Mackey points out that Harper is no George Bush—a traditional “born-again” who claimed a life-changing epiphany on the booze-sodden road to perdition. He calls the prime minister a “cerebral” Christian who read his way to belief. “When it came to his spiritual formation with Preston, he’d say, ‘What are the classics?’” Mackey explains. “And Preston would say, ‘Try C. S. Lewis’ or, ‘Try [Malcolm] Muggeridge.’”
At the time, Harper’s father, Joseph—the man he calls the most important influence on his life—was facing his own spiritual crossroads. In Harper’s interview with Drew Marshall, he recalled that his father “became quite an expert in theological matters as he grew older,” and after years as an ardent United Church–goer and elder, suddenly decamped to the Presbyterians. Harper sidestepped the question of why Joseph Harper had jumped ship but he pointedly noted that Marshall’s evangelical audience would get his drift. What he seemed to be referring to was the charged 1988 decision by the United Church General Council to approve the ordination of homosexuals—a decision that provoked thousands of defections.
After word of Mackey’s book leaked out, conventional wisdom in the capital argued that Harper’s wife, Laureen, must have dragged him to East Gate. In fact, although she has attended services with her husband and two kids, Buitenwerf claims never to have met her. “She’s not interested in spiritual things,” confirms Grey. According to Mackey, it is Harper who makes sure their children, Ben and Rachel, get to Sunday school, not his wife. “Apparently, somebody in her family was a member of an evangelical sect which paid more attention to the church than to the family,” Mackey says. “It turned her off.”
Harper has been so careful not to reveal his faith that many voters were stunned when he capped off his election-night victory speech with “God bless Canada.” Was it a slip of the tongue—a case of rhetorical exuberance swamping his celebrated intellectual cool? Or, as some critics insisted, a shameless aping of every American president within recent memory, no matter their political stripe? Even New York Times correspondent Clifford Krauss noted that it was “an unusual line in a country where politicians do not customarily talk about God.”
In fact, Harper had already used the tag line as opposition leader, and he wasn’t the first prime minister to do so. On February 15, 1965, Lester Pearson jubilantly roared out the same benediction as he hoisted Canada’s first red and white maple leaf flag over the Parliament Buildings. “It’s just ridiculous to think that this is some novelty that was learned by watching Republicans on television,” scoffs Preston Manning. “This is a country that used to end every public meeting by saying, ‘God Save the Queen.’”
As pundits pondered the significance of Harper’s taste in exit lines, one thing seemed clear: a politician known for attempting to control his party’s every public utterance had chosen to invoke what National Post columnist Warren Kinsella dubbed “the G-word.” If, as suspected, Harper was sending a message to the country’s estimated 3.5 million evangelicals—not to mention the 44 percent of Canadians who tell pollsters they’ve committed their lives to Christ—what was he trying to tell them?
In his pre-election chat on the Drew Marshall Show, Harper managed to work in an undisguised plug: “I always make it clear that Christians are welcome in politics,” he said, “and particularly welcome in our party.” That invitation has not gone unnoticed. As Janet Epp Buckingham, director of the Evangelical Fellowship’s Ottawa office, notes, “In the last election, the media was pointing out that evangelicals are scary, and in the election before that the Liberals were doing quite a bit of fear mongering. It’s such a relief to have a party that says, ‘You guys are welcome here.’”
That relief translated into votes. According to an Ipsos-Reid poll in April, 64 percent of weekly Protestant churchgoers—the vast majority of them evangelicals—voted Conservative in the last election, a 24-percent jump from 2004. For the first time in the history of polling in Canada, Catholics who attend church weekly also shifted a majority of their votes from the Liberals to Harper’s party. While the Ottawa press corps has been preoccupied with Harper’s ability to keep the most blooper-prone Christians in his caucus buttoned up, he has quietly but determinedly nurtured a coalition of evangelicals, Catholics, and conservative Jews that brought him to power and that will put every effort into ensuring that he stays there. Last spring, when Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty could barely wangle an hour with him, Harper made time for dozens of faith groups, including a five-woman delegation from the Catholic Women’s League which hadn’t managed to snare a sit-down with any prime minister in twenty-four years. “Smile if you’re a so-con,” ran a headline in the Western Standard above a photo of the meeting. “Canada’s traditional Christian groups can’t say enough good things about the Tories’ social policies so far.”
