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In
1998, Canada Family Action Coalition and the Catholic Civil
Rights League co-hosted a public forum with Members of Parliament.
The theme of the event was the role of faith in politics.
MP’s discussed their personal faith as well
as how their beliefs influence their decision-making.
Leading
off the speakers, Deborah Grey, MP for Edmonton North,
told the powerful story of how she found her Christian
faith. A
former teacher, she described her election to Parliament
as "God putting her in a bigger classroom" and
that it has "sharpened her faith and her sense of
humour." She
made the important point that people of faith need to
write short letters to their elected representatives and
make only two or three points - eight page letters are
not effective.
Dan
McTeague, MP for Pickering-Ajax-Uxbridge, described how
his "faith is a moral guide which steers him through
important issues."
He also expressed concern that many MP’s shy
away from calling themselves Catholic or Christian.
He affirmed his belief that it is important for
candidates to indicate where they stand on the issues
when they are running for office and that people of faith
have a duty to get involved in the process and question
candidates on the issues.
Calgary
Southeast MP Jason Kenney found his faith in San Francisco,
"a city where there are no absolutes", while
studying at University.
He referred to the influential book The
Naked Public Square by Richard Neuhaus who suggested
that "when faith vacates the public square, something
else fills it, usually the absolute value of secularism."
Kenney said that "when people say they favour pluralism,
they are really saying they favour monism - one public
secular idea."
The
crowd also heard from Newton Steacy of the Catholic Civil
Rights League who addressed the growing problem of persecution
of Christians around the world and anti-religious bigotry
in Canada. He
quoted the Jewish thinker Michael Horowitz of the Hudson
Institute who says that "Canada has the worst record
of anti-Christian bigotry of any western democracy."
Dr.
John Patrick of the Centre for Renewal in Public Policy,
moderator for part of the proceedings, challenged the
audience and MP’s with questions about pluralism,
truth and the importance of cultural stories and the morals
they teach. He
demonstrated how cultures need to be evaluated and that
cultures cannot be considered equal.
Different cultures provide different societal results.
He concluded that Judeo-Christian culture was foundational
to the success of North American society.
Senator
Anne Cools was also an appreciated participant in the forum
and she related how the language of Parliament had developed
from Christian origins. She stated that Canada has "a largely Christian heritage
- we must defend it and admit it."
She concluded that Christians "need to reclaim
the language of politics and reclaim our ground."
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