significant limits on the monarch’s power and recognized certain rights and liberties for English subjects. The idea that monarchs are not above the law, but are under it just as their subjects are, was a central theme that reflected Biblical ideals. 1600s – King and country are not above God During the seventeenth century, Edward Coke, a major judicial and political figure in England at that time, led the fight against Charles I, a king who claimed illegitimate powers for himself. According to Stacey, Coke “resisted both Crown and Parliament whenever either attempted to operate outside its common law boundaries or act in violation of God’s law.” He also wrote a multi-volume Institutes of the Laws of England which was the standard work on English law until Blackstone’s Commentaries in the latter part of the eighteenth century. Anyway, the overall point that Stacey is trying to make by surveying the history of English law is that “the common law emanates from a distinctly Christian worldview.” More precisely, “the common law traces its origin to two sources, Holy Scripture and the natural law.” It’s important not to be confused by the term “natural law” in this context – today that term is often used to describe foundational law that finds its origin in Nature rather than God. But Blackstone did not see it as a rival authority to the Bible. Rather, in using that term he is “acknowledging the common law’s roots in Scripture and God’s created order, as applied to the circumstances of England by many past generations of great Englishmen, exercising a providentially granted wisdom that was perhaps less common in Blackstone’s own, more humanistic age.” Or to put it another way, Blackstone was using the term “natural law” for what the Apostle Paul describes in Romans 2:14-15 as the law that is written on our hearts. 1700s – Christian legal heritage challenged Already in the eighteenth century, English law was being challenged by Enlightenment-inspired secularists. Blackstone defended the earlier Christian heritage of the law. In contrast to the man-centered concepts of law, “Perhaps the most foundational principle for the whole of common law is the axiom that the source of all good and just law is outside of man. Man does not act on his own to produce justice, but acts justly only when he conforms to external standards of justice, in short, the law of God.” Blackstone was very influential in his own day as well as during much of the nineteenth century. His Commentaries appeared in the late 1760s and sold thousands of copies in England and America. According to Stacey: “His intellectual and practical impact on American political philosophy, governing institutions, and legal system being more profound than it was even in England, Blackstone’s Commentaries may be justly counted among the foundational canon of America.” “According to some estimates, the Commentaries were the most widely read work in revolutionary America after the Bible.” Blackstone’s Commentaries remained the standard for American legal education until the second half of the nineteenth century when secular theories of law began to dominate the field. The United States and Britain were not the only countries where law was powerfully affected by Blackstone: “Blackstone’s influence was also felt in such far-flung corners as Canada, Australia, New Zealand . . .” and certain other countries. The fact that Blackstone helped to shape the law and legal education in the English-speaking countries is not just historical trivia. His influential perspective on law both reflected and helped to develop the Christian foundation of law in these countries. “Blackstone effectively advocated a God-centered legal system at a time when many leading culture-shapers sought to impose a man-centered system.” Christian influence waning Looking at Blackstone’s Commentaries reveals the degree to which the common law of England – and therefore also the USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand – was rooted in a Christian worldview. This Christian influence on the law has been progressively discarded over the last few decades, but it was there for hundreds of years previously. It’s not a coincidence that these countries are becoming less hospitable to Christians as the Christian foundation of law is being lost. Law is always rooted in a particular philosophical perspective, and if that perspective isn’t shaped by Christianity, it will be shaped by a different worldview. Modern law in the developed English-speaking countries is increasingly shaped by secular humanism which is inherently hostile to Christianity. It is a very different perspective on law than the original perspective Canada inherited from its “mother country.” This first appeared in the April 2011 issue....

Politics

Introducing ARPA Academy

A one-month program in Ottawa to sharpen and shape you! ***** RP’s Nov/Dec 2024 issue – the “Get Educated, Not Schooled” edition – described all sorts of opportunities for young people to consider for after they’d graduated from high school. The possibilities discussed ranged from attending university to entering trade school to starting a family. Now ARPA is pleased to offer a new opportunity this coming summer: ARPA Academy! Abraham Kuyper famously said, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: Mine!” As Reformed Christians, we believe in the sovereignty of God and His providential rule over all things. What does that actually mean for Canadian law and politics? ARPA Academy seeks to help answer this very question. The 5 Ws ARPA Academy will be a one-month program in Ottawa to prepare young people aged 18-25 for faithful political engagement. Not only will the program be offered at no cost to participants, ARPA will also offer a small stipend to help cover expenses for the month. While participants will be responsible for finding their own housing, ARPA staff will suggest options and assist where necessary. Throughout the month of August, participants will explore biblical and Reformed worldview foundations for political action, learn about Canada’s constitutional history and legal system, study current policy issues, and develop key skills through readings, assignments, interactive sessions, and direct grassroots action. ARPA Academy will address questions such as “What does the Lordship of Christ over the political square look like in a society that largely does not recognize or understand His rule?” and “How does that apply to the wide variety of law and public policy issues?” The focus of ARPA Academy is on education and worldview training, but it also aims to prepare participants to be involved in politics in the future. While in Ottawa, participants will meet with political staff, lawyers, and non-profit leaders to learn about different careers. If a participant wants to pursue a hands-on internship, work on Parliament Hill, or get involved with a local non-profit organization after ARPA Academy is completed, ARPA staff can help make connections to pursue these goals. Some participants may go on to work full time in law, politics, or advocacy. Others may decide to pursue very different lines of work. In either case, participants will deepen their Christian worldview and be better equipped to be engaged and active Christian citizens. Lucas, one of last year’s ARPA interns, had this to say about his time deepening his understanding of politics from a Reformed worldview: “My experience at ARPA gave me a broad understanding of Canadian politics and the functioning of our political system. It also sharpened my worldview, enabling me to think critically about issues from a Christian perspective. This has allowed me to become a more effective citizen and has enabled me to take political action in my community.” Benefits to consider I’m excited about the ARPA Academy because in my own life it’s opportunities like this that helped me immensely. I spent a semester in Ottawa while in university, and that confirmed for me that I wanted to work in political advocacy for the long term. There were three other key components I learned from my own opportunities that I want to share, because they are also a focus for ARPA Academy. First, my time in Ottawa helped me better understand the nature of politics and political advocacy at a worldview and practical level, including a hopefulness because of God’s sovereignty over all things. Second, I had the opportunity to meet and learn from many devout Christians working on and around Parliament Hill, who were seeking to apply their Christian faith to politics for the good of their neighbors and their country. Finally, it allowed me to see what kinds of career options existed in the political and non-profit world and where I could fit into that kind of work. Whether you’re just out of high school, finished university, doing a trades apprenticeship, or between jobs, this is worth considering. This one-month program is an opportunity for Christian youth to engage with Reformed Christian thought and apply it to the world around them. Applications for ARPA Academy will open in December 2025. Check out our webpage for more information about the program and how to apply. If you have any questions, or would like to be added to an email list for updates, contact [email protected]....

Politics

What if everything was about God?