Comments (25 comments)
jmcdougall: This article must have been so difficult to write. The facts are so very terrifying - it is a real wake-up call. A lot of "Steve's" statements now have context. I'm so glad Maclean's was stupid enough to let some of its best journalists slip away to a great place like The Walrus. Thank you all. October 13, 2006 17:46 EST
wagner1979: chilling and horrifying. How can we so blindly follow the USA's lead? October 16, 2006 08:22 EST
Myles Leach: I would like to thank Marci McDonald for pushing aside the curtain which the Harper Conservatives have drawn tightly against media scrutiny. Only days after I finished reading Marci's article Stephen Harper, under fire for weeks regarding his government's lack of an environment policy, dropped the "Israel bomb" into the Liberal camp by suggesting that not only Michael Ignatieff but all the Liberal leadership hopefuls were "anti-Israeli." Within hours the national political debate had turned from a rout of the Conservatives' lack of policy direction to a "loyalty to Israel" contest. Harper proved that the wise serpent doesn't always spare his venom. Thanks for a very enlightening article. October 16, 2006 11:10 EST
sohailakhan: There is an elephant in this church that everyone is ignoring completely in US and Canada. It's the Israeli government officials who are directly involved in shaping the domestic and foreign policy of US and Canada. Their mediums are the Jewish advocacy groups in Canada and US. These Jewish advocacy groups' mediums are the Evangelical Christians groups who think they're simply following the scripture. The upheavals that the Christian Right is creating in the Middle East is misunderstood by North America. Israel has direct interest in creating these 'zealots' in North America since they serve its purpose, whether it's labelling Arab Organizations as Terrorists or labelling entire Middle Eastern Countries as rogue states. These are dangerous gambles that will haunt Canada's pristine image around the world for a long time to come. October 18, 2006 09:54 EST
The Cylinder: Additional material:
The Armageddon Lobby
http://muse.jhu.edu/demo/holy_land_studies/v005/5.1haija.html
Zogby Polling Results on the "Armageddon Lobby:
http://www.cnionline.org/learn/polls/czandlobby/ October 18, 2006 12:52 EST
sdovan: I guess we have our very own domestic (Christian) version of the Taliban. October 19, 2006 07:31 EST
zoedog: Brilliant and terrifying article. Every Canadian should read this and I suggest all subscribers pass along that article to anyone they know that may have the urge to vote Conservative in the belief they are benign. This is a dangerous and divisive path for our great nation. October 30, 2006 20:00 EST
Elnanorel: I am not at all sure why this article would be considered "terrifying." It would be naive to think that a single person enters political life without personal biases. All of us have formed opinions on the world through our own personalities and life experiences. In fact, I would be dismayed if I heard that our politicians did not have the ability to form reasoned opinions about the world around them. Stephen Harper has a perfect right to be a Christian and a politician at the same time. I applaud him for at once trying to be inclusive of all faiths without attempting to disguise the fact that he, like all of us, has personal biases towards a certain belief system. October 31, 2006 11:31 EST
davidbutorac:
While Miss McDonald uncovers real meetings and connections between the CPC and Evos, she draws too much on the Evos' perception of themselves. Of course, they think they're influential. But the funny thing about Canada is that it has a Charter of Rights of Freedoms and every person, government both provincial and federal is bound by it. It mentions something in there or other about, um, religion near the beginning. Were a province to invoke the 'notwithstanding clause', it would only last five years, after which point the citizens could vote out or keep in that government.
