Evangelicals, To The North

Nation: With Bush Ally As Prime Minister, Canada's New Christian Right Rises Up

(The Nation)  This column was written by Chris Hedges.

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When things get bad in the United States, it is reassuring to turn to Canada, a country with a high standard of living, a small military and a national health care plan. Canada always seemed to be, if a bit duller than America, also a bit saner.

But this is changing. The new Canadian prime minister, Stephen Harper, inspired by the neocons to the south, appears determined to visit the worst excesses of George Bush's presidency on his own country. He plans to pull Canada out of the Kyoto Protocol and expand military spending. He defended Israel's massive bombing of southern Lebanon, even as Israeli warplanes bombed a clearly marked U.N. observation post, killing a Canadian peacekeeper. He was the first world leader to cut off funding after Hamas took over the Palestinian Authority. The decision was made despite Hamas having taken power after winning democratic elections that not only were recognized as free and fair but fulfilled demands made by the West. Harper has extended the mission for the 2,200 Canadian soldiers fighting in Afghanistan, where 42 have died so far. He has slashed $1 billion in funding that assists the most vulnerable Canadians, including cuts in adult literacy programs, legal aid to gays and lesbians, and measures to assist unemployed youth, despite a near-record surplus of $13.2 billion for 2005-06. If the Bush Administration launches an attack on Iran, there is little doubt that Harper would line up behind Washington. When the Canadian prime minister was asked about Iran before his recent speech to the U.N. General Assembly, he called Iran "the biggest single threat the planet faces." And he sneers at Canada's long tradition of antimilitarism and generous social services, once calling Canada "a second-tier socialistic country, boasting ever more loudly about its ... social services to mask its second-rate status."

But that is not the worst of it. The prime minister, who has begun, in very un-Canadian fashion, to close his speeches with the words "God Bless Canada," is also a born-again Christian. And Harper is rapidly building an alliance with the worst elements of the U.S. Christian right.

Harper, who heads a minority government, is a member of the East Gate Alliance Church, part of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, a denomination with 400,000 members that believes in the literal word of the Bible, faith-healing and the imminent return of Jesus Christ. Women cannot be ordained in his church, homosexuality is a sin and abortion is murder. Canada, however, is unused to public displays of faith, and Harper has had to tread more lightly than George Bush. But many fear the prime minister is taking a cue from the Bush Administration and slowly mobilizing Canada's 3.5 million evangelicals — along with the 44 percent of Canadians who say they have committed themselves to Christ — as a power base. Harper has spent the past three years methodically knitting a coalition of social conservatives and evangelicals that looks ominously similar to the American model.

[heeyabbott]

C'mon Chris Hedges. What I find so distasteful, is not the fact that Canada's Stephen Harper is a Christian, but that your biased opinion is a shame to journalism. You could report the facts - not just life as you see it - and let people make up their own minds about those facts. We don't need your cloudy and amoral opinions to litter the article. I am so tired of reading/hearing others' opinions in the news. I want facts - not dissertations. Please remember this next time you sit down to write an article.

[rafterman1]

Uh, this is an opnion article. It's SUPPOSED to be his opinion, hence the reason why it's posted under the OPINION header on the CBS website.

Wow, I thought all of the knee-jerk reactionaries in the States were on the right.

[mac2499-2009]

As a Canadian, I consider Harper a Bush-lite. Yes he did cut funding to the Palestinian after Hamas was elected but I think along with a small percentage of Canadians that the reason he did so was to court the Jewish vote and campaign donations. As for Kyoto unfortunately the Liberals who were the previous goverment did all the talk and none of the walk so when the Conservatives came to power been a party from Oil rich Alberta and knowing that meeting the targets would be too expensive for their partners in Alberta, they decided to cut and run. Now they are giving the oil industry until 2050 to clean up their act which means by then we will all be under water or there will be cleaner energy by then. As for gay marriage, he is willing to have an open vote to specifically say that marriage is between a man and woman because our supreme court said that was unconstitutional under our charter. But he knows that will not pass and he is just doing it to pacify the religious members of his party and he said he would have a free vote when he was campaigning. Most people in Canada don't really care or are worried about same *** marriage. God has not come down and punish as Canadian for allowing same *** marriage and it does not look like he is coming anytime soon.

[clestes-2009]

Hey Canada, learn from us. Those rightwingers will lead you down the wrong path.

[mac2499-2009]

Hey I did't know that CBS consider the word s e x tabbo when I was writing same s e x marriage. I guess they are afraid of the religious people reading the word *** and suing them or maybe getting fine. Poor american media.

[wls55]

Feel the hate.

[standingap-2009]

I think we should all recognize that we all are riding on the skirt tales of the Blessings allotted to our Forefathers DUE TO THEIR FAITH IN THE LIVING GOD. Instead of blaspheming our current leaders for following in these brave footsteps we should be thanking them....it is the very reason we are FREE!

Wake up and see the Truth!

