For your edification, I present stories and letters from today’s Globe and Mail, which point out why I believe the rise of the Christian right in Canada’s Conservative Party ISN’T a non-story:
Let’s examine today’s article, Single-issue candidates on wrong track, Tories warn, and some of the quotes therein:
Ottawa: Conservatives who obtained their nominations through the support of their Christian churches — and with the primary objective of battling same-sex marriage or abortion — cannot be single-issue candidates, others within the party say.
Gerald Keddy, a Conservative from Nova Scotia who is one of a handful of Tory MPs to support same-sex marriage, said people opposed to same-sex marriage have called his office to say they would organize candidates to run against him — an idle threat given that all sitting Conservative MPs have had their nominations protected.
Mr. Keddy said the democratic process of nominations must be respected, but single-issue candidates will have a hard time persuading voters that they will represent them in Ottawa.
Then there is THIS letter in today’s editorial section:
Let me state this clearly: We evangelical Christians are here to stay. We are not going anywhere, and so you had better get used to us seeking to have some influence on the great debates of the day.
—REV.ABRAM BROWN, Calgary
So…am I worried over nothing? Just being a fear-monger? Let me leave you with a quote from another letter:
“When the Prime Minister, a devout Catholic, was faced with a decision on same-sex marriage, he kept his personal religious beliefs firlmy out of the public forum. The danger posed by Christian activists (of any party) is their stated intention to do the exact opposite.”
Truer words have never been written.