If a Conservative goverment were to show bias of any religion (we'll hypothesize Christianity, particularly its Evo strain), they would be voted out so hard and (again) for the next 40 years. As we are well aware, you are not going to form a majority without Ontario and Quebec, so you can find every and any connection between the CPC and evangelicals, but there is no chance these provinces would give a majority to a party which was going to do anything 'vicious' or overtly (and importantly) iditotic and Christian. Ever. This is wishful thinking on the Evos part. Giving money directly to parents for day-care has reasonable merits on both sides of the issue, but it is not explicitly Christian (or any other religion for that matter). So, you can have every Christian lobby in town praying and meeting and blah blah (which is their democratic prerogative in multicultural society, right?), but where the Charter could possibly be circumvented (using articles within it) or nudged in a certain direction, Canadians would violently react against it. (Canadians unlike Americans love to punish their politicians; cf. Mulroney's PCC.) There is no political acuity in her analysis, only a doomsday worse case scenario which borders on fantastical. The CPC will be driving right down the middle of the road for the next "ever", with the occasional tap of the wheel to the right. The next Conservative majority budget, if it does anything funny, will be the last Conservative budget for a long long time. One never knows, but I suspect the Conservatives have cottoned on to this.
If people haven't noticed, Canada since Conferderation has had a happy relation between state funded parochial schools and the government. I will grant that Evos are largely different bird, but they must operate within a very large and powerful common opinion about everyone being sympatico. Not so with the US, which from its beginnings there was a strong evangelical flavour (to put it mildly) to it. Again, the Conservatives know this; they'll find ways to shoot themselves in the foot, but not this foot. Ironically, this gambit of dividing the religious right against the secular left is simply uncandadian; it's American. (Gasp!)
I didn't know Harper had reversed Canada's Israel foreign policy. (We'll forget the tiny little anti-semtitic "none is too many" period...) What about (St.) Mike Pearson, The Honourable Canadian Middle-Soft Power guy? Aside from sending troops to fight communists in Korea (gasp! Fight? With soldiers? against Communists? how...american...), as chairman of the General Assembly's Special Committee of the UN, he helped, um, create Israel, knowing full well what that creation would mean in terms of Israel's neighbours. That is, he supported Israel. Canada supported Israel at the UN in the 50's and 60's (along with most Western democracies), but with PET Canada started abstaining and occasionally supporting it. Joe and Mulroney....supported it. So, pretty much, so long as one's memory belongs to the Chretien era (which showed so much leadership outside of the deficit), you could say that Harper had reversed Canada's position in this regard. A shift relative to recent absentions, yes. Reversal, no.
(Incidentally, Hizbollah (supported by two countries who want Jews, um, annhilated (their words)), who started the whole thing, and before the kidnapping had been sending 40 archaic (read: little accuracy) missles randomly into civilain areas of Israel a day, broke the first article of the Geneva War Crimes Convention, waging war from within civilian areas. Oh, and at the recent Francophonie, Harper (supported by Chirac) pushed to prevent the condemnation of Israel only. This was remarkably even handed.)
You would truly have to know nothing (I am being polite here) about any government or history or any facts at all to compare the CPC to the Taliban. Good try though.
November 05, 2006 13:12 EST
davidbutorac: November 05, 2006 13:22 EST
davidbutorac: My comment about the CPC and Taliban was not directed toward Miss McDonald (who said no such thing, but to the contributer sdovan, commenting below. November 05, 2006 13:24 EST
Lance Nielsen: I was interested in your magazine as a result of seeing it advertised on NatGeo. I find after investigating that it is simply a front for secular progressive neo-liberalism. You consistently attack values shared by many Canadians. Would you find China or the Russia more palatable than the society we have which has been founded on Christian beliefs based on freedom of choice.
Further, I find your article on Harper and the Theo-Cons amusing at best. Had your article been written about an Arab conspiracy to infect the land with Shariah Law - as has been attempted - your "newsmagazine" would have been met with the full clout of the law as being classified "hate" literature. I find your view of Christianity nears the threshold of "hate" literature.