[standingap-2009]

While you are whining because real men are making a real stand for our future...why don't you take a look at what it looks like in a nation WITHOUT followers of the Living God....

http://www.obsessionthemovie.com/12min.htm

At least you live in a Nation that allows you to HAVE an opinion and to choose whatever lifestyle you want. The 12 minute clip above shows what it looks like to be manipulated and brainwashed with hate and lies. This is what our Brave Soldiers are fighting against---they are there for purpose. US and Canada Leaders---the majority of us support you and thank you for being brave and providing us with protection so that we can all remain free! Thank you!

[themartyred]

Great, another over the top judgmental religious type in charge - just what the world needs! He's beefing up the Canadian Military, denounces *** in his church, and basically is trying to follow the right wing mantra of telling the sheeple what they want to hear so he can manipulate gov't for a few years before Canada wakes up and boots his a ss out of power.
Some people can't understand that there are OPINION articles, it's just that right-wingers are used to FOX FAUX News just being one CONTINUOUS opinion piece, so they freak when they see a progressive viewpoint!
And on a different subject ---
S E X (I just put that there for so called morals voters who's husbands are out banging the boy down the street or hiring a prostitute) HAGGARD/FOLEY/BUSH one big orgy of repression and self hatred. "your Scott is cuter than my Scott" - Bush to the Canadian Prime Minister about his aide and Bush's Scott McClellan.

[standingap-2009]

While you are whining because real men are making a real stand for our future...why don't you take a look at what it looks like in a nation WITHOUT followers of the Living God....

http://www.obsessionthemovie.
com/12min.htm

At least you live in a Nation that allows you to HAVE an opinion and to choose whatever lifestyle you want. The 12 minute clip above shows what it looks like to be manipulated and brainwashed with hate and lies. This is what our Brave Soldiers are fighting against---they are there for purpose. US and Canada Leaders---the majority of us support you and thank you for being brave and providing us with protection so that we can all remain free! Thank you!

[cantshutup]

bush is a vampire

[jhindson1]

The only reason Harper was elected was because the other party - the Liberals were involved in a corruption scandal involving kick backs from Corporations that wound up as political contributions.
80 percent of Canadians do not like or trust Bush and most view Harper as a Bush wannabee.
The Canadian Supreme Court upheld same *** marriage as a protected under our Charter of Rights.Harper makes noise about trying to change it but it will go nowhere.

Harper will be around until the Liberals (Democrats) regroup, get rid of corrupt members, and get re-elected.

Meanwhile, if you have a skill and want a safe place to raise your kids, with full health care and a high standard of living - come to Canada. Canada is in dire need of skilled workers

[webdepot]

Run, don't walk to a vote of no confidence...
Given the chance, ideologues will destroy the world.. which is why religion should never be mixed with government..

[ibcrazybones]

I have spent a fair amount of time in Canada,and have been in all the provinces at one time or another. So I have been able to meet a pretty good cross-section of Canadian folks.

This guy sounds nothing like the typical Canadian. It will be interesting to see how long he survives....

[ibcrazybones]

standinggap

Your post is really wacky & strange. You either need a big hug or a psychologist. Maybe both.

[drcarroll2]

Being from Canada and having voted for both the Liberal and Conservatice parties, this article is completely slanted. Stephan Harper had made it clear that although he believes in god, that puts the welfare of Canada first aboce all else

[hermit22]

Ok now, if all the Christians began praying for good old Chris Hedges what would happen?

[drcarroll2]

I dont know who Mr Hedges is, i dont really care. that being said he should before giving his uninformed and biased opnions about Stephen Harper,Canada and Candians, actually live in the country he's writing about. As well as do more research on Mr Harpers accomplishments while in office other then watching the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, or reading the Canadian NDP parties latest manifesto on how Canadian soldiers are 'like terrorists'.

He talks about a billion dollars in 'slashed' when he has cut taxes inclusing the hated GST tax, begun direct payments of cash to parents of children. Established tax breaks for people who use mass transit, increased funding to the National Health Care Program (Medicare). Even with all that Canadas finances will be in the black by 5 billion dollars - that may not sound like much, but its money that can be used to fund essential programs and to pay our national debt.


What this 'opnionist' doesnt mention to his audience is that the past governing Liberal Party was thrown out of office for corruption and greed.
So i suggest to Mr Hedges, that before he begins his contemptable scribblings about Canada, that he actually knows what he's talking about. Im sure people around here might find that a pleasant change

[thunderclap4]

All parties become corrupt after they%u2019ve been in power too long and must be thrown out. Just be careful who you replace them with.
The evangelical right has a strong tendency to conflate religion and politics. They have a standard message which makes Christians comfortable. They have wedge issues which make their adherents feel victimized and pushes them towards the Republican Party. In the US, they are aggrieved about separation of religion and state as well as abortion and gay marriage.
Finally, they have a corporate/political message, usually tax cuts, support for Bush%u2019s War and opposition to global warming mediation. Check out WallBuilders for their selective Bible quotes for tax cuts. Pat Robertson has a gem on global warming.
Catholics have an excellent %u201Cjust war%u201D doctrine (google at %u201Cjust war catholic%u201D) that exposes the corruption of Bush%u2019s War. Pope John Paul II condemned it on that basis. It is part of their comprehensive %u201Cpro-life%u201D theology. Yet the last US election featured death penalty, abortion, stem cell research, and euthanasia with nary a mention of the hundreds of thousands of dead civilians in Iraq. It appears that they (specifically Relevant Radio and the Catholic Defamation League) have dropped a doctrine for political expedience.
The evangelical / conservative Catholic vote has become a political arm of the Republicans, with theology taking a subservient role when in conflict with party needs.

