Evolution: Harper's attack on the Canadian Fisheries Act
Understanding Harper's Evangelical Mission
Signs mount that Canada's government is beholden to a religious agenda averse to science and rational debate.
By Andrew Nikiforuk, Today, TheTyee.ca
Man of faith: PM Stephen Harper belongs to the Alliance Church which holds that non-believers are 'lost'.
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In England and Canada, the Anglican Church seems to have forgotten whose side Jesus was on. Some folks are jogging its memory.
Harper's Humiliating Muzzle on Scientists
Canada is becoming a global joke as our world-class experts are prohibited from speaking.
Politics
Find more Tyee political reporting.
Any Canadian listening to the news these days might well conclude that the Republican extremists or some associated evangelical group has occupied Ottawa.
And they'd be righter than Job, I believe.
Almost daily, more evidence surfaces that Canada's government is guided by tribalists averse to scientific reason in favour of Biblical fundamentalism -- or what some call "evangelical religious skepticism."
First came Canada's pull-out of the Kyoto agreement without any rational or achievable national plan to battle carbon pollution.
Next came the hysterical and unprecedented letter by Natural Resource Minister Joe Oliver, an investment banker. It branded local environmentalists and First Nations as foreign radicals because they dared to question the economic and environmental impacts of a Chinese-funded pipeline.
At the same time federal security types declared Greenpeace, a civil organization originally started by Canadian journalists, as a "multi-issue extremist group."
After quietly gutting the Navigable Waters Protection Act, the Harper government now proposes to dismantle the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act as well as the Fisheries Act, Canada's strongest and last remaining water safeguard.
While government and industry PR folk spin fabrications about Canada's environmental record, Scott Vaughan, Federal Environment Commissioner in the office of the Auditor General, reports that there are only 12 water quality stations for Canada's 3,000 First Nations communities and just one federal water monitoring station operating downstream from the oil sands. Until last year it was calibrated only to detect pulp mill pollution.
The data-antagonistic Harper government has so muzzled federal scientists that an editorial in the prestigious Nature magazine demanded that it was "time for the Canadian government to set its scientists free."
And now Tory senators are threatening to revoke the charitable status of any group that dares to criticize the government's environmental performance or its subsidies for fossil fuels.
From where does the government's extreme animus towards journalists, environmental groups, First Nations and science (and I've put together but a partial list of victims here) arise? The moment demands we take a close look at Stephen Harper's evangelical beliefs.
Harper's creed
WHAT HARPER'S CHURCH TEACHES
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Alliance Church holds to four foundational convictions based on the belief the Bible is without error, according to a 2007 Vancouver Sun article citing Indiana State Purdue University religious studies Prof. Philip Goff. The article says:
"The Alliance Church places an intense focus on the need for personal salvation, emphasizes the importance of leading a 'holy' life and encourages spiritual healing, says Goff.
"The denomination also stresses that Jesus Christ's return to Earth is imminent, says the evangelical specialist, who was raised in the Alliance Church.
"Alliance Church rules, like those of other evangelical denominations, strongly oppose homosexual relationships, describing them as the 'basest form of sinful conduct.'
"The Alliance Church is also tough on divorce and holds that Christians who have been adulterous do not have a right to remarry.
"The denomination's leaders, in addition, oppose abortion, stem-cell research, euthanasia, the use of marijuana and ordained female clergy…"
Unknown to most Canadians, the prime minister belongs to the Christian and Missionary Alliance, an evangelical Protestant church with two million members. Alberta, a petro state, is one of its great strongholds on the continent. The church believes that the free market is divinely inspired and that non-believers are "lost."
Now let's be clear: I am a Christian and a social conservative and a long time advocate of rural landowners and an unabashed conservationist. I have spent many pleasant hours in a variety of evangelical churches and fundamentalist communities. Faith is not the concern here.
But transparency and full disclosure has become the issue of paramount importance. To date, Harper has refused to answer media questions about his beliefs or which groups inform them. If he answered media queries about his minority creed (and fewer than 10 per cent of Canadians would call themselves evangelicals) he'd have to admit that he openly sympathizes if not endorses what's known as "evangelical climate skepticism."
No one knows this fossil fuel friendly ideology better than Dr. David Gushee, a distinguished professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer University and a Holocaust scholar. The evangelical Christian is also one of the drafters of the 2006 Evangelical Climate Initiative. It declared climate change a serious threat to Creation that demands an ethical Christian response.