It struck me, just recently, that I’ve been regularly promising to praise God’s Name “among the nations.” This pledge, to talk about God outside of church, out in the world, with non-Christians, comes up again and again in the songs we sing each service (Ps. 18, 57, 108, etc.). And, just recently, God gave me an opportunity to talk about Him with more than a hundred thousand people, sharing His views on a local political issue. God made it happen This year our public library system asked voters to approve a roughly 66% increase in taxpayer funding. The way things work here, an official “voters’ guide” is sent out to everyone, and it includes both the reasons for and against every proposed levy. Who writes up those reasons? Whoever volunteers first. So, I recruited my wife Janice, and the two of us, along with one other gentleman from the area, became the three-person “Against Committee.” Why was I against more money for the library? It’s because our solidly Christian town has a very unchristian library. The local branch is run by people who put on big Pride Month displays, even in the children’s section. This Spring, I bumped into a neighbor by the picture books section, and as we were chatting, she started sifting through the shelves, looking for treasures. But what she kept discovering was one disgusting picture book after another. They were about sexual development, or pushed gender-confusion and other LGBT themes, and were intended for kids barely old enough to read. Neither of us knew what to do with her growing stack. I ended up checking them all out, not because I wanted them, but because, with no late fees being collected anymore, I could at least keep these out of circulation for a good long while. That’s all I was thinking at the time. But I still had those books on my desk when this voters’ guide opportunity popped up. Turns out, God had provided me just the ammunition I’d need for my write-up. What kind of win? While I wanted to focus on how the library was opposing God and what He’s said about gender and sex, the third person on our Against Committee wanted a focus on the money. Making it about the money could broaden the appeal to anyone in the county who cared about their pocketbook. Surely that was a bigger group than just the concerned Christians! Asking for a two-thirds increase is significant, so he had a point. It’s also a familiar point. When it comes to politics, Christians tend to bring forward fiscal issues, or other generally conservative points, rather than anything explicitly Christian. In this case, if more people care about money than God, isn’t the winning strategy obvious? The thing is, not all wins are wins. In 279 BC, King Pyrrhus of Epirus defeated the Romans at the Battle of Asculum, but at a devastating cost to his own army. Ever since then the term Pyrrhic victory has been used to describe a win that leaves the victor weaker than before. In Christians’ engagement with the world, we will, for the sake of some perceived short-term victory, overlook the long-term consequences that come with excluding God from the public square. We wonder why our culture is turning from God, but if, for strategic reasons, God’s own people won’t profess His Name in politics, who are we expecting will? Every square inch The world is the LORD’s, and consequently, the Devil is always and forever trying to get us to overlook, downplay, or deny that. In this library skirmish, the real issue wasn’t how much, but rather Who the library was opposing. So, what kind of win would it be if we had to shut up about our LORD to get it? If the Devil could choose to make us focus on either money or God, wouldn’t he choose money every time? The devil’s win is getting Christians to self-censor their praise and rob God of the glory that is His due. Thankfully, while the third member of our committee wanted money mentioned, he was happy to keep God central. After some back and forth, this is what we sent out to 140,000 eligible voters: Argument Against In the opening chapters of Genesis we learn that God made us male and female (Gen. 1:27) and sex is intended for marriage (Gen. 2:24). Our library system actively opposes these truths, and wants more money to do so. They oppose God in their teen section where Beyond Magenta shares an account of oral sex with a six-year-old. Despite this being brought to the library’s attention, they didn’t pull the book. That opposition is apparent even in the picture book section. Your preschooler can pull My Princess Boy off the shelf and ask you whether boys should wear dresses too. Being You: A First Conversation About Gender will teach them that “it’s okay to wonder: Am I a girl? Am I a boy? Am I both? Am I neither?” And Everybody is a Rainbow depicts naked genitalia. A $600,000 home currently pays about $155 a year to this system – the library wants to up that almost $100, to $252. We have increasing food, electricity, housing, and gas costs – that’s what we need our money for. We most certainly don’t need to give more money to a library that’s opposing God-given truths and sowing confusion, even among the littlest. The voters’ guide only allowed us 200 words, but the debate was also being had in the local paper. The paper published an article arguing for the increase, touting the library as somewhere safe to go. I got 300 words, in a letter to the editor, to share how God knows best what is best for us, and a library pushing transsexual confusion on little kids isn’t safe at all. Three kinds of objections Objections came in three sorts. Folks noted that, if it was about the money, borrowing from a library can save you a lot of money. That was a decent point, and it underscores the danger of what could have happened if we’d made this minor point our major one – we would have wasted all our energy on a matter that doesn’t matter. Another objection was along the lines of “Don’t force your God or your views on me.” But this objection applies better to their position than to ours. Christians don’t want to be forced to pay even more money to support views our Lord opposes. Meanwhile, the library and its supporters want to force us to cough up cash for their agenda. The irony was heavy. The third objection was over the definition of words like “safety,” “love,” and “gender,” and whose definition we were going to go with, the Left’s or God’s. A real win The vote went against us, and now we’ll have to hand over even more money to a library that’s shown it hates God. In the past that kind of result might have gotten me frustrated. This time I’m just grateful. God gave me an opportunity to praise His Name in public, and He made it easy for me. He put the committee sign-up sheet in front of my face, and so pre-arranged things to get my neighbor to track down the obscene picture books I could cite as horrible examples. Then He got a couple hundred words about Him sent out by a State that hates Him to over one hundred thousand voters who don’t normally hear about Him. It was a political campaign with the focus on God. Because everything is about God. And He is amazing....

Politics

Man Up: ARPA leaderboards and the call to courageous action

We live in a time of deep confusion about truth, morality, identity, and even the basic purpose of life. Many young people today are unanchored, unsure of what faithfulness looks like in the world around them. As Francis Schaeffer noted, “Modern man has both feet firmly planted in mid-air.” But following Christ is not just about holding the right beliefs in private. It means living those beliefs out boldly, in public, and without compromise. God calls His people to bear witness to the truth in every sphere of life, including the political realm, where laws are made, values are shaped, and the vulnerable are either protected or ignored. Young people are not exempt from this calling. Scripture gives us examples like Daniel in Babylon, David facing Goliath, and Timothy in the early church – young men who stood firm in the face of pressure, hostility, or fear. That same spirit of faithful action is exactly what ARPA’s Leaderboards competition aims to cultivate. Over the past school year, students across Canada have stepped up by writing letters, hosting events, engaging with elected officials, and standing for life and truth in their communities. Their efforts are a reminder that Christian youth can be courageous, creative, and committed to something far greater than themselves. This article highlights what they did and why it matters. In particular, it takes note of a striking feature from this year’s competition: the individual winners at the top of the Leaderboard were all young men. In a culture where male leadership is often dismissed or diminished, that’s worth celebrating. More than that, it invites us to consider what godly leadership actually looks like, and how we can raise up the next generation to embrace it. What is ARPA Leaderboards? All sorts of ways to be active, and earn your ARPA club points. ARPA Leaderboards is a national student competition that turns political action into a hands-on, community-based challenge. It’s designed to encourage Reformed high school and homeschool students to bring a Christian witness into the public square, and not just in theory, but in practice. Throughout the school year, students form ARPA clubs – these are usually based in Christian schools or homeschool co-ops – and then choose real-world political or cultural actions to carry out together. These actions include things like organizing pro-life flag displays, writing letters to MPs or editors, meeting with local representatives, collecting donations for pregnancy care centers, or educating others through public events. Each completed action earns points, and photos and reports are posted on the Leaderboards website. There are prizes both for individual students and for school clubs, but the real reward is learning how to serve Christ with courage and clarity in public life. While Leaderboards encourages competition, its deeper goal is to encourage young people to take initiative and speak with clarity in the public square. By combining teamwork, creativity, and accountability, it helps young people gain confidence and conviction as they speak out on issues of justice, life, and truth. And it makes political engagement less abstract – less something “for us as adults later” – and more of a concrete expression of public obedience to Christ here and now. Immanuel Christian School students singing at an old age home. Highlights from this year From September to May, students across the country took action that was thoughtful, bold, and often outside their comfort zone. What began for many at an ARPA Youth Conference (where they learned about pro-life