[prelgovisk]

"He has quietly but determinedly nurtured a coalition of evangelicals, Catholics, and conservative Jews %u2026%u201C Marci McDonald

So? Are they not citizens of Canada and allowed to vote? Should the vote only be granted to non-Christians and Anti-Semites?

It is time that Marci McDonald accepts the will of the people. They know better than she does what government works best for them.

If he is an elected official, then the people have spoken. Let them pick their leaders at the ballot box.

I guess the liberal media feels that it represents an enlightened aristocracy that knows what is best for us. They are horrified that we should be allowed to pick someone other than those who parrot their ideology. They are a few hundred years behind the times. It is not the House of Lords but the common citizen that chooses our leaders now-a-days. Marci McDonald does not represent a progressive point of view, but a throw back to the anti-democratic views of that predate our independence.

Time to get over the past Marci. More Canadians like Prime Minister Stephen Harper than like you and your kind.

[tejasdemo]

Looks like Canada is off the list for vacation time now. The wackos have moved north.

Maybe we should build a fence around Canada ?

[random_radar]

Does Mr. Hedges merely hate Christians, or is he proposing to actually feed them to the lions? And when he talks about Harper's power base being a coalition of "coalition of evangelicals, Catholics, and conservative Jews," is he saying that conservative Jews are bad Jews? Is this selective anti-semitism or just politically correct anti-semitism? Talk about toxic journalism! Does the ADL defend all Jews, or just the Jews that do what the ADL likes?

[ademeyer]

When religion and politics mix, religion loses. Right wing evangelicals have harmed Christianity in a way that Satan never could. Christ specifically warned against judging others, but now Christianity is associated with the most judgmental, hypocritical attitudes as embodied by right wing politicians. The message of Christ: peace, love, and a personal relationship to God, has been misrepresented by the politicians and their evangelical sheep these last six years, to the point that Christianity is unrecognizable. Now the culture sees Christianity as a wing-nutty political movement, instead of a deep and beautiful spiritual path.

[annabanana-1]

Quick, my dear friends to the North.. Get a net. Catch the cuckoo before he can do too much damage. Don't let him make you as nutso as we are.

[spammenot995]

(sigh)

First of all, I do not think that Mr. Hedges' opinion piece is against people of faith. I think it is against politicized religious people imposing their beliefs on others via government.

Having said that: Lord God, save us from your right-wing followers. And also save us from those left-wingers who bash people of faith.

People - Can't we get along? Live and let live? Do married gay/lesbian couples threaten the marriages of the heterosexual majority? Heck, no. Is a person of faith who speaks openly about his/her beliefs a threat to the freedom of others? Again, no.

To folks of more liberal and/or secular persuasion who may read this: Conservative people deserve the same "live and let live" that you want for yourselves. I have seen people of faith (especially straight white males) marginalized by "political correctness" many, many times. That is every bit as oppressive as the religious right's bashing of people they don't like.

To Christians: Salvation is solely by grace, not good works or certain political or "moral" opinions. If you are basing your salvation on anything that **you** did (including "accepting Christ"), you are most definitely on a shaky foundation. Remember that only God is righteous. We are all sinners who deserve nothing from the Lord. God loves us unconditionally. Our very faith in God is a gift of God. We cannot create saving faith by our own power or reason.

(Disclosure: I am a gay white Christian male who is politically moderate.)

[drcarroll2]

While the religious right mayve had thier spotlight in the sun in the US, they do not hold sway in Canada. And while they be a PART of the Conservative's party in Canada the religious hold that they had in the States is not matched by that up here. Canadians are by nature moderates, and the conservatives up here reflect that. We do not hand out tac cuts just to the rich, in fact twoo weeks ago our finanace Minister closed the biggest coporate tax loophole in Canadian history and thereby retained billions of dollars in coporate taxes.

What Mr Hedges seems to have a problem with is religious people, being agnostic myself i have no issues with people wanting to be Christians. Mr Hedges has thrown his own religious bias into the Canadian politcal mix without examining the facts. Such as tax breaks for all economic levels, not just the rich, increadeds spnding on Helath care, education , defence whileat the same time paying down our national debt.


Mr Hedges simply hasnt a clue what he's talking about

[chris12karen]

What's the big deal if Harper is a Christian and has a bunch of Christians? There are more than enough anti-religion bigots to vote him out if they want to.

[bluestardad]

Hey maybe these Religious Neo-cons will take their countries money, wear thousand dollar suits, and play hide the salami with some page boys too!