But that's not the wing of the evangelical movement that Harper listens to. Given his government's pointed attacks on environmentalists and science of any kind, Harper would seem to take his advice from the Cornwall Alliance, a coalition of right-wing scholars, economists and evangelicals. The Alliance questions mainstream science, doubts climate change, views environmentalist as a "native evil," champions fossil fuels and supports libertarian economics.
'Resisting the Green Dragon'
A recent declaration on climate change by the Cornwall Alliance denies that carbon dioxide "is a pollutant" and adds that "there is no convincing scientific evidence that human contribution to greenhouse gases is causing dangerous global warming." Moreover any reduction in emissions would "greatly increase the price of energy and harm economies."
A separate Cornwall declaration describes environmental regulation as an impediment to God's will:
"We aspire to a world in which liberty as a condition of moral action is preferred over government-initiated management of the environment as a means to common goals."
A book published by the Alliance called Resisting the Green Dragon: Dominion not Death even portrays environmental groups as "one of the greatest threats to society and the church today."
One passage reads that, "The Green Dragon must die... [There] is no excuse to become befuddled by the noxious Green odors and doctrines emanating from the foul beast..."
The Cornwall Alliance also believes that renewable forms of energy such as wind and solar are only good enough for poor or rural peoples until nuclear and fossil fuel facilities "meet the needs of large, sustained economic development."
Beware 'the new hypocrite'
In a 2010 interview, Gushee, a brilliant and passionate Christian, detailed the basic tenets of "evangelical climate skepticism." He said there were seven main points and argued that they had poisoned the Republican Party. These tenets not only explain startling developments in Canada but should raise the hair on the neck of every thinking citizen regardless of their faith:
1. Disdain for the environmental movement
2. Distrust of mainstream science in general
3. Distrust of the mainstream media
4. Loyalty to the party
5. Libertarian economics as God's will (God is opposed to government regulation or taxation
6. Misunderstanding of divine sovereignty (God won't allow us to ruin creation)
7. Unreconstructed Dominion theology (God calls on humans to subdue and rule creation)
In the end of the interview, Gushee summarized the purpose of this new evangelical Republicanism: "God is sovereign over creation and therefore humans can do no permanent damage... God established government for limited purposes and government should not intervene much in the workings of a free market economy... The media is overplaying climate change worries... The environmental movement is secular/pagan and has always been a threat to American liberties...
"Nice worldview, huh? I disagree with just about every word of it."
But that Republican religious tribalism is now Ottawa's worldview.
Readers looking for a thoughtful analysis on Harper and the rise of libertarian religious tribalism in Canada should pick up Marci McDonald's The Armageddon Factor.
Another touchstone might be G.K. Chesterton, a radical Catholic, who regularly questioned the wealth and power of big government and business decades ago.
He would have advised us to get to the bottom of whether our prime minister is pretending to be just a wonkish politician while pursuing an extreme Republican evangelical agenda.
"The old hypocrite was a man whose aims were really worldly and practical, while he pretended that they were religious," the radical Catholic once observed. "The new hypocrite is one whose aims are really religious, while he pretends that they are worldly and practical."
Canada needs to have an open conversation about the virtues of democracy over theocracy.
[Tags: Politics.]
Award-winning journalist Andrew Nikiforuk writes about energy for The Tyee and others. Find his previous Tyee articles here.
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2012/03/26/Harper-Evangelical-Mission/
COMMENTS
Religion?
I am an atheist and I think Harper is a complete asshole.
In fact if one were to line up all of Harper's cheat-to-win minions, aka Oliver, Kent, Duncan, Polivere, DelMastro, Clement, Baird, MacKay, Oda, Raitt, Shea and others, in the proper, posterior protuding, positions, on the front lawn of the parliament buildings, the citizens of Ottawa would all have a perfect place to park their bicycles. [commetn: ha!]
Fiat lux
When we look at the history of the rise and fall of empires, with open and objective eyes, we can see that they all rose to power, enslaving and mass murdering millions, justified and legalized by religious beliefs, the same beliefs that ultimately have destroyed all of them through their ignorance and dismissal of physical realities.
To put it into strict scientific terms: You can't piss against the wind, no matter what the prophets and scriptures tell you.
Harper just sold Tar Sands oil, to be delivered by the Enbridge pipeline, and liquified natural gas, to be extracted by fracking, to Japan.
I have a feeling that our Japanese friends will get very cold waiting for either.