Your attack on the Christian values of Harper are amusing given his track record of keeping church and state separate. He did have a vote on Gay Marriage and respected the outcome. He has shown full respect for all faiths as recently demonstrated by his vist to a new Vedic Temple near Toronto.
Perhaps a visit to the prisons of Cuba or China may serve you well in rekindling the wonder and amazement at how well Christian values have served to provide the foundation for the great and free society we have in Canada.
Regards,
Lance Nielsen August 22, 2007 10:00 EST
Lance Nielsen: "Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Magazine Fund of the Department of Canadian Heritage."
What - I paid for this magazine! All the more reason why government should not recieve my money! This magazine is so hard left I am shocked to read that your mission is to provide a "general-interest magazine with an international outlook". You have certainly not achieved your aim. The only international outlook this magazine has is one as seen through the rose coloured glasses of Hugo Chavez or Fidel Castro.
Canada's Magaizine of the Year! Is there any hope for balanced reporting from Canada's magazines if this is their finest.
August 22, 2007 10:13 EST
John Daudrich: This 60's style history lesson has clarified so much to the 10 or 20 people who have read it.
Lesson #1 Back in the 60's we learned all about sex, drugs, and disrespect for authority from these same people.
Lesson #2 We can now learn from this article from these same people 40 years later where the roots of the Pedophilia epidemic , Sodomy epidemic, and reefer madness epidemic come from. They hate God. "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things that are inconvenient".(Romans 1:28) The moral relativism of the left is bankrupt.
The ideological gatekeepers of the far left know nothing about religious freedom. Freedom for them is freedom to indulge, and trample over the rights of others. Freedom to them is to use your money to indoctrinate innocent children with their own pernicious ways.
Harpers position is nothing less than that of a modified Libertarian. That would be for each individual to promote their own philosphy using their own power and money.
There is no greater freedom than that which is found in a nation that upholds the Bible and what has been traditionally referred to as the Evangelical position. Right now, you and I are living on the residual freedom of our God fearing forefathers. Just try talking like this in Saudi Arabia, or Iran. Leftists are consistently on the same side as the jihadists of our day. They hate Christianity which upholds women and gives them respect and dignity. Yet hate the freedom that Muslim women have under the west created governments of Afganistan and Iraq. Countries that would otherwise treat women like farm animals.
At first the left accused conservatives of being anti Jewish. Now we are accused of being pro Israel. Well you can't have it both ways. The left accused conservatives of being against personal freedoms. Well they are right in some ways. We are against the right to murder. We are against the right to steal. But they steal from taxpayers everyday to fund themselves. We are against the right to have our personal reputations sullied by lies, innuendo, and half truths. But the lies continue to spew forth about Harper and anyone else that they disagree with. They have same attitude that Stalin, Hitler, and Mao had about their people.
We know better. We are the intelectual elite. We are liberal.
October 08, 2007 18:55 EST
Dan: "How can we so blindly follow the USA's lead? October 16, 2006 08:22 EST"
You haven't been paying attention. There are way, way more people in the US who are trying to keep this from happening, than the whimper of tsk-tsk in Canada. Canada is just waiting for it. October 14, 2007 18:38 EST
Viamund: All religions are the same... all superstitious nonsense. We - those who represent the light of reason - must do - by whatever means necessary - any and all acts required to prevent this American Taliban from gaining any sort of power or influence within our beloved Canada. To maintain that separation between Church and State is a Canadian value. Segregation is not a Canadian value. Those Neo/Theo-conservatives do not belong in Canada. They represent lies, shame, fear and superstition. October 17, 2007 16:43 EST
RALPH: .
LEARN THE TRUTH ABOUT THE COMING RAPTURE!!!!
PLEASE DON'T SPEND THE REST OF YOUR LIVES...AND ALL OF ETERNITY WITH PIAPS!!!!! November 09, 2007 08:36 EST
Jim Cyr: I didn't read the piece; I know, I know: "How can you make such accusations when you didn't even READ the article??" Well, look: I don't HAVE to (which in a way is great........a real timesaver during a busy, busy day!) This piece is UNDOUBTEDLY just more silly, leftist, shallow "disguised" attacks against traditional Christianity and conservatism. (I put disguised in quotes because, increasingly, authors like this don't even have the rudimentary cleverness to successfully disguise their attacks.)
