Government of Canada Officially Recognizes Divinity of Christ
Every December, the government of Canada has two main functions. First, they spend an as-yet-unknown amount of taxpayer dollars granting a CF-18 fighter escort to Santa Claus, just in case some Al Qaeda sympathizers are lurking in the Barren Grounds with Stinger missiles. (A couple of years ago, Minister Jason Kenney even held a ceremony to reaffirm Santa’s Canadian citizenship, which was a blatantly illegal and seditious act on the part of Mr. Kenney, given that he was very well aware at the time that Santa did not have a Canadian citizenship card to begin with. (It wasn’t Kenney’s last fraudulent citizenship ceremony, either, and the latter one really was an attempt at deception.)
The second job is to issue a statement celebrating Christmas. Two such statements are issued: one from Stephen Harper stressing Canada’s economic performance (just to remind us that he’s an insufferably narrow-minded git) and another from Jason Kenney stressing the religious dimensions of the occasion. It’s the latter one I’ve always found particularly troubling. I have no problem with the government marking the holiday season. But exactly how much is too much when it comes to official proclamations on religious subjects from the government? Is officially proclaiming Christian theological claims to be historical facts too far for the government of a secular country?
Following the spiritual preparation and reflection of Advent, and nine months after the Incarnation, this holiday commemorates the long-awaited birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, the city of David.
Every year, Christmas unites families, friends, communities and cultures in hope and prayer for peace on Earth, and in celebration of the birth of a child whom the prophet Isaiah called the “Prince of Peace.”
In just two sentences, our dear Immigration Minister, who in reality is a jumped-up Catholic anti-abortion activist and (for God knows what reason) publicly self-proclaimed virgin, manages to establish as the official policy of the Canadian government all of the following: the composition of the Trinity, the divinity of Jesus, the actual birth of Jesus (not as easy to prove as you might think), the fact that it occurred in Bethlehem (ditto) to a virgin (also ditto), and the prophetic status of Isaiah, who, the Canadian government would have us believe, correctly predicted the birth of Christ centuries before it happened.
This is worth stressing. The government chose its words carefully here. He did not say merely that Christians believe such things, which they do. Kenney suggests that such things are real historical events which we, and the government, “commemorate” and “celebrate.” Kenney probably didn’t think it was a significant slip, because these are just a few of the highly questionable and almost certainly fictitious things which the majority of the current Cabinet of the country believes to be factually historically true.
Some people will no doubt have concluded by now that I’m simply being paranoid, but I’ve been watching Kenney chip away on this point for a while. Last year his statement was considerably more doctrine-free, which is fortunate for Christians too, because I suspect only a minority of self-proclaimed Christians could explain the theology of the Incarnation or the contents of the Isaiah prophecies:
For Christians, there are few days on the calendar more significant and more festive than this annual celebration of the Nativity of Jesus. The holiday, which marks the long-awaited Advent of the Christ, provides Christians an opportunity to reflect on the importance of faith and hope in their lives.
In our peacefully pluralistic country, Canadians of many backgrounds celebrate Christmas in countless different ways.
The pluralism has also dropped from Canada over the past year, but even this specificity, which is hardly offensive, was something that was unobtrusively slipped in since his previous Christmas announcement in 2009:
Christmas is a time of profound importance for Christians in Canada and around the world, a time of goodwill and family togetherness marked by the spirit of giving.
I’ll just skip over the awkward notion of “family togetherness” and point out that there is no reference to Christian mythology here at all, which is quite proper in a modern secular democracy. That same innocuous statement was made in 2008, and in 2007.
Perhaps next year Kenney will further specify that Canadians believe in the Immaculate Conception. (Christian theology trivia quiz: does this refer to the conception of Jesus, or the conception of Mary? I’ll bet Kenney knows the answer.)
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JJ Gibbons
Immaculate Conception – Roman Catholic dogma regarding the conception of Mary via a mid-19th century proclamation. Another attempt to thwart scientific findings – this time regarding just how conception really happens.
anonymous
What’s next – Jesus on the loonie (the white Jesus, of course….)?