Ed Deak.
igbymac
Good luck, Andrew Nikiforuk!
Canada needs to have an open conversation about the virtues of democracy over theocracy.
Point blank, there's no reasoning with a fideist.
And if one is a fideist, then isn't it just idiotic to even consider him for public office knowing he will be required to make rational and reasoned decisions on everybody's behalf?
woodworker
Nothing to do with religion
Climate change skepticism has nothing to do with religion but more to do with reality. Canada ain't going to change it as we are such a minor contributor. The carbon dioxide theory is shakey at best and disregards other theories. It also disregards history like the medievil worm period. Just because someone doesn't play the politically correct card all the time they are branded by the far left as religious nuts. I say about time someone spoke out against the radical evnironmental groups.
Fiat lux
Interesting that those "radical environmental groups" want to conserve and preserve the world and humanity, while the so called "conservatives" want to destroy all,
in the name of "wealth creation" into the pockets of just another of history's traditional ruling classes.
The communists have left incredible environmental destruction behind in their former empire, now followed by their brother capitalists all over the world.
"The birds of a feather flock together"
Ed Deak.
Granville
Harper is even more dangerous that we ever imagined
Religion aside, he is just plain deangerous. Twice supsending parliament in the minority government, misdirecting voters with a computerised phone campaign, and mounting attack ads on opposition leaders as a matter of course, he is a fanatic.
Brigitte de Pape was absolutely right. We have to Stop Harper. We cannot be sure he was legally elected to office.
earthgauge
Woodworker
I'll assume this comment was a joke. What else could explain the statement "The carbon dioxide theory is shakey (sic)"? On what grounds exactly is it shaky? Please do enlighten us with your scientific credentials. Deniers love to say this kind of thing without offering any actual scientific evidence whatsoever.
It's incredible to think that this bears repeating time and time again but here goes...
No remaining scientific body of national or international standing is known to reject the basic findings of human influence on recent climate change. Again, the number of scientific bodies that dispute human-caused global climate change: Zero.
coop
Our future stll dominated by the past
Thanks Tyee and Andrew for this much needed analysis. How crazy it is that the world in 2012 is still dominated by beliefs from centuries ago and most conflicts are a result of opposing religious beliefs. All that is missing from this commentary is the notion of rapture - does Harper is true believer of this absurdity? Is rapture one of the Alliance Church's tenets? If so, that explains many of Harper's policies, as environmental collapse, along with war in the Middle East, is thought to be a way to expedite rapture. And what the North American irony - right wing Christianity openly aspires to take power in the U.S., while in Canada it is now running our country with so few Canadians aware, except now those who read this column.
Fiat lux
earth....You have to remember that the stockmarkets rely on climate change denial to maintain their artificial "wealth creating" figures, and in our society the stockmarkets are the ultimate religion to keep this fraudulent system going.
Regardless, who or what suffers. Monetary economics are just another religion, based on imaginary values overriding realities.
Ed Deak.
Frank
Liked it so much it bears repeating
I've had my arguments with enviros in the past (carbon tax) but what Ed says is right
"Interesting that those "radical environmental groups" want to conserve and preserve the world and humanity, while the so called "conservatives" want to destroy it all in the name of "wealth creation" into the pockets of just another of history's traditional ruling classes. "
The environmentalists are on the right side of history.
Talon
Thank you Andrew.
There was a well sourced article a few years ago in The Walrus magazine about Harper's fundamentalist beliefs and this article by Mr. Nikiforuk is the latest and best warning I have seen. Prime Mistake Harper will follow his beliefs and the rest of us will suffer because of it for at least a few more years. Get the word out my brothers and sisters. The planets does not belong to the 1%, it belongs to us all. But we will have to fight for it again, and again.
Perry
What Harper and a cult leader have in common
"Faith is not the concern here."
Leave it to a believer to make that absurd claim. Of course faith is the concern here, because it is about dogma trumping evidence.
"Unknown to most Canadians, the prime minister belongs to the Christian and Missionary Alliance ..."
It is unknown because most media, including alternative media, never discuss Harper's religion. I have found only a few online articles that mention it, but with no deep analysis. I have written several blog articles trying to expose Harper's connection to a fundamentalist, evangelical, Christian church founded in the U.S., but I exist on the fringe wasteland of cyberspace so don't get much traffic. I'm posting a few links to those articles, but this is not an attempt to drive traffic to my site. I stopped writing new entries on that blog at the end of 2011, as I am working on a book, but I keep the blog online for educational purposes.