This is all like Kabuki theater.....and BAD Kabuki theater at that. February 29, 2008 15:05 EST
Anonymous: Steven Harper is no different than any other Prime Minister except for the exception of Mr Trudeau who stood true to his promises. Our country once held strong to Canadians Christian values, now our Government has been dictated to and we no longer stand for what we once stood for. Its got to the point than immigrants who come over to our country now dictate how our country should be run. Its pretty bad when we can't even use the word Christmas, because other nationalities say it infringes on there belief's. Mr Harper is also guilty of the mass slaughter of all those helpless seals. What have we become. Its time the people of Canada took Canada back. We all need to take a stance and stand up for what is morally right. The states have no problem speaking out, what is wrong with us? Our national anthem does not stand for what Canada represents. Their is only one true living God and one religion and that is the word of God.In the end their will be everlasting life for those who worshiped the one true God and for the rest of us who chose to ignore the truth, they will suffer eternal damnation. Mankind cannot prevent the inevitable and they cannot change the scriptures. What is written will be done. March 09, 2008 15:43 EST
Enkidu: It is a miserable conceit to reference Christian values without the courtesy of either a definition or an example that illustrates the definition.
A casual assessment of Harper's approach to Christian values reveals contempt and petulance to be among his highest objectives.
So what is a distinctly Christian value? March 13, 2008 16:47 EST
scdg: i think what the author was trying to portray is nothing but fear, what if Harper is a Christian it isnt the end of the world...and what does it matter what church Harper goes to? I am wondering if the author would be happy if the Prime Minister professed no faith or beleif in anything. I also want to respnd to the person who asked about Christian values. Christian values have upheld this country, the legal system, and society since its inception; laws about murder, stealing and others are examined in the scriptures.
i dont necesarily agree with everything Harper stands for, but i respect his right to lead our country and also profess his faith in God...that freedom is part of being Canadian
to the person who said all religions are the same, and neo-cons dont belong in Canada has missed the point completely, Canada is a free country with religious freedoms protected in the Charter, anybody who applies for citizenship is rightfully able to live in Canada as much as you....
and Christianity is about Christ not a religious order or organization. Its about relationship with a living God.
April 16, 2008 18:37 EST
Barb: If you support anything that causes problems, you are aiding and abetting the problem. Taliban, evangelicals and fundamentalists don't even know that they are brainwashed, so it's not fair to rely upon them for clear opinions. Humans are naturally superstitious, since we need the feeling of control, even if it isn't real, to give us the impression we are safe. It is, however, just a delusion, and we can never lose sight of that. If someone needs religion as a hobby or personal support tool, go ahead. But since religion is a made-man fantasy, it is always manipulated by man, whether it be the pope, father, reverend, taliban or cult leader. Abuse and the hunger for power is rampant, and it's no wonder. Everything mankind can do, can be done right or wrong. Religion is a perfect example. The protection of religion was sought and received. Now it is terribly abused by religious people to try and smother the rest of humanity with their control and preferences. That is why, long ago, politics and religion remain separate. People like Harper are religious extremists and they have said that they want to trick regular religious people to vote for them. I know many religious people who are not falling for Harper's tactics, because they know that this type of extreme religion is very dangerous in it's lack of concern for anyone who won't join them. Harper and his church doesn't care to save the planet, because they want it to end as they are told it will, to bring their predicted end times to fruition. It'll be a sad day when the rest of the population realizes that we have let these people ignore real problems and let the planet suffer so badly. I think we've let religion dominate too far, and we will all end up with a pretty lousy planet because of it. Worse, I have no religious freedom, because apparently I'm not allowed to talk about what I believe to be true, that religion should be respected, but treated on the level of a hobby, which it is. April 27, 2008 18:31 EST
