Courtesy: Christian Week
Changing society yields competing sets of values
There was a time in Canada when the cultural fabric of the nation was determined by members of the United Church of Canada and (to a lesser extent) the Anglican Church of Canada outside Quebec and by Roman Catholic Christians inside Quebec. Politicians who do have some Christian formation in their backgrounds now refrain from speaking about how their religious commitments influence their decisions (former NDP MP Bill Blaikie is a notable and important exception), or insist that such commitments have no bearing upon their public service.
Those who, without over-advertising their Christian faith, nevertheless are unembarrassed by it and refer to it as an important factor in their personal and public lives. The Canadian governing classes, much like their American counterparts, are shaped by (and increasingly shaping) a public morality that deliberately resists any appeal to God or to the transcendent. But we must be clear. This is no easy live-and-let-live relativism. It is a radically different vision of what constitutes the Good Life. A vision that sometimes comports with biblical and Christian ideals, and sometimes does not.
This notion of competing “Goods” is, I think, very evident in the struggles faced and fought since the early 2000s. This will continue to define our work as evangelical, or traditional Christians into the future. We are not battling relativism. We are battling a competing vision of what constitutes a good, flourishing, human life and body politic. And perhaps that’s the most important thing to remember. The battle is at the level of ideas and that is where it needs to be kept. And make no mistake, it is not a battle about re-claiming Canada. It is one about ensuring a genuine pluralism in which traditional Christian voices remain permitted in public life.
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