advocacy, wrote postcards, and distributed flyers), soon turned into a steady stream of public witness in their own communities. One of the most visible efforts was the all-pink flag display in Burlington, Ontario, drawing attention to the injustice of sex-selective abortion. Students from TEACH Home Educators of Brant and Emmanuel Christian High School of Fergus came out to plant flags, engage with passersby, and take down the display afterward. Emmanuel Christian High School went on to host not one but four flag displays throughout the year! Some actions were deeply relational. Several clubs, including Immanuel Christian School of Winnipeg, organized visits to seniors’ homes, singing, encouraging, and reminding elderly residents of their value and dignity in Christ. Others gathered resources for local pregnancy care centers or raised funds through school-wide initiatives. Emmanuel Christian High School students meeting with their local Member of Parliament Some students stepped into more direct engagement with public officials. Emmanuel Christian High School met with both their Member of Parliament and newly elected Member of Provincial Parliament to talk about key issues. Mia Vandermaarel of TEACH Home Educators of Brant wrote letters to the editor that were published in the Toronto Sun, Winnipeg Sun, and Hamilton Spectator, helping shape public conversation from a Christian perspective. Many clubs also came up with entirely original projects. One group from Coaldale Christian School hosted a student-led apologetics night, where students taught their parents the basics of pro-life argumentation… and even cooked dinner for them! Another group, involved in ARPA’s Let Kids Be campaign, set up a roadside sign warning about the harms of gender transition for minors. When the sign was vandalized, students from Ebenezer Canadian Reformed School returned late at night to repair and re-install it. Not every action was large-scale, but each one mattered. Students wrote pro-life messages with sidewalk chalk for people to see along public pathways. Others knit baby hats (each one representing a life lost to abortion) and sent them to Parliament. Stickers with clear, hopeful pro-life messages appeared on cars, lockers, and backpacks. Taken together, these efforts showed that faithfulness isn’t about age, comfort, or platform. It’s about showing up, speaking out, and putting your beliefs into action – even when no one is watching. The men on the Leaderboard “The world cries for men who are strong: strong in conviction, strong to lead, to stand, to suffer.” – Elisabeth Elliot One of the most striking details from this year’s competition was the individual leaderboard. At the top were three young men: Evan Roth, James Thalen, and Asher Vandermaarel. These weren’t just occasional contributors; they were consistent, committed, and quietly courageous. Evan registered for an ARPA Youth Conference in the fall, participated in the March for Life, visited an old age home, handed out Let Kids Be flyers, and used sidewalk chalk to spread the We Need a Law message. He also wrote postcards to MPs and MLAs, took part in several flag displays, and repeated most of these actions more than once. James and Asher took on similar efforts, showing the same kind of persistence and dedication over the course of the school year. In a time when male leadership is often absent or dismissed, these young men modeled something countercultural: initiative, responsibility, and public conviction rooted in their Christian faith. They didn’t act alone. Like most students in the Leaderboards program, they had guidance from a teacher or club leader, and encouragement from the ARPA staff along the way. But what set them apart was their willingness to take initiative. They followed through, again and again, often going beyond what was expected. They acted faithfully, consistently, and with conviction, because they believed it mattered. This kind of leadership matters. In many of our churches, we’re seeing fewer men entering the ministry and fewer desiring to serve as elders and deacons. And while ARPA’s local adult chapters across the country continue to thrive, many still see greater involvement from women than men. That’s not cause for despair, but it is a reminder of how valuable it is to see young men stepping into public responsibility with clarity and courage. Evan, James, and Asher are reminders that faithfulness doesn’t require a title or a platform. It requires conviction, courage, and the willingness to be counted. A brief biblical case for male leadership in public life Ebenezer Canadian Reformed School students getting the message out with a ”Let Kids Be” sign. The Bible presents a consistent pattern: men are called to take initiative, accept responsibility, and lead with humility and courage – not just in the home and church, but also in the broader public realm. From the beginning, Adam was placed in the garden to “tend and keep it” (Gen. 2:15), a charge that includes cultivation, guardianship, and stewardship. That calling – to bear responsibility for the world God made – echoes throughout redemptive history. Again and again, we see God raising up men to stand in the public square and confront injustice, call rulers to account, and proclaim His truth: Moses stood before Pharaoh, not merely asking for Israel’s release, but declaring the sovereign rule of God over kings: “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Let My people go’” (Ex. 5:1). Nathan confronted King David after his sin against Uriah and Bathsheba, saying, “You are the man!” (2 Sam. 12:7), a courageous act of public accountability. Elijah boldly rebuked Ahab for Naboth’s murder and Israel’s idolatry (1 Kings 21). Isaiah stood before kings like Ahaz and Hezekiah, urging trust in the Lord rather than foreign alliances (Is. 7; 37–39). Jeremiah warned Zedekiah and the officials of Judah, saying, “O house of David! Thus says the Lord: ‘Execute judgment in the morning…’” (Jer. 21:12), even as he was imprisoned and persecuted for his message. Amos condemned Israel’s ruling class: “They hate the one who rebukes in the gate, and they abhor the one who speaks uprightly” (Amos 5:10), calling out systemic injustice. Micah declared, “Hear now, O heads of Jacob, and you rulers of the house of Israel… who hate good and love evil” (Micah 3:1–2), directly confronting civic corruption. Daniel, serving under pagan kings, boldly interpreted dreams and declared divine judgment: “You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting” (Dan. 5:27). These men were not grasping for personal gain or prestige. They bore public responsibility because they feared God more than man. Whether they held office or spoke prophetically to those who did, they understood that political power is not evil in itself – it is a tool to be used in submission to God’s authority and for the good of others. They spoke with clarity, even when it cost them dearly. The New Testament carries this same vision of principled courage. Paul exhorts believers: “Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong” (1 Cor. 16:13). Though the church is not a political body, it is called to form men who will lead well in every sphere of life, including the public square. This is not a call to control others or seek power for its own sake, but to take initiative with conviction, courage, and a willingness to bear responsibility for the good of others. What we saw this year in the Leaderboards competition was a glimpse of that calling. In a time when many young men are uncertain about their role or place, we saw a few step forward – not perfectly, but faithfully. And that is something to thank God for, and to build on. Speaking truth at the Toronto March for Life. More than politics: preparing for lifelong engagement Leaderboards isn’t just about winning a prize or checking off action items. It’s about planting the seeds of long-term involvement – helping students gain the confidence, skills, and motivation to be engaged Christian citizens well into adulthood. We often hear from ARPA chapter leaders that they wish more men were actively involved. That gap doesn’t close by accident. It closes when young people are shown early that political action is a normal and necessary part of Christian responsibility. Leaderboards helps do exactly that. It gives students a framework for understanding the issues and a place to start acting on them. The hope isn’t just that they participate for a season. It’s that they carry these habits into the rest of their lives by joining ARPA chapters, meeting with elected officials, and encouraging others in their church community to speak up. If we want faithful, engaged adults tomorrow, we need to invest in opportunities for them to participate today. That’s the kind of momentum we want to carry forward – not just into next year’s competition, but into a lifetime of public faithfulness. The work isn’t finished This year’s Leaderboards competition gave us a glimpse of what’s possible when young Christians take action. Some wrote letters. Others planted flags. A few stood in front of MPs or in front of their entire school. And at the top of the individual leaderboard, a handful of young men took initiative, showing maturity, discipline, and a willingness to lead. But this isn’t just about one season or a few standout students. It’s about what comes next. Canada doesn’t just need more political activity. It needs principled, faithful leadership – rooted in truth and directed toward the good of our neighbors. It needs Christians who understand that public responsibility is part of their calling and who are prepared to act accordingly. As André Schutten and Michael Wagner write in the Second Edition of A Christian Citizenship Guide: “When it comes to political action, if not we, dear Christian citizen, then who? Who else would have the courage? Who else would know what to do? Who else would know how to fix the problem? We are a nation lost, without any sense of reality or morality. Canada needs a compass and a guide. The compass exists: it is the Word of God. The guides to read the compass are the faithful members of the church, scattered like leaven (Gal. 5:9) throughout all the institutions and spheres of Canadian culture and society and applying the truth and beauty and goodness of the Word of God in every sphere of life.” Leaderboards will return in September, Lord willing. Until then, we celebrate those who stepped up and we invite others to join them. The competition may end each spring, but our calling as Christians does not. Paul Lawton is ARPA’s Director of Grassroots Action, while Naomi Meerstra is ARPA’s Eastern Grassroots Coordinator. Pictures provided by ARPA Canada....