Anonymous: Posted by Barb:"I have no religious freedom, because apparently I'm not allowed to talk about what I believe to be true, that religion should be respected, but treated on the level of a hobby, which it is. April 27, 2008 18:31 EST"
Nicely stated. Religion is a hobby, and as such merits a dedicated section in a bookstore—right next to the fantasy section. April 28, 2008 16:45 EST
Ron McAllister: For as much as the likes of Andrew Coyne or Rex Murphy or Margaret Wente comment glowingly about Harper's "strategic political acumen", there is a much darker cloud that continues to hang over our born-again Christian Prime Minister, one that seems to go unnoticed by most in the press. In the 2006, October issue of Walrus Marci McDonald wrote a wonderfully insightful article about Harper and the friends who influence both his foreign and domestic policies. It seems Harper is still under the Jesus influence as the Men of God continue to draw closer, showing increased influence on him. Marci's article received scant mention in the main stream press and as I read the many daily papers produced by ink stained wretches across our country there still remains a deaf ear and blind eye to the overly cozy relationship Harper has with the God people. Bad enough our man in Ottawas still believes in fairies in the garden but the kind of religion Harper follows is far more insidious and dangerous to our "Secular" country. These guys are nuts and exhibit the same kind of fundamentalist beliefs you would find among Taliban or Al Queda, or Sunni or Shiites supporters. All of these religious folks would have the world's clock turned back, to a time they thought was more simple. A time where women take a back seat to the man of the house, a world where god and prayer are a part of our daily lives. These men see even sin in our genes! (refer to Lorna Dueck's article in The Globe and Mail, Monday, June 30, 2008) This would be a good time in fact to quote a little from Lorna. Lorna's been given a special bi-monthly platform in the Globes' "Comments Section", she interestingly comments on Parenting. Here are Lorna's own words.
"I could write a book about my childhood - a lot of us could - but here's the baffling truth: We're born with sin in our genes and it takes a lifetime to evolve to good"
Here is another gem from Lorna,
"Sin has no limit of age and if there is any reason to involve the state over family discipline issues, it happens because we are spiritually sick."
Finally Lorna offers this nugget,
"It's not the state that's needed, its not even religion, it's just me knowing what to do with the sin."
Are we living in 17Th century Salem? Lorna is friends with David Maines, friends with Charles McVety and apparently friends with the owners and editors of the Globe. I find it unfathomable that this kind of writing is allowed in a National Newspaper! What is incredible is Lorna's article is under "parenting".
Why you might ask do I quote from Lorna? The answer is obvious, Lorna reflects the domestic policies of Steven Harper, they are cut from the same fundamentalist religious cloth and those beliefs are dangerous and divisive. Are we to soon read the lunatic ravings of fundamentalist Sik's or Hindu's or Muslims? My question to the Globe is when will the atheists be given equal voice?
For all those in love with Harper and find his religion quaint and harmless let me refer you to the 5 quotes I took from Marci's article. I followed that up with the Alliance Church's Doctrinal Statement. This is the church Steven Harper belongs to. So in ending I ask you this question; Does Steven believe in this doctrine and if so how has it affected his policies and if not could he be found a hypocrite for stating one thing yet believing another? Note please pay particular attention to statement #11 and refer to speeches given by McVety, James Dobson and John Hagee because they all believe the rapture is close at hand!
You be the judge!