I hope someone at Tyee other than a religious person, especially a Christian, would do a more in-depth look at the religious beliefs of Harper, whether they are genuine or disingenuous, and how they affect public policy.
Canada's Christian fundamentalist Prime Minister tells millions of poor no need to protest
http://chainthedogma.blogspot.ca/2011/10/canadas-christian-fundamentalist-prime.html
Asbestos, Abortion and the Canadian Prime Minister's cats
http://chainthedogma.blogspot.ca/2011/10/asbestos-abortion-and-canadian-prime.html
Faith, Evidence and the Immoral Drug War
http://chainthedogma.blogspot.ca/2011/07/faith-evidence-and-immoral-drug-war.html
Beware of any religious organization with Family in its name
http://chainthedogma.blogspot.ca/2011/04/beware-of-any-religious-organization.html
That last article discusses another infamous member of Harper's church, The Christian & Missionary Alliance. David Berg was a pastor in a U.S. Alliance church for a few years in the 1950s. A few years later, in the 1960s,he went on to create a notorious cult, the Children of God, which is now known as The Family International.
Another article on my blog reviews a documentary about child abuse in African missions run by the Christian & Missionary Alliance. See:
Child sacrifice: a review of the documentary All God's Children - the ultimate sacrifice
http://chainthedogma.blogspot.ca/2010/10/child-sacrifice-review-of-documentary.html
kasi_visvanath
the price of liberty is eternal vigilance. Part of that is the requirement that we must continue to be informed as to the true attitudes and inclinations of our major politicians...such that we should have KNOWN that Harper and his Refoooormmm party adherents are really religious fanatics, who are attempting to run this country according to their deluded beliefs...
we should have known this and NOT have given him that majority...but we apparently didn't know this... [comment: i knew this, and warned many as i could, over the years, still too many i know, love and voted for harper (re their grand daddies - long dead - wouldnt let it be any other way) duh? ] he hid his real agenda under his doofus wonk appearance, and claimed this and that policies, which Canadians of the "conservative" inclination could get behind...
and now we are confronted daily with Dr. Frankenstein's Monster, a Monster that WE allowed to take over our Canadian government. we should all be ashamed of ourselves...this is NOT the direction that Canada has been following for the last 100 years or so...it's going in the opposite direction...turning back the clock to the days of Victorian style religion and capitalism...
we do not need Republickan/Fascist Fundamentalist Evangelical Christian style government up here in Canada...but unfortunately, we've got it.
all due to the apathy of too many voters who didn't see the danger lurking in the wings....hiding under the black suits of the Harperites....
Westcoastnerd
America's craziness moving north :(
I only hope that word spreads of Harper's true beliefs in this utter nonsense and that Canadians decide not to be governed by christian fundamentalists at the next election.
gadrogeek
Mr. Harper is dangerous!
Our electoral system must be reformed. With 24% of the eligible vote, this man has declared war on much of what Canadians hold sacred. It is very clear in the Bible that we are to be "stewards of the creation". Now, whether you believe in the Good Book or not, what we are doing to our environment is disgusting! I am not a big fan of Brian Mulroney, but his speech to the US Congress back in 1988 contained some prophetic words, which could be paraphrased and adopted today. He left the Joint Session by saying:
“What would be said of a generation of North Americans that found a way to explore the stars, but allowed its lakes and forests to languish and die?”
Comments
When the sun and moon and all the planets are in alignment things will get better
ALF
A greatly over simplified view of Harperology. Let's face it we have a nut case running this country.. but what happened to the article on the dismantling of the Fisheries Act?
Harper is a pathetic person ! Guess who elected him!!Onetime you could put a Canadian Flag on your back and be safe almost anywhers in the world.Since Harper involved himself with Bush's acts of terrorism things have changed!
We will all pay for this madman!!
Back in the sixties and seventies when people came here from the U S because they didn't agree with their own countrys politics I was always proud that we could offer them an alternative.Today,I'm saddened and embarassed by what we've become.
At one time government was supposed to be for the people by the people. Government departments were there to protect our interests and our country by providing oversight on a wide range of items which define the quality of life we enjoy like responsible use of our environment and making sure our foods are safe to eat. We pay taxes for this protection.
No more ..Government is now for the corporation by the corporation and Canadian's are on their own ..and we still pay our taxes.