Posted on 06/03/2005 8:39:24 AM PDT by Heartofsong83
Christians capturing Tory party
Fri Jun 3 2005 FRANCES RUSSELL
CHRISTIAN. Jew. Muslim. Hindu. Buddhist. Agnostic. Atheist. Under Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms, all have equal right to sit at the table of political power. But only if they respect democratic pluralism and the rights of others to hold different beliefs and values.
What worries a clear majority of Canadians is a peculiarly American strain of Christianity that clamours for its own religious freedom and rights, but squelches them for others.
It seeks political power for the express purpose of remaking the nation in its own rigid and authoritarian image.
It has taken over the Republican Party. Unless aware Americans act soon, the U.S. risks becoming a right-wing Christian theocracy along the lines of the fundamentalist Islamic states it most fears.
President George W. Bush's administration has now moved on one of the last major outposts of critical journalism, the Corporation of Public Broadcasting. The administration has stacked its board with appointees determined to stamp out that deadly American crime, "liberalism". To do so, it's trampling balance, too. Canadians are acutely aware of this. Like witnesses to a fatal crash, they watch, appalled, as the Christian Right seizes ever-greater control over political debate and thought in the Great Republic.
It sends chills up the spine.
This destruction of everything liberal democracy is supposed to stand for is a key reason Stephen Harper's Conservatives are sliding in the polls even as the Liberals plumb new depths of ethical and possibly criminal misbehaviour.
Last week, the Globe and Mail carried several articles on the Christian Right's successful capture of at least eight Conservative nominations in B.C., Ontario and Atlantic Canada. These candidates all have ties to the U.S. evangelical Christian movements now commanding the heights of the Republican Party. Focus on the Family and Promise Keepers talk glibly about openness and caring. But what they are really about is enforcing discrimination and patriarchy.
In the lead-up to last March's Conservative convention, Craig Chandler, a prominent evangelical Christian and social conservative, publicly urged Mr. Harper to follow the Bush Republicans.
"The re-election of U.S. President George W. Bush is a testament to the political activity and clout of evangelical Christians," Mr. Chandler, a prominent Conservative, said. "President Bush did not waver in his unequivocal support of social conservative positions. He was clearly pro-life and in favour of traditional marriage. He was not ashamed to proclaim his born-again Christianity in the public forum." Mr. Chandler also reminded Mr. Harper that it was social conservatives who had "organized to ensure he defeated Belinda Stronach, a well-known liberal who has successfully infiltrated the Conservative Party."
The week before the evangelicals' nominations were reported, Ms Stronach switched to the Liberals, turning her erstwhile love interest, Deputy Conservative leader Peter MacKay, into an instant media darling deserving of enormous public sympathy.
"Poor Peter" was shown with a too-new shovel and a too-clean white shirt, digging potatoes in his father's potato patch. "At least dogs are loyal," the sad-eyed MP said, sitting beside his border collie.
Ask David Orchard about real loyalty. And real betrayal. He thinks Mr. MacKay betrayed Canada by subsuming the Progressive Conservatives into a U.S. Republican-style party.
Contacted by phone at his Saskatchewan farm, he wouldn't comment on Mr. MacKay's lovelorn state. "I want to talk about the bigger issues."
Mr. Orchard was the 2003 Progressive Conservative leadership contender who put his rival, Mr. MacKay, over the top on the strength of the latter's "firm handshake...and his oral and written promises" not to merge the PCs with the Canadian Alliance.
For Mr. Orchard, the bigger issue is that Mr. MacKay betrayed the Canadian people by denying them a second centrist, Big Tent, governing party.
"Does this man have no memory of his firm handshake with me, of his oral and written promises to build the PC party as a viable alternative and not to merge it with the Canadian Alliance?" Mr. Orchard asked. "So that betrayal led to the destruction of Canada's oldest political party. It led to a denial of a moderate alternative to the voters of Canada. I don't think we've yet come to grips with the magnitude of what's happened in giving the great party that founded Canada away to the Canadian Alliance."
Today, he said, "Mr. Harper and the group around him, including University of Calgary political scientist Tom Flanagan and others, are in complete control and determined to integrate us deeper into the U.S... "The last election showed us that the votes just weren't there for Mr. Harper," Mr. Orchard continued. "As night follows day, there's got to be a reappraisal unless the party simply wants to stay in the wilderness forever."
As more Christian absolutists capture Conservative nominations, the party's choice between wilderness or reappraisal becomes stark.
FrancesRussell@mts.net
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I love how its a brand of "American" Christianity. Man some people up there really hate us. Canadians are so funny. I don't hate them, I just don't ever think about them.
This is slander. Please name one concrete way in which Christians come anywhere close to "Squelching the religious freedom and rights of others"!
What she would likely say: "banning gay marriage" or "banning abortion" would take the rights away...
Well American Christians do riot and kill people when their particular holy book is desecrated...oh wait, umm, maybe I have the wrong religion...
That describes Islam, not Christians (or Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, etc.).
"...but squelches them for others." What in the world is this clown talking about? Frankly, unless I read something idiotic such as this I never, ever think of Canada either.
Until recently, marriage has always meant a man and a woman and same sex "marriage" was recognized in no country. As laws do not prevent people from cohabiting in a permanent relationship, the whole point of same sex marriage is to get the government to promote and bless same sex marriage. Thus it is the liberals who are using the government to impose their moral views on society, not the other way around. Abortion is not just a religious issue, it is an issue that relates to human life, and about which people are entitled to hold different viewpoints. If one believes a fetus is a life, then the logical conclusion is that taking that life should not be permitted. It helps the most defenseless of all humans. Are criminal laws against murder someone imposing their "religious beliefs" on others?
Your right, BARF!
Thank you for not thinking about us..we are quite capable,and you obviously are as well,of manufacturing and wallowing in our own MSM spawned misery..only difference?..your a country of 300 million+ airheads and we are a country of 30+ airheads and our air is a lot colder than your stuff...EH
It sounds like he was being sarcastic...
That's correct. I know that social liberals are trying to cover this up as "human rights" and force the agenda...
BS. Doesn't happen. If it did it would be all over the MSM.
That's correct, she is just making up lies and stories.
Maybe my little brother has a point when he says 'KILL CANADA!' And yes, he says that. He intends to do so with nukes. :P
I haven't seen a single example of Christians squelching the rights of other religions. Just innuendo and hand-wringing about something that has no basis in fact.
Well, America does seem to be the last western nation to embrace Christianity to a large degree.
It's also the largest western nation period...but you are correct in that even proportionally it is.
Some European countries (like France) have church attendance rates below 5%...
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