Sincerely,
Ron McAllister
Toronto, ON
"McVety and others on the religious right are equally convinced that Harper is one of their own. “We’ve got a born-again prime minister,” trumpets David Mainse, the founder of Canada’spremier Christian talk show, 100 Huntley Street. They see him as an image-savvy evangelical who has been careful to keep his signals to them under the media radar, but they have no doubt his convictions run deep—so deep that only after he wins a majority will he dare translate the true colours of his faith into policies that could remake the fabric of the nation. If they’re right, it remains unclear whether those convictions would turn government into a kinder, gentler guarantor of social justice for all or transform the country into a stern, narrow-minded theocracy. And what would his evangelical worldview mean for international relations?" 1 Walrus, October 2006, Marci McDonald
"During this summer’s Middle East war, Harper reversed decades of Canadian foreign policy with his adamant support for Israel, even after its jets smashed a clearly marked United Nations observation post, killing a veteran Canadian peacekeeper. His admirers argue that steadfastness could turn the burgeoning bond between evangelical Christians and Jews into a powerful and unprecedented alliance that could leave him unbeatable at the ballot box. But a growing chorus of critics warns that Harper has already paid a high price for that strategic calculation, irrevocably alienating Canada’s mushrooming Islamic population and leaving in shreds the country’s reputation as an even-handed peace broker. Harper’s stand has also raised more unsettling questions. What does it mean if and when a believer in the infallibility of Biblical prophecy comes to power and backs a damn-the-torpedoes course in the Middle East? Does it end up fuelling overenthusiastic end-timers who feel they have nothing to lose in some future conflagration, helping speed the world on Hagee’s fast track to Armageddon?" 2 see McDonald
"In his 2004 book, Marriage Under Fire, Dobson compared proponents of same-sex marriage to Adolf Hitler, and last year Focus on the Family Canada bought time on 130 radio stations for an appeal from Dobson urging Canadian voters to contact their MPs and kill Bill C-38. As Darrel Reid, the former president of Focus on the Family Canada, puts it, “He saw Canada as being on the leading edge of social decline.” 3 See McDonald
"But Quist is adamant that the institute was not the brainchild of Dobson,whose lobbying might endanger its charitable tax status, and his photo is nowhere to be seen on its walls. “I’ve never met Dr. Dobson,” he says. He takes pains to underline that Focus on the Family Canada, headquartered in Langley, British Columbia—the heart of the Canadian Bible Belt—is an autonomous entity. That claim was undercut when the Montreal Gazette examined the US ministry’s annual reports and discovered that it had contributed computer, broadcast, and telephone support services to its Canadian spinoff valued at $1.6 million over four years." 4 See McDonald
"McVety’s preoccupation with Israel has become the thread that knits together his whirlwind organizational activities, from the fundamentalist theology that the college dispenses to the curiously wide-ranging agenda of the Institute for Canadian Values, where Ben-Ami fires out press releases on subjects as apparently disparate as same-sex marriage and Hamas terrorist threats. Both issues are concerns shared by the intensely conservative wings of the Christian and Jewish communities that rally around McVety and his closest collaborator, Frank Dimant, executive vice-president of B’nai Brith Canada, who has an honorary doctorate from Canada Christian College on his office wall.
Dimant and McVety’s mutual interest in Israel and family values is exactly what Stephen Harper had in mind three years ago in his Civitas speech when he laid out his plans for a new Conservative coalition that would unite social conservatives across faith lines. For those who can’t see the connection between so-con issues and Israeli security, McVety offers one practised sound byte. “Israel is the number one family-values issue,” he says. “Where does marriage come from God. Where does the Bible come from Israel. The first family of Christianity—Jesus, Mary, and Josep—were all Jewish. Israel is the source of everything we have.” 5 See McDonald
The Alliance Doctrinal Statement
1. There is one God,(1) who is infinitely perfect,(2) existing eternally in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.(3) ([1] Deuteronomy 6:4, [2] Matthew 5:48, [3] Matthew 28:19)