News, Politics

What if we said what we mean? – political party edition

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Who is Mark Carney?

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What is going on with Canada’s conservative leaders?

Pierre Poilievre, Danielle Smith, and John Rustad have discovered success in a “blue ocean” ***** When the leaves rustle and the winds blow in the valley that I call home, there is a good possibility that a new weather system is brewing. Over the past year, a political wind that began in Ottawa and carried on through Alberta has reached BC. Something significant is changing, and the new system is catching the old guard in Canada’s political and media landscape off guard. Under Conservative Party of Canada Leader Pierre Poilievre, New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, and now also BC Conservative Party leader John Rustad, conservative politicians are figuring out how to champion conservative principles, skirting the mainstream media gatekeepers. And they are being rewarded with a growing and energized base of support that has eluded their predecessors. Now, for something completely different The concept of “blue ocean vs. red ocean strategy” was first introduced in a 2015 bestselling business book called Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne. The book explained how businesses’ traditional strategy involved them trying to outperform their rivals to capture more of the existing market – businesses succeed by taking market share away from their competitors. With this strategy the ocean is red because there is blood in the water from all the fierce competition. In contrast, those who employ a blue ocean strategy leave that contested realm altogether by creating an entirely new market space through innovation, where there is little to no competition. Now there’s no need to beat the competition, because the competition doesn’t even exist. A classic example is the introduction of the iPhone to the mobile phone market. Apple made something people didn’t even realize they wanted and had the market to themselves for years, still dominating it today. Although the blue ocean strategy is usually confined to business school, conservative politicians, and Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre in particular, have discovered a place for innovation in Canada’s political landscape. By championing conservative principles publicly, and communicating them directly to voters via social media (like his YouTube channel), Poilievre is making both the mainstream media and the traditional way of doing politics far less relevant. This innovation is not only translating into political success in the polls and ballot box, it is emboldening other conservatives to champion conservative principles, and to do so with a level of conviction that hasn’t been seen for many decades. Out with the old For fifteen of my past seventeen years, I devoted much of my livelihood to promoting Christian principles in Canadian law and public policy. The organization I led worked closely with MPs, MPSs and MLAs, encouraging them to advance laws that would uphold life, freedom, and flourishing. Although we developed good relationships with government officials from a variety of political parties, we worked most closely with conservative officials, since many of them shared similar principles. Some of these MPs and MLAs were champions. They were willing to devote their political career to defend the values that motivated them to run for office in the first place. But, without fail, the chief obstacle to these principled men and women was not their political adversaries inside or outside the legislature, but their own parties. The party leader, as well as a relatively small group of un-elected staffers, were convinced that their chief purpose was to form government, at which point they could really make a difference. And the only way to form government was to hide or minimize many of the principles that activated the party base. But as Reformed Perspective’s editor Jon Dykstra explained so well in a piece already back in 2016, “while power is a wonderful servant it is a terrible master. When getting elected is our first priority, then everything else – including our message – must serve that goal.” And those who wielded the sword decided that conservative principles, especially social conservative ones, were a liability. If there was even a whiff of social conservative values being promoted beyond the office walls, these MPs and MLAs were often put in their place. That meant staying in the back benches and being denied opportunities for influence. Time and again I witnessed how, after hundreds of hours of work to spearhead and build a coalition of support around a worthy initiative, such as a new bill, inevitably the MP behind it would get a call from above, scuttling the effort. “It isn’t the right time” was the most commonly used and accepted justification. “Perhaps when we form government.” Of course that would change to “when we have a majority” to “we don’t want to lose this majority.” It was never the right time. These leaders and staff were perpetually in fear of the media. Talking points were carefully crafted in a way that the media may find them worth sharing in a favorable light. Yet in spite of all their efforts, the media had its own interests and were happy to share the narrative the way they wanted. So what happens when the desire for power overrides conviction, principles, and ideology? It doesn’t take long and the party is little different than any other parties that share this same prioritization of power. It is little surprising that only about 6 in 10 eligible voters bother to vote when the parties don’t stand for much. But it isn’t just demoralizing for voters. It also takes away the motivation to volunteer for, donate to, and even care about candidates and parties. Speaking from experience, it is hard to be motivated to give my time and money to candidates who say one thing in private and something entirely different in public. What has come from the leadership of Andrew Scheer and Erin O’Toole (federally), Tim Hudak and Patrick Brown (Ontario), Brian Jean (Alberta), and Kevin Falcon (BC)? Have they left any legacy, either through principled policy that was advanced, or through championing conservative principles so that Canadians would at least understand the direction we could have gone? After so many years of failed ambitions, have these leaders and staffers learned their lesson? More often than not, instead they chose to blame their lack of political success on the “extreme” elements in their party who dared to speak up for principles that they believed in and were “caught” by the media. What a contrast this is to leaders from the other side of the political spectrum, who have continued to champion their “progressive” values, even back when these values were considered extreme. Pierre Poilievre finds a blue ocean Quite the change happened on the federal scene when a relatively-unknown MP, Pierre Poilievre, won the leadership of the Conservative Party in 2022, in the first ballot. Poilievre was a whole lot more than a good communicator who happened to come on the scene at the right time. That is red ocean thinking – competing in the existing market to win. Instead, Poilievre is to be credited with showing that the old way Canadian conservatives did politics is obsolete. He did this in two ways. First, unlike the leaders before him, Poilievre was willing to take a stand on conservative principles, even if it risked making him the center of fire from the political and media elites. For example, he showed up at the Trucker Convoy in Ottawa in 2022, standing with those whom all the other mainstream political leaders declared to be on the “fringe.” And although previous Conservative Party leaders were fearful about making any principled stands on social issues, he was clear and public in his opposition to providing surgery and puberty blockers to gender-confused youth. And he stood up for parental notification in cases where children want to change the name or pronouns they go by at school. He regularly challenges woke culture and says out loud that he wants to defund the CBC. But having ideological conviction isn’t itself enough to have created a whole new “ocean” of possibilities. He combined this with a new medium of communication. Instead of relying on the mainstream media to reach Canadians, he largely ignored them and spoke directly to the public through his own channels, especially YouTube. Poilievre’s videos allowed him to not only frame an issue the way he wanted, it also allowed him to explain it with a depth that the mainstream media rarely provides. For example, he produced a 15-minute documentary about housing that has been billed “the first of its kind in Canadian politics” and has garnered millions of views across platforms. It is one thing to get 30 seconds to communicate a message to distracted Canadians on TV, and another entirely to have Canadians choosing to give 15 minutes of their own time to be educated about why housing has become so expensive, and about possible policy solutions. And when the media tried to nail him with accusations of “taking a page out of Donald Trump’s playbook,” Poilievre responded with simple questions of his own, all while munching on an apple. That too has become a YouTube sensation, with millions of views. Yet another strike for the “legacy” media. More leaders find the blue ocean Poilievre’s approach has struck a chord with millions of Canadians who no longer trust what they are being told by the legacy media. The Conservative Party polls have climbed to levels not seen in their 21-year history. They are currently tracking twenty points beyond the next party. In the past year we have seen other conservative leaders copying these tactics by: 1) being willing to demonstrate their own convictions 2) actively circumventing the legacy media Danielle Smith is the most notable example. I followed her personal newsletter during Covid and didn’t think it was possible for someone with her strong views on the subject to be elected to office. But I was wrong. She didn’t back down from her opinions, and was rewarded with the top role in the province. And I’m seeing this play out in even more dramatic fashion in my home province of BC right now. The BC Conservative Party hasn’t held power since 1952 and didn’t elect even one MLA in the last election. They weren’t even considered a serious contender in BC politics until last year when they received official party status in the legislature after two MLAs left the BC Liberal Party to join the BC Conservatives. One of those MLAs was John Rustad, who went on to become the leader of the fledgling party. Yet within a year, he has this party neck and neck with the NDP, contending to win the upcoming provincial election in October. I first met John Rustad when he kindly agreed to join a group of local residents in a neighboring community for a dessert social, so that they could get to know their MLA. What was striking about him then hasn’t changed today – he is an ordinary guy who cares about this province. He is humble but confident about the truth. And he isn’t scared to say the truth, even if his party leadership or the mainstream media disagree. Rustad didn’t leave his former party because he was looking for better opportunities. He was kicked out, after challenging the established thinking on climate change. And then, for his very first question in the legislature as the party leader, he called on the Premier to replace the government’s sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) program in the province’s schools. SOGI, like climate change, was another sacred cow that the BC Liberals didn’t want their members to publicly talk about unless they were upholding the “progressive” consensus. Not only have the BC Conservatives exploded in popularity, the BC United Party (formerly known as the BC Liberal Party) collapsed almost overnight. Kevin Falcon, the United leader responsible for kicking Rustad out, humbly chose to not run the United party against the Conservatives. And the NDP, who were favorites to win the election, are suddenly rethinking their own progressive policies, announcing that they support getting rid of the carbon tax if allowed by the federal government and reversing their opposition to involuntary care for those with mental health and addiction issues. This is all the more remarkable when you consider BC was the first province to put a carbon tax in place. From blue oceans to blue skies We may be encouraged by, and even rejoice in, some of what these politicians and parties are now embracing. It is a welcome change from the political leadership we experienced over the past decade. But just as their new approach was unthinkable a few years ago, there are so many more principles and opportunities that are still unthinkable in today’s political climate… but which would be a great blessing to our nation and society. Imagine a country where our leaders humbled themselves under our sovereign God, acknowledging that He is Lord over all. Imagine a constitution and laws that uphold God’s unchanging will for humanity. Instead of appealing to “common sense,” our leaders would direct our eyes to God’s Word. Imagine the blessings that would flow from a nation that prioritized marriage, as God designed it, and the children that God so graciously gives to many. A nation where the rule of law is upheld and our leaders are hungry to pursue justice and uphold the fundamental freedoms that God has granted. It isn’t just the world that gets mixed up on priorities. I’m also guilty of prioritizing power over principles. If I’m in a public forum, I’m tempted to stick to values that others will share. I downplay or hide what God has made very clear in His Word, even though I confess that “I delight in your decrees” and “I will speak of your statutes before kings and will not be put to shame” (Ps. 119:16, 46). Yes, we need to be prudent and not throw pearls before the swine (Matt. 7:6). But if we love our neighbors, we should want the very best for them. Cutting taxes and shrinking government is great, but it doesn’t get close to addressing the real brokenness in our culture and country. The real problem isn’t taxes or restrictions, but sin. And the amazing reality is that there is a solution! Jesus Christ offers the kind of life and freedom that can never be taken away. So while we can be grateful that some of our leaders have discovered blue oceans, and that may be as good as we get in the political realm today, let's point them and all our neighbors to blue skies. Real and lasting hope are found in Christ alone. Picture credits: Pierre Poilievre: screenshot from “How do you like them apples? Part 1”; John Rustad: screenshot of a Sept. 13 tweet; Danielle Smith: Marvin Samuel Tolentino Pineda / istockphoto.com...

News, Politics

Alberta planning to enshrine right to refuse vaccinations

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced in late September that her government is planning to amend and strengthen the Alberta Bill of Rights when the Alberta legislature sits again later this fall. As she explained via a video message: “As our society evolves, so too must our laws, to ensure our rights and freedoms are properly protected in an ever-changing world.” Smith’s first proposed change is to ensure that: “…every individual in our province who has the mental capacity to do so, will have the right to decide whether or not to receive a vaccination or other medical procedure.” But the revisions aren’t limited to vaccinations. The changes will also strengthen property rights to ensure that Albertans can’t be deprived of their property without due process and just compensation. And they also include a plan to further affirm the rights of legal and responsible firearm owners. As the premier declared: “In my view, these amendments to the Bill of Rights are not just legal changes. They are a reaffirmation of the values that make Alberta one of the freest jurisdictions on earth.” However, some are questioning the motives and the real impact of such changes. Mount Royal University professor Lori Williams argued that “she’s clearly playing to in the hopes that they will not call her leadership into question in the leadership review at the beginning of November.” The Alberta Bill of Rights was passed in 1972 and updated in 1980 and 2000. Unlike the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, it isn’t a constitutional document, so it is easily alterable. That means that even while other bills and policies in the province are supposed to align with the Alberta Bill of Rights, the legislature can as easily override the Bill of Rights as they can amend it. This highlights the differences between the rights God gives vs. rights from the State. As well motivated as the premier’s efforts might be, if the New Democrats win the next election, they could quickly take these new “rights” away. In contrast, God grants irrevocable rights via the prohibitions in His 10 Commandments – for example, by banning murder and theft He gives a right to life and property. These rights may still be violated by sinful man, but they can never be erased. Both the Alberta Bill of Rights and the Canadian Charter pay lip service to this truth by recognizing in their preambles that the rights they seek to recognize are founded on the supremacy of God. Picture credit: Screenshot from a Sept. 24 post to x.com/ABDanielleSmith...