Joel Reimer
This article is so hilarious, almost as funny as watching the Comedy network. First the Conservative Party is almost entirely made up of Christians hardly a secular entity at all, the party stands for freedom of religion and peoples ability to believe what they want which is no where near what many define secularism as today.
Stephen Harper, Mr.Kenny and the likes of Peter Mackay are all devout Christians. They have a constitutional right under the Canadian charter to be Christian free of persecution!
So as Christians suggesting things like Christ being God is a no brainer. If they didn’t their would be reason to doubt their legitimacy, because believing Christ is lord and the Bible is accurate is sort of important to being a Christian.
Harper’s subtle approach is not meant to be sneaky or underhanded in any way. The Charter gives Canadians the freedom of belief free of interference of Government, so Harper has an obligation to be politically correct and respectful of Canadians who do not believe. He is finding a balance so that he can freely express his faith as guaranteed under Canadian law while respecting the free will of the Canadian people also guaranteed in Canadian law.
This article is just freaking funny as are the comments above, if Harper wanted to wear a giant cross around his neck and pray openly in the halls of Parliament Hill he’d have the right to do so!
Being a Christian isn’t illegal in fact the right to be is what makes Canada a civilized democracy! All Harper is doing is standing behind the freedoms that make this country so great, his right to openly believe and practice his Christian faith to boldly stand behind the freedoms of others.
If you or anyone doesn’t think he should have the right to be Christian or that in any way secularism (Modern definition) should be imposed on the Canadian people you don’t belong in this country, you belong in China or another dictatorship that takes away peoples rights and freedoms.
Here in Canada we have this little thing called freedom of belief, freedom of speech and if you don’t like that, get out!
Joel Reimer
One last thing, as far as Harper and Kennedy are concerned those things are real historical events so him suggesting they shouldn’t shock you!
I cant stop laughing, you guys are priceless keep up the good work I’m favoriting this site as my new This Hour has 22 minutes, almost as funny as Rick Mercer lol!
Rab
Joel either didn’t read the article (possible), read the article but didn’t understand it (most likely), or is a master troll (unlikely but here’s hoping for more).
Sixth Estate
Joel — If you can point me to where in my article I say Canadians do not have either the freedom of speech or the freedom of conscience, I’ll remove it immediately and provide an apology, because it certainly was not my intention to say either of those things.
What Kenney believes, and what he says as an individual, frankly don’t interest me all that much, except as they impact on his ability to do this job. Such beliefs do not, however, have any place in official statements from the government, which is what this was. Canada does not have an officially Christian government, and therefore it is irresponsible for any minister to make official statements on the basis that Christian theology is true.
Or any other theology, for that matter, but in this case we’re talking about Christianity.
Sixth Estate
One last thing, as far as Harper and Kennedy are concerned those things are real historical events so him suggesting they shouldn’t shock you!
Maybe you should back up and have another run at this statement, because I’m not really sure what you mean here.
Assuming you’re talking about the Incarnation, the Trinity, the fulfillment of the prophecies of Isaiah, or the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, though, no, we do not have anything like persuasive evidence that these are “real historical events.” Those are real beliefs about what might be historical events.
RossM
Really Mr. Reimer – secularism being imposed on people? Examples. Puhleeeze.
Urbain
I’d like to point out that Joel has no idea what secularism means. It’s obvious from his first statement that he’s confusing it with something else.
Joel, FYI, secularism is not about limiting freedoms. It’s about affirming them.
As the designated protector of secularism in this country, the Canadian Government, and its elected representatives such as Kenney, should not be coming out in favour of one religious flavour over any others. They are certainly free, as individuals and private citizens, to worship, or not, as they see fit. As MP’s making official government statements, it’s a big no-no.
Take some time to understand what you’re going on about before hitting the enter key. It saves everyone a lot of time and frustration.
RossM
Perhaps the Office of Religious Freedom will demand Mr. Kenney give equal time to the other major religions too, at the time of their various celebrations of winter solstice, bacchanalia, harvest season, springtime fertility rites and so on.