2. Jesus Christ is the true God and the true man.(4) He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.(5) He died upon the cross, the Just for the unjust,(6) as a substitutionary sacrifice,(7) and all who believe in Him are justified on the ground of His shed blood.(8) He arose from the dead according to the Scriptures.(9) He is now at the right hand of Majesty on high as our great High Priest.(10) He will come again to establish His kingdom, righteousness and peace.(11) ([4] Philippians 2:6–11, [5] Luke 1:34–38, [6] I Peter 3:18, [7] Hebrews 2:9, [8] Romans 5:9, [9] Acts 2:23–24, [10] Hebrews 8:1, [11] Matthew 26:64)
3. The Holy Spirit is a divine person,(12) sent to dwell, guide, teach, empower the believer,(13) and convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.(14) ([12] John 14:15–18, [13] John 16:13, Acts 1:8, [14] John 16:7–11)
4. The Old and New Testaments, inerrant as originally given, were verbally inspired by God and are a complete revelation of His will for the salvation of men. They constitute the divine and only rule of Christian faith and practice.(15) ([15] 2 Peter 1:20–21, 2 Timothy 3:15–16)
5. Man was originally created in the image and likeness of God:(16) he fell through disobedience, incurring thereby both physical and spiritual death. All men are born with a sinful nature,(17) are separated from the life of God, and can be saved only through the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ.(18) The portion of the unrepentant and unbelieving is existence forever in conscious torment;(19) and that of the believer, in everlasting joy and bliss.(20) ([16] Genesis 1:27, [17] Romans 3:23, [18] 1 Corinthians15:20–23, [19] Revelation 21:8, [20] Revelation 21:1–4)
6. Salvation has been provided through Jesus Christ for all men; and those who repent and believe in Him are born again of the Holy Spirit, receive the gift of eternal life, and become the children of God.(21) ([21] Titus 3:4–7)
7. It is the will of God that each believer should be filled with the Holy Spirit and be sanctified wholly,(22) being separated from sin and the world and fully dedicated to the will of God, thereby receiving power for holy living and effective service.(23) This is both a crisis and a progressive experience wrought in the life of the believer subsequent to conversion.24 ([22] 1 Thessalonians 5:23, [23] Acts 1:8, [24] Romans 6:1–14)
8. Provision is made in the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ for the healing of the mortal body.(25) Prayer for the sick and anointing with oil are taught in the Scriptures and are privileges for the Church in this present age.(26) ([25] Matthew 8:16–17, [26] James 5:13–16)
9. The Church consists of all those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, are redeemed through His blood, and are born again of the Holy Spirit. Christ is the Head of the Body, the Church, (27) which has been commissioned by Him to go into all the world as a witness, preaching the gospel to all nations.(28) The local church is a body of believers in Christ who are joined together for the worship of God, for edification through the Word of God, for prayer, fellowship, the proclamation of the gospel, and observance of the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper.(29) ([27] Ephesians 1:22–23, [28] Matthew 28:19–20, [29] Acts 2:41–47)
10. There shall be a bodily resurrection of the just and of the unjust; for the former, a resurrection unto life;(30) for the latter, a resurrection unto judgment.(31) ([30] 1 Corinthians 15:20–23, [31] John 5:28–29)
11. The second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is imminent(32) and will be personal, visible, and premillennial.(33) This is the believer's blessed hope and is a vital truth which is an incentive to holy living and faithful service.(34) ([32] Hebrews 10:37, [33] Luke 21:27, [34] Titus 2:11–14)
July 01, 2008 11:44 EST
Larry: When our forefathers came to Canada in the beginning all they had was GOD, Jesus and a desire to build a life out this country. There were no Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus or Buddhists in the lot. Just good Judeo/Christians yearning for a better life than they left behind. These days virtually no one wants to admit their faith in Christianty, fall into white guilt about everything and everyone, multiculturalize everything and ignore or marginalize the rights of the Judeo/Christian population.
What has Islam and Muslims ever done for Canada, but run off at their pity-pot mouth bringing spurious accusations of Hate, through the BCHRC & CHRC at our cost, against the Western Standard, Mark Steyn and Macleans Magazine. The magazines and Steyn who stand up for the rights of indigenous Canadians and our Judeo/Christian make-up. Has it become law now that we must become Dhimmi's in our own land to other minroties - especially Muslims? We are our own worst enemies when we refuse to stand up for what we beleve in and allow a handful of Muslims to dictate to us. Do you not think its time to stand up for our way of life? Or maybe our way of life is not good enough for you. July 17, 2008 19:26 EST