Religious freedom is usually the first thing expunged in a dictatorship.
They need you to worship the party.
It's usually done through state controlled media and an organized (often violent) campaign to eliminate troublesome elements in society. Think China and fallon gong.
In Canada, none of that is even necessary. Religion will be destroyed without the messy violence less nice countries perpetrate, and the government can claim clean hands because no concerted effort is even required on their part.
Major media in Canada already worships at the altar Liberal, so the job's half done. Our government need not impose its worldview on the media as it must in other one-state countries -- the media is dutifully trotting along ahead, clearing the way for their masters.
This sort of 'expose'- type writing -- on a story that could not and would not be written about any other minority group -- should outrage 'moderate' voters. And it will. They'll think how typical and revolting that those damned Christians are allowed to be involved in public life. 'Moderate' conservatives like mindlessinottawa (whose rants against born-again Christians would be considered hate-speech if directed at any other group) will go over the top in their rages at those who would dare allow their faith to impact on their actions and politics.
The liberal media is partly responsible for the arrogance that allows Liberals to think they are the 'natural governing party'. But 'moderates' are complicit --- when instead of questioning the motives for such an inflammatory headline and topic in the mainstream media -- they agree that Christian values have no place in the political arena.
John Reynolds is right. This article could not have been written about any other group.
Christians participating in politics shouldn't be a turn off, but the tone of the headline, and the article itself, tells the reader it is.
Conservatives have to stop apologising for the values of our fellow conservatives. If we don't, people will think there is something about being a Christian that should make us ashamed.
Cheers,
canadianna
9 comments:
ottawacon -- mindless is an angry guy. His venom toward those with whom he disagrees is frightening. I won't post on his site, and if you noticed, although I mention him, I didn't put a link. I wouldn't want to be responsible for some poor, unsuspecting soul getting a verbal smack.
herehere -- did you know that Toronto used to be called the city of churches. Now they're shutting them down. How long before they are forced to close because they don't conform to the left-Lib worldview.
Cheers.
The backlash is coming. People of faith can no longer accept having to "shut up" about political issues. (They shouldn't have had to in the first place, but that's a story for another time.)
That mobilization scares the daylights out of the Libranos.
Canadi-anna -- hope you don't mind my posting this link on the current status of religious freedom in Canada. It's certainly very heartening to see people of faith rallying -- there is much at stake. One of my favorite authors is Michael O'Brien (his novels are extremely thought-provoking, and even prophetic), and in this article he had this to say about de-facto tyranny:
"The absolute ruler always attempts to destroy diversity in the name of unity. What he really means by the word “unity” is uniformity, sameness. He cannot remain content with a pacified populace, because there always lurks beneath the surface of even the passive a potential for dissent, the threat of revolt against his power. Thus the pacified must be re-educated, so that at the core of their thinking no virus of resistance remains. The totalitarian begins with a seemingly benign re-education, but as he extends his grasp into more and more aspects of human life he gradually becomes hostile to everything outside of his own will. As his power becomes near absolute it grows increasingly negative, because by its very nature it must oppose what cannot be extinguished in the human person. It must seek at some point to destroy the inviolability of conscience and the inner impulse to genuine creativity which depends for its well-being on freedom from manipulation.
.....More difficult to identify is the idealistic tyrant who expands his power in a sincere effort to protect what he considers to be the good of his subjects. He will reduce crime, balance the budget, bring order and a measure of material plenty to the nation. He will surely labour to make a better citizen of the raw material of his subjects. There can be a reassuring sense of security in all this—in the beginning. We feel so much safer in a milieu of dependable public services and an ordered economy, though we would, perhaps, remain uneasy about trading away certain freedoms in exchange for them. But it is precisely the elimination of personal responsibility which is the new totalitarian’s ultimate goal, for this is what he sees as our fatal flaw.
It must be understood that the highly motivated idealist is not merely interested in improving the exterior forms of society. Ultimately, he wishes to reform us to the core, to save us from ourselves. Of course, he will find that basic human nature is rather difficult to remold, and as time goes on he will need to continuously expand his power until his control approaches the level of totality. If he is clever at it and fills up the world with beautiful rhetoric, and takes care not to grossly infringe upon our pleasurable rights, and if, at the same time, he takes upon his own shoulders our unpleasant rights, the ones which demand effort and sacrifice, then he may get away with it."
Sound familiar?
Eerily familiar.
I'm glad you posted it, thanks Linda.
You're going to have me spending all my hard earned money at Amazon!
Cheers.
Interesting and frightening post.
BTW, it is extremely difficult to convince older believers in the states to become politically aware and active, and I suspect it is the same up North, too. However, I'm convinced it is a necessary ministry in every evangelical church in the free world. Not to "take over" the government - or achieve power - but to stave off the continued abuse of Christians by liberals, who have been heaping it on our nations for several decades, or longer.
It is also time to challenge the MSM for every instance of "Christian baiting", such as that shown. Thanks for your blog. For me it has become a 'must read'.
Good discussion. You are right about religion. It's the canary in a coal mine of a democratic setting.
Adrianne Clarkson said, not all that long ago, that citizens in this country owe their total loyalty to liberal principles. I'll have to find the reference for you, but it sends chills up the spine. Liberalism has become the new total vision of the state, to which, as you point out, the whole community must defer.
I couldn't resist taking John Reynolds advice, just wanted to see for myself.
I have to agree with you; I think the Christian community in Canada is starting to become politically active, in a way that they weren't in the last election. (Part of it, I suspect, has to do with the success of the community south of the border.)
I talk about it some more here, if you don't mind a quick plug.
The religion of the Left is Government. They have their churches in the Statehouses, their rituals in their making of laws and their catechism of political correctness. The media are nothing more than their scribes.
Not unlike Islam, they are trying to kill off Christianity because it is a competing religion.
They are on a Jihad no less than are the terrorists who are trying to kill off anyone who dissents with them.
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