Politics

A place for Christians on Parliament Hill: inside Parliament Hill Christian Fellowship

While some of the 338 Members of Parliament are Christian, there are many more Christians working on Parliament Hill as office staff, or “staffers.” Way back in 1976, one exhausted Christian political staffer, who was working for a cabinet minister, approached long-time staffer Diane Scarf. As Scarf recalls, at that time, “They work their staff day and night. So, he would come to work on Monday morning, and by Thursday, he might get to go home and change his clothes. When you’re tired, you can put your head on the desk, or lie down on the floor behind your desk…. He approached me and said, ‘I’m just falling apart, we need something, we need support for those who are Christians.’ And that was the beginning.” This encounter prompted Scarf, and a group of other Christians, to start the “Parliament Hill Christian Fellowship.” Nearly 50 years later, the group still exists, meeting every Friday in a room in the East Block on Parliament Hill. Each meeting starts with lunch, usually, hand-made sandwiches and baked goods from Scarf, and then a speaker will give a short message to the group. The email list has over 100 political staffers; a majority work for Conservative members, but the group is non-partisan, and members from other parties are welcome to attend. Due to the busy nature of staffers’ schedules, the group usually ranges from 20-30 people weekly. Craig Docksteader, Director of Policy in the Office of the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, along with his wife Gail, are the current leadership/organizers of the group. Docksteader came to Parliament Hill in 2013 where he ran into a staffer who invited him to check out the group; Docksteader was shocked to find that there was a space for Christians to meet on the Hill. Shortly after attending for a bit, he and his wife had the opportunity to take on a leadership role for the group. Docksteader says that he sees three primary purposes for Parliament Hill Christian Fellowship. “One is a place to connect, a place for Christians to find each other. Secondly, it’s a place for Christians to be encouraged, edified, and get a little bit of prayer, and teaching from the Bible and hear testimonies. So, there’s some spiritual edification. But thirdly, I feel like it's very important because it protects our right to gather on Parliament Hill.” He noted, “A lot of people are surprised, quite surprised, especially if they've never been to Parliament Hill and they only see what's on the news and stuff to come here and find out there is a group of Christians that meets every Friday, regularly, faithfully, and there’s lots of them.” The group is ecumenical, encouraging Christians from a variety of different denominations and traditions to participate. To keep unity in the group while also acknowledging the different traditions, Docksteader says they focus on the core of the gospel. “We try to encourage that we gather around the centrality of Christ, the centrality of the gospel. So that’s the first thing, somebody on the team of four needs to know personally or professionally so that we know that the person coming in won't be divisive.” At the early start of the group, they faced criticism from other Christians on the Hill. Christians working in politics have been a topic of contention throughout the Church’s history. During the early stages of the Reformation, for example, various Christian denominations held differing perspectives on how involved Christians should be in public life. Anabaptists notably took a passive approach, while adherents of the Reformed tradition, influenced by Reformed political leaders such as Abraham Kuyper, recognized the concept of “sphere sovereignty.” This concept acknowledges God’s presence in all spheres of life, encouraging Christians to engage in all of those spheres faithfully, including the political sphere. Scarf recalled that it was due to these points of contention, that the start of Parliament Hill Christian Fellowship faced some pushback from other evangelicals working on the Hill. “We started right away but had a lot of opposition from some evangelical Members of Parliament who felt that we would be a problem, that we would be too aggressive, and that we would slight the name of the Lord and the Church.” In more recent years, Docksteader says that he has seen an increase in Christians getting involved in working on Parliament Hill. “The Church used to discourage Christians from being involved in politics and from working on Parliament Hill, whereas today, it’s the other way around. The Church in Canada recognizes the important pertinence of having Christians on Parliament Hill, both as staffers and as Members of Parliament.” With Christian staffers coming from across the country, Docksteader emphasizes the importance of a space for Christians to meet. “That’s where Parliament Hill Christian Fellowship comes in, even today because you have Christians on the Hill, they need to know how to find other Christians, they need to know how can I connect because when you get here, it can seem very large, you can feel very alone, you’re pretty sure there’s not a single other Christian on the Hill…. And so Parliament Hill Christian Fellowship, that’s one of the purposes of it, is to give Christians a place to connect with other Christians.” Picture at top (supplied) is of Craig Docksteader (left), Director of Policy in the Office of the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate with former cabinet minister, Jack Murta....

Politics

Separating Christianity from politics

The agenda of “Christian” secularists ***** This first appeared in the June 2013 issue. It wasn't the only reason, but it was biggest – when abortion was legalized in Canada in 1969, and in the US in 1973, North American Christians got heavily involved in politics. And as they did, they were criticized for "violating the separation of church and state." The other side – the secular humanists – used this jargon to try to delegitimize the Christian opposition to their agenda. The accusation that Christian activism violates the separation of church and state is simply false. The church and the state are separate institutions, and they remain entirely separate even when Christians engage society from an explicitly Christian perspective. Christians are citizens and have just as much right to participate in society and politics as anyone else. While it’s not hard to understand why secularists don't want Christians bringing their faith with them into the political realm, it is a mystery as to why some Christians will also accuse explicitly Christian politicians and political activists of violating the separation of church and state. One such example is the book A Secular Faith: Why Christianity Favors the Separation of Church and State by Darryl G. Hart. This book is noteworthy because Hart is a well-known elder in the OPC. He speaks for a constituency within the OPC and other conservative Reformed and Presbyterian churches in North America. Religion out of politics = impossible The basic thrust of this book is perhaps best stated by one of the endorsements on its dust jacket. Respected Christian historian Mark Noll writes, “Darryl Hart is a serious Christian who wants to get religion out of politics.” It’s important to notice the difference between two different concepts specified here. Hart’s book title talks about the separation of church and state. Noll’s description of the book mentions getting “religion out of politics.” These are not the same thing. The separation of church and state refers to organizational and functional separation between two entirely different institutions. The separation of church and state is a good thing and it is Biblical because the Bible establishes both the church and the state as separate entities with different purposes and functions. Separating religion from politics is a completely different matter. Religion is (generally speaking) a belief system whereas politics consists of activities associated with the government. Separation of religion and politics is impossible, because all political activity is based on ethical concepts that are rooted in religious ideas. When someone is discussing these kinds of issues, and switches back and forth between “separation of church and state” and “separation of religion and politics” as if the two concepts meant the same thing (like Hart does in this book), confusion is the result – confusion in the reader’s mind to be sure and one wonders if it also reflects confusion or fuzzy thinking in the writer’s mind. Back to when faith “knew its place” Towards the beginning of the book Hart states his purpose this way: "My argument is that the basic teachings of Christianity are virtually useless for resolving America’s political disputes, thus significantly reducing, if not eliminating, the dilemma of how to relate Christianity and American politics." Christianity, in his view, is a private, personal religion. You practice your Christianity in your family and your church, but certainly not in the political sphere. Hart claims that those who advocate a distinctly Christian approach to politics are being unbiblical. His purpose is to straighten them out: "I want those advocates of Christianity’s public role and political responsibility to take seriously Jesus Christ’s own words when he said, "My kingdom is not of this world." At one time in American history, sixty or so years ago, evangelical Protestants knew that those words involved an ambivalence about the rulers and principalities of this world. Now otherworldliness seems a fossil of an older time when faith knew its place." Christ Himself said that His kingdom “is not of this world.” Therefore, in Hart’s view, Christ’s kingdom has nothing to do with government and politics. Christianity is ambivalent about politics. As Hart sees it, Christianity needs to become otherworldly again and get back in “its place,” that is, in the closet rather than in the public arena. In arguing thusly, Hart recognizes that he is advocating a view at odds with John Calvin. As he puts it, "To say that using Christianity for political purposes is a distortion of the faith is, of course, to dissent not only from Jerry Falwell or Jim Wallis but also from much more significant church luminaries, from parts of John Calvin to the encyclicals of John Paul II." His position, then, consciously differs from the evangelical position, the historic Reformed position, as well as the Roman Catholic position. American history and the errors of Christendom Much of his book recounts aspects of American history. In considering his own country’s history, Hart is puzzled that American Protestants “came to regard the Ten Commandments” as “the assumed source of virtue and morality for decent Americans.” Apparently he sees the Ten Commandments as only applicable to the church. He just can’t understand why any Christians would think otherwise: "That American Protestants thought their exclusive faith could provide the moral standard for a republic conceived in religious neutrality is one of the more surprising twists in the history of biblical religion." Actually, it’s not surprising at all. The vast majority of citizens in the new republic were Protestants, and it would have been unthinkable that public moral standards would be anything other than Christian standards. Historically, most Protestants did not believe that Christianity should be divorced from political affairs, as Hart advocates. Hart believes that Protestant theology in the United States went wrong right from the start. The Puritan founders of America and their theological descendants “repeated the errors of Christendom” by thinking that Christian ethical norms applied to government and society, rather than just the church. These “errors” were then perpetuated down through the country’s history. American Protestant theology was fundamentally flawed because it saw an active role for Christians as Christians in the social and political affairs of the nation. In contrast to that “flawed” view, Hart warmly describes the perspective of a nineteenth century Presbyterian minister named Stuart Robinson. For Robinson, "The kingdom was narrowly religious, located ordinarily within the affairs and ministry of the church, the place where it was appropriate for citizens of the divine kingdom to confess that, "Jesus Christ is Lord." The civil realm, as such, was not a site of Christian activity and should not be." In this respect, Robinson offered a corrective to the dominant view that Christianity was relevant to all of life, including public affairs. The “reduced character of Christ’s sovereignty” Hart points out that many Christians believe that Christ is Lord of all, and therefore He is also the Lord of government and politics. He brushes that argument aside: “The all-or-nothing logic inherent in appeals to the Lordship of Christ,” Hart writes, “fails to do justice to the reduced character of Christ’s sovereignty in the Christian era.” In the Old Testament, Israel had a political as well as a spiritual component. In the New Testament, the church had an exclusively spiritual focus. Christ no longer carried any political authority. "The Lordship of Christ, then, was in the Christian era to be seen and employed within the institutional church. The state’s affairs were to be rendered to the state." Or, in other words, Christ rules the church but not the state; He is not the Lord of the state. This may seem to diminish our view of Christianity, but Hart says just the opposite is true. The really important things are the specifically spiritual things such as the forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life. This is what Christianity is really all about, and as a result, political activism detracts from the key message of Christianity. As he puts it, “the argument of this book is that using the Christian faith as the basis for culture or politics, by seemingly making it so important, actually trivializes Christianity.” So in his view he is actually defending Biblical Christianity against a warped version of the faith, namely, a version of Christianity that sees it as applying to all areas of life, rather than just the specifically spiritual matters that are most important: "The question pursued in this book has been whether Christian-inspired policy, arguments, or candidates are appropriate on Christian grounds. My conclusion is that such involvement is inappropriate, because using Christianity for political ends fundamentally misconstrues the Christian religion." Failure of the secular position Hart is right about the priority of spiritual matters, of course. It is true that our individual relationship with God is much more important than political affairs. But his main point that Christianity is basically irrelevant to government and politics is simply wrong. Consider just one Scripture passage, Romans 13:1-7. In this passage the civil ruler is said to be “God's servant for your good.” He is also “an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.” Hart would, of course, agree with this, i.e., that the civil government is established by God. But here’s the rub: the civil ruler must distinguish between good and evil in order to carry out his duties. How will he know what is good and what is evil? As “God’s servant,” he will need to look to the Word of God. Where else does God indicate what is good and what is evil? Therefore, if the civil ruler must look to the Bible to fulfill his God-assigned task, Christianity is immediately relevant (essential, in fact) to government and politics. Hart’s effort to divorce Christianity from government and politics comes crashing down. Another problem is Hart’s support for “religious neutrality” in the public arena. Religious neutrality suggests that Christianity must play no role in politics and government. What does this mean for pressing issues like same-sex marriage and abortion? What is the “neutral” position on same-sex marriage? There’s no such thing. Is allowing babies to be killed “neutral”? Or is forbidding them from being killed “neutral”? The idea of a position on abortion being neutral is absurd. Obviously, neutrality is impossible. Conclusion In a book of over 250 pages on the role of Christianity in politics, Hart does not even discuss the issues of homosexual rights and abortion. My fear is that he avoids those issues because the so-called “neutral” view looks a lot like the secular humanist view. In fact, Hart’s whole argument that Christianity is a private affair that should be kept out of the public arena dovetails extremely well with the secular humanist position. But if the Christian worldview is kept out of politics and government the result will not be neutrality, it will be a non-Christian (or even anti-Christian) worldview carrying the day....

Politics, RPTV

RPTV: MP Arnold Viersen on the legal fight against pornography

Politics

There is no neutrality so will the State be secular or Christian?

Politics

Al Siebring: councillor & Christian

How one municipal politician brings God’s Word to bear on taxes, government budgets and private citizens’ property rights ***** This appeared in...

Politics

The Rhinoceros Party: politics has always been absurd, but 30 years ago, even more so

Politics

Arrogance: a necessary element of the liberal worldview

In his book Makers and Takers (2008), Peter Schweizer not only sings the praises of conservatives, he exposes the arrogance of liberals. One example is particularly telling – Schweizer writes about the media’s reaction to a Presidential IQ report that looked at the scores for each American president in the last 50 years. The report found that the last six Democratic (liberal) Presidents had an average IQ of 155, with Bill Clinton scoring the highest, at 182. Republican Presidents (conservatives, or at least, more conservative than Democrats) average more than 40 point lower at just over 115. The lowest Republican score was George W. Bush, at 91. Now to give this some context, Albert Einstein’s IQ has been estimated at between 160 to 180, which puts him a shade below Bill Clinton. And George W. Bush’s reported score was exactly half that given for Clinton. If that strikes you as a little suspect, congratulations – that’s means you must not be a liberal, because a host of them did fall for it. The press including “The Economist magazine, the St. Petersburg Times, London's Daily Mirror, radio talk show hosts and liberal bloggers eagerly ran with the story.” Even editorial cartoonist Garry Trudeau swallowed it whole, basing one of his Doonesbury comics on this Presidential IQ report. But while many in the press were ready to believe anything – no matter how implausible – that said liberals were smarter than conservatives (and smarter even than Einstein) the report was a hoax. The only real info the report provided was the illumination it had given on the press’s hard bias against conservatives. Think I’m been a little hard on the gullible media? Not at all, As Schweizer notes: “Imagine if someone had published a report claiming that conservatives had much higher IQs than liberals. Would newspapers and commentators run such a story uncritically? To the contrary, they would likely first check on the results and subject the findings to serious scrutiny. In short, the bias in favor of ‘smart liberals’ seems widely accepted in our society.” Why did they fall for it? While it might seem odd that liberals are so ready to think themselves much smarter than conservatives, this arrogance is an integral part of the liberal worldview. Or, at least, it is central to liberalism in as far as liberals believe in bigger government, with the government taking an increasingly prominent role in education, healthcare, the arts, childcare, and, of course, all aspects of the economy including the arts, agriculture, forestry, tourism, and sports stadium construction. Government on such a grand scale is going to require some astonishingly brilliant leaders if things are to be run competently. So if one presupposes, as liberals do, that bigger government is the answer to many of our problems, it is necessary for them to also presuppose that the super smart, near-all-knowing administrators that would be necessary to run it, do actually exist. Or to put it more succinctly liberals overestimate their intelligence, because they need to, to maintain their trust in big government. Conservatives, on the other hand, have historically thought that such a huge responsibility is beyond any one person, or any one group’s competence, no matter how smart, or how knowledgeable. This insight was at one time based on – and still today aligns with – what God tells us about ourselves, that He is the infinite all-knowing God, and that we are not. So conservatives, and particularly Christians, want the government to take on only the limited responsibilities, like those of justice and defense, (Romans 13:4) which God has specifically assigned to it. Conclusion While liberals think conservatives to be of limited intelligence, conservatives think this true of both liberals and conservatives – everyone, even the smartest among us, have only limited intelligence and no one has the omniscience that would be needed to competently oversee all that Ottawa and Washington are involved in today. This touch of humility is as central to conservatism as a sense of arrogance is to liberalism. A version of this article first appeared in the June 2011 issue of Reformed Perspective....

Book excerpts, Book Reviews, History, Human Rights, Politics

The bad king that prompted the Great Charter

How Robin Hood’s nemesis Prince John was the impetus behind the Magna Carta In this excerpt from “A Christian Citizenship Guide” by André Schutten and Michael Wagner, we go way back to the time of the fictional Robin Hood and the very real Prince John to learn about the development of the Magna Carta, which has been described as “the greatest constitutional document of all times – the foundation of the freedom of the individual against the arbitrary authority of the despot.” ***** Once upon a time there was a king named Richard the Lionheart. He became king of England in 1189. The time before this date, in English law, is known as “time immemorial.”1 Important legal and political developments occurred in this “time out of mind” and contributed to the development of the system of law and government that we have today.2 While important and formational, those developments can’t be covered in detail here. However, we must begin the story of our constitution somewhere, and so we will begin the day after time immemorial. Most storybooks suggest that Richard the Lionheart was a good king, but that’s really quite debatable. All we know for sure is that his brother John was worse. Richard was a military man and mainly used England to fund his military exploits. He spent all but 6 months of his 10-year reign outside of England fighting various battles and pursuing various exploits. Once, on his way back to England, King Richard was kidnapped in a German territory and held for ransom. His brother John, temporarily ruling England in his place, not only refused to pay the ransom but offered the kidnappers money to keep his brother in custody! (You get a sense of John’s character, don’t you?) King Richard eventually returned to England but died shortly thereafter and, because he had no children, his younger brother John officially took the throne in the year 1199. King John ruled as an absolute monarch, as had most of the kings preceding him. He was the ultimate law maker and the final judge of any legal dispute, and he set himself above the law. King John was also a particularly cruel and greedy king, which is where the tales of Robin Hood come in. His excessive taxation impoverished the people and united the factions opposed to him. All sectors of society rose up: the barons, church leadership, merchants, and commoners. Signed not just twice or thrice In early 1215, a group of 39 barons (out of a total of 197) openly revolted against the king, with the blessing of Stephen Langton, the archbishop of Canterbury. The barons successfully took over the city of London and more barons came to their side. By midyear, King John knew he had to negotiate. And so, on the 15th day of June, 1215, in an open meadow known as Runnymede, the barons and the king signed a truce negotiated and drafted by archbishop Langton. That truce is known as the Magna Carta, or the Great Charter, and it is quite possibly the most significant legal document in the history of English law. Lord Denning, one of the greatest English judges in history, once described the Magna Carta as “the greatest constitutional document of all times – the foundation of the freedom of the individual against the arbitrary authority of the despot.”3 Lord Chief Justice Bingham wrote that “the sealing of Magna Carta was an event that changed the constitutional landscape in and, over time, the world.”4 The Magna Carta stands for the rule of law that all free men must be treated fairly and that no one is above the law, not even the king.5 By signing the Magna Carta, King John swore that he, and subsequent kings, would not be able to order the execution of his political enemies or any other citizens that displeased him without a proper criminal trial, heard by an impartial jury. Nor could he exact taxes from the people without first consulting with a council of barons (the very beginnings of a Parliament). And, often overlooked in modern political textbooks, the very first clause of the Magna Carta guaranteed the freedom and protection of the church.6 This was particularly important because King John wanted the power to appoint only those who agreed with him to be bishops of the church. The ecclesiastical leaders were known to speak out against the excesses and abuses of the king and often paid a steep price for doing so. King John’s father, King Henry II, infamously had archbishop Thomas Becket murdered inside Canterbury Cathedral in 1170 for standing up to the king on matters of church independence. While most parts of the Magna Carta have since been replaced or repealed by subsequent statutes, the ancient Charter has enduring value. One clause still in force today is Clause 40 which states: “To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or delay right or justice.” This clause is an expression of the principle of equality before the law, cemented into Canada’s Constitution in section 15(1) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms 767 years later. The Canadian version reads, “Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection of the law and equal benefit of the law without discrimination.” If you’re wondering whether the Magna Carta was a particularly Christian document, the answer is, “Yes!” Not only does the Magna Carta open and close with declarations about the church’s independence from state interference (the beginnings of constitutional protections for religious freedom), but the author, archbishop Langton, was the leading churchman in all of England. His legal training in Europe was in canon law (or church law), and he applied this legal training and the scriptural principles of law to his drafting of the Magna Carta. He had “a scripturally informed conscience from which emerged truth’s uninhibited voice in Magna Carta encourages proper and good government, resulting in increased justice.”7 Unfortunately, the signing of the Magna Carta didn’t restrain King John’s excesses all that long. Three months after signing it, the devious king had it annulled by the pope, and England was plunged into bloody civil war. But thankfully (for the English people anyway), King John died the next year from excessive diarrhea8 and the war came to an end. The Magna Carta did not die with King John. John’s nine-year-old son Henry III became king and reigned for the next 56 years. With the advisors and supporters of the young king seeking stability and an end to the civil war, the Magna Carta was reinstated in 1216. And when Henry reached adulthood in 1227, he reissued the Magna Carta again as law, though a shorter version of it, in exchange for the barons’ consent to a new tax. In 1253, in exchange for another tax to fund his battles in France, King Henry III swore on pain of excommunication “and stinking in hell” to uphold the Magna Carta.9 A decade later he broke his oath, imposing yet another tax, which sparked a rebellion known as the Second Barons’ War. That war concluded in 1267 with a peace treaty that required King Henry III to reaffirm the Magna Carta yet again (if you’re counting, that’s the fourth time).10 The development of the Parliaments King Henry III eventually died in 1272, and his son Edward I became king. Edward I (a.k.a. Edward Longshanks, because he was quite tall) did much good from a constitutional perspective, despite his depiction as a particularly cruel and cold-hearted English king in the Mel Gibson movie Braveheart. Edward I instituted a major review of political corruption and the abuse of power by citizens who held substantial power. In 1275, he passed The First Statute of Westminster to put on paper many of the existing laws in the country. He also worked to strengthen the policing system and restore public order. One of King Edward’s biggest contributions is that he initiated the first official Parliaments in England, calling about 46 Parliaments in his reign. The first Parliament, in 1275, included members of the nobility, clergy, and the election of two county representatives and two representatives from the towns or cities to attend.11 Twenty years later, this form of representative parliament became standard practice, known as the Model Parliament, and all future Parliaments, including Canada’s, are based on it. The nobility and clergy make up the House of Lords (comparable to Canada’s Senate), and the elected representatives of counties or towns make up the House of the Commoners (or House of Commons). Importantly, before the king could increase taxes, he had to gain approval from Parliament. Parliament was also a check on the absolute authority of the king in other respects. After another dispute over taxes between the king and Parliament between 1294 and 1297, the Magna Carta was amended and passed by Parliament as a statute for the first time and signed into law by King Edward I. This 1297 version of the Magna Carta is the officially recognized legal text in English law today and remains a part of the constitutions of Britain and Canada. Over the next one hundred years, Parliament continued to pass statutes (known later as the Six Statutes12) that clarified and expanded on sections of the Magna Carta, constantly working to restrain by law the otherwise unlimited power of the monarch. These statutes ensured that any action taken against a subject, whether taxes, fines, evictions, imprisonment, or execution, had to be done by trial or due process of the law and not at the whim of the king or his officials. Some of these constitutional principles developed in the 1300s13 are enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.14 The passing of the Magna Carta as a statute in Parliament marks a significant shift in the understanding of the power and authority of kings. The kings from the Norman Conquest (William the Conqueror in 1066) until the establishment of Parliaments believed “they ruled by means of their force and will (vis et voluntas), not by the grace of God or legal right.”15 Most people accepted this at the time, but cultural developments shifted toward “the principle of the supremacy of law.”16 The law was no longer a tool used by the king to get his way; rather the king himself was bound by the law and under the law. This shift did not happen by accident. Many of the legal rules and procedures that developed around this time were adapted from canon law (church law) which the king’s lawyers would have studied in the universities, which were also run by the churches. In the canon law tradition, “the idea that the rule of law was antithetical to the rule of men lay dormant.”17 To read the rest of the story, order a copy of André Schutten and Michael Wagner’s “A Christian Citizenship Guide” available for a suggested donation of $25. Email [email protected] or visit arpacanada.ca/CitizenshipGuide. Watch a conversation between the two authors below. Footnotes 1. “A time out of mind” or “time immemorial” refers to a point beyond which legal authorities believed it was impossible to speak with certainty. See Ryan Alford, Seven Absolute Rights: Recovering the Historical Foundations of Canada’s Rule of Law (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2020), pp. 79-80. 2. This includes the Law Code developed by King Alfred the Great (r. 871-899) which incorporated the 10 commandments into the laws of England, the tradition of the coronation oaths of the Anglo-Saxon kings, the Norman Invasion of 1066 led by William the Conqueror and the Charter of liberties his son King Henry I (r. 1100-1135) instituted. 3. Danny Danziger & John Gillingham, 1215: The Year of the Magna Carta (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 2004), at p. 278. 4. Tom Bingham, The Rule of Law (Penguin Books, 2011), at p. 11. 5. Clause 39, still in force today, states: “No free man shall be arrested, or imprisoned, or deprived of his property, or outlawed, or exiled, or in any way destroyed, nor shall we go against him or send against him, unless by the legal judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land.” The only other clauses still in force today are Clause 1, which guarantees the freedom of the church, and clause 13 (renumbered clause 9 in Magna Carta, 1297), which guarantees the ancient liberties of the City of London. 6. The first clause reads in part: “First, that we have granted to God, and by this present Charter have confirmed for us and our heirs in perpetuity, that the English Church shall be free, and shall have its rights undiminished, and its liberties unimpaired.” 7. Brent Winters, Excellence of the Common Law (2008: self-published), p. 554, note 1383. 8. We are not 100% sure, but this may be why toilets are called “johns”. Some observe that, because King John was so despised, no king has ever been named after him. There has only ever been one King John, and he was bad enough. 9. Alford, Seven Absolute Rights, note 2, at p. 84 10. The Magna Carta was reconfirmed by various kings dozens of times, having last been confirmed by Henry VI in 1423. Ben Johnson, “The History of the Magna Carta,” Historic UK: The History and Heritage Accommodation Guide, online 11. Some might argue that King Edward’s father, King Henry III, instituted the first Parliaments. However, those earlier assemblies were more a collection of barons as advisors than a Parliament. Henry III did issue the first summons of parliamentum generalissimum to 24 barons to convene in January 1237, though only 18 attended. This evolved over time into the House of Lords. King Edward I was the first to have elected representatives from the towns and counties to attend. Those elected representatives evolved into the House of Commons. 12. See discussion on the Six Statutes in Alford, Seven Absolute Rights, note 2, at pp. 885-88. 13. These principles were developed by Parliament in the 1300s but are borrowed from canon law developed in the 1200s. For example, Pope Innocent III maintained that “a prince could not abolish the judicial process or ignore an action, because he was bound by natural law to render justice.” See Alford, Seven Absolute Rights, note 2, at p. 89. 14. These rights include the right not to be arbitrarily detained (s. 9 of the Charter), the right to a fair trial (s.11(d) of the Charter) and a trial by jury in serious offences (s.11(f) of the Charter). 15. Alford, Seven Absolute Rights, note 2, at p. 87. Alford further explains, “The expression of royal anger and ill will (ira et malevolentia) was integral to royal status. Vassals had to accept the possibility of their destruction at the king’s hands as a fact of life.” 16. Alford, Seven Absolute Rights, note 2, at p. 88. 17. Alford, Seven Absolute Rights, note 2, at p. 88....

Politics

Why the Right always drifts Left

"O’Sullivan’s First Law" states: "All organizations that are not actually right-wing will, over time, become left-wing.” Coined by journalist John O'Sullivan back in 1989, it described the leftward tilt that we see happen among politicians, parties, and organizations of all sorts whenever they refuse to loudly and clearly establish their conservative bona fides. A recent example happened in the last Canadian election, when Conservative leader Erin O'Toole led his party so far leftward they shared the Liberal's positions on abortion, euthanasia, and all things LGBT. Then, once the campaign started, O'Toole also flipped his position on conscience protection, again adopting the Liberal Party position. This isn't simply a Canadian phenomenon, as this video highlights. However, as insightful as O'Sullivan's First Law is in its diagnosis, it doesn't point us to a cure. He might have thought he did: actually be right-wing! But O'Sullivan first wrote his Law in National Review, a magazine as firmly rooted as any conservative organization could expect to be (it was, at one point, described as "the bible of American conservatism"). Yet today the publisher is a man "married" to another man. They drifted too. The fact is, stopping the drift requires a firmer foundation than mere "conservatism." The need for a firm footing The weakness of conservatism is that it isn't even a foundation to stand on. At best it's an anchor that can be thrown out to slow down our rate of descent. O'Sullivan is partly right that the more energy a group expends in defining their brand of conservatism, the more weighty the anchor, and the longer they may be able to hold out. But to actually make headway back up the slope again requires a firm foundation to push off of, and that's something that mere conservatism doesn't offer. Conservatism is rooted only in human thought. A firm footing can only be found in God's thought, and in His Word. Conservatism is moveable; only God is not. So, O'Sullivan got us off to a good start, but we can take things further by riffing off of Matt. 12:30: "Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters." The result is "O'Dykstra's First Law": "Those who are not unabashedly Christian, will over time – along with the organizations they make up – become unabashedly anti-Christian." The diagnosis is once again well established. Universities (Harvard and Yale), mainline denominations (the United Church of Canada), and charities (Bethany Christian Services), that were founded to spread God's Word, got embarrassed by parts of it, got quiet about those parts, and are now, in this way or that, actively opposing God and His law. So how about us? Are we embarrassed by God's Word? How often do you hear Christians – not simply politicians, but anyone at all – speaking in the public square and unashamedly presenting God's thoughts on an issue as God's thoughts? Conservative arguments have no foundation That doesn't really happen. Instead: When Christians defend the unborn they'll most often do so without any mention of the biblical principles involved, as they're found in Ex. 20:13, Gen. 1:27, and elsewhere. Instead, we'll focus on how the fetus can feel pain, or on when its heartbeat begins. We'll oppose euthanasia without mention made that our lives are not our own to dispose of as we wish. We'll instead point to the potential euthanasia laws have for abuse. We'll combat pornography, but not because it violates God's plan for sex, but because of its linkage to mental health issues like depression. We use these godless arguments because our target audience is a godless culture. We do it in the name of strategy, effectiveness, and common sense but, in an ironic twist, it is none of those things. Consider the arguments we just made, and how easy it is to rebut them. Abortion is wrong because the fetus feels pain? Implicit in this objection is the approval of abortion for children who don't yet feel pain. Did we mean to do that? The world says our value comes from what we can do, and they justify abortion because the unborn can't do much. We'll adopt the very same "able-ism" ideology to tout what the unborn can do. But the same argument protecting a 21-day-old unborn child because his heart has just now begun beating out its rhythm, is the same argument that condemns a 20-day-old who can't do it yet. If euthanasia is wrong because it can be abused, that's only an argument for more safeguards. It's, at best, just an anchor slowing the decline, with no effort directed at an actual reversal of course. Pornography is bad because it causes mental health issues? Well, that all depends on what we mean by "mental health." Some among the LGBT lobby have touted pornography for its mental health benefits since those who partake are more open to their "alternative" lifestyles. Standing unmoved Why is it so easy to rebut these conservative arguments? It's because they have no foundations. Abortion is wrong, not because the unborn can do this or that, but because the unborn are made in the very Image of their Creator, just like you and me. It's only when we offer up God's own Truth that we get to the heart of the matter. It's only then that we're actually countering the lie with Truth. It's only then that we're standing with feet firmly planted. Will the world listen? That's not in our control. But by setting our own feet firmly on God's Word, we can stop our own drift. When we profess His Name, and find our confidence in the victory He has already won, then the world won't be able to move us. And who knows how God might make use of our faithfulness?...

Politics

Political tactics 101: reframing the aggressor

The concept of self-defense is easy to understand and its validity is recognized by most people, whether Christian or not. If somebody is attacked, it is easy to understand that fighting back is a proper and even moral thing to do. That’s why people sympathize with the victim in these situations – self-defense seems naturally just. I’m a victim! That’s also why when a political debate is being framed, each side wants to be seen as the side that is being attacked – they want to be the side that is simply fighting back, rather than the bully who is picking fights. So it should come as no surprise then that whenever Christians get politically active, they are portrayed as the aggressors. Every since the 1970s when today’s conservative Christian political movements first began to take shape, Christians have been accused of trying to force our morality on other people. Why, oh why can't we just leave others alone? But it just isn’t so. Christian political activism has been a defensive response to secularist attacks. If we look at things in their proper historical context, it leads to the question, “who was forcing what upon whom?” Did groups of Christians suddenly decide to organize politically to force other people to adopt Christian styles of living? No. The fact is, it was social movements on the Left that began forcing changes that led Christians to respond with social and political action of their own. The other side was (and is) on the offense, and Christians are simply responding. Reactions This was pointed out as far back as 1982 by a prominent American sociologist, Nathan Glazer. He wrote an article at that time explaining the efforts of the then newly-formed Christian political groups that had played an important role in the 1980 American election that saw the rise of President Ronald Reagan. His article was called "Fundamentalists: A Defensive Offensive" and was republished a few years later in a collection of essays entitled Piety and Politics: Evangelicals and Fundamentalists Confront the World. (Don’t be confused by the word “fundamentalist.” It is a common term used to describe conservative Protestants, although in many contexts it is meant in a disparaging way.) Glazer lists the various issues that were (and still are) of primary concern to conservative Christians to show that they are fighting defensive battles. “Abortion did not become an issue because Fundamentalists wanted to strengthen prohibitions against abortion, but because liberals wanted to abolish them.” Pornography did not become an issue because Christians suddenly decided to ban adult literature, but because by the 1970s porn was becoming ubiquitous and prominently displayed in stores. Homosexuality didn’t become an issue because Christians suddenly became obsessed with it, but because the homosexual rights movement began to make big political and legal strides. Feminism also emerged as a powerful political force leading to a Christian response. In each of these cases, the Christian activity was a response to a political offensive from the other side. This leads Glazer to write, “What we are seeing is a defensive reaction of the conservative heartland, rather than an offensive that intends to or is capable of really upsetting the balance, or of driving the United States back to the nineteenth century or early twentieth century.” Due to the initial surge of Christian political activity, many people viewed the Christians as being on the offensive. But even if their activity did amount to an offensive of sorts, its whole purpose was ultimately defensive. In this respect, Glazer calls it a “defensive offensive.” But it’s vitally important to keep the defensive nature in mind. “This ‘defensive offensive’ itself can be understood only as a response to what is seen as aggression—the aggression that banned prayer from the schools, or, most recently, the Ten Commandments from school-house walls, that prevented states from expressing local opinion as to the legitimacy of abortion, and that, having driven religion out of the public schools, now is seeking to limit the schools that practice it.” Conclusion Every society operates within some code of morality. All laws are based on a concept of morality, even traffic laws which protect people from the careless driving habits of others. Conservative Christians have not taken it upon themselves to introduce some new rules upon society but simply to defend the rules that have served well for hundreds of years. It is the other side that is trying to force a new morality onto society, and then accusing the Christians of doing so. Thus not only is their accusation false but it is also hypocritical. Christian activism is a form of political self-defense. Christians didn’t start this fight. They are responding to changes launched from the other side. This first appeared in the February 2011 issue under the title "Political self-defense: some people find Christianity quite offensive – it just isn’t so."...

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