Category Faith Groups

CBC

There is disturbing evidence coming from a CBC report that a fundamentalist group is actively working to radically change the Canadian landscape, through direct political intervention.

“Liberty Coalition Canada, a conservative Christian advocacy group, is trying to raise $1.3 million to recruit hundreds of Christian politicians and campaign staff to run at all levels of government.

In a document marked “please keep classified” that was obtained by CBC News, the group says its ultimate goal is “the most powerful political disruption in Canadian history.”

The details are extensive, and disturbing. I won’t repeat them all here, but do encourage you to read the full article. The essence of the work is that they believe in a very fundamentalist version of Christianity, one which goes against Canadian anti-discrimination laws, among other things. It’s hostile to various minorities, and reinforces a very negative patriarchal structure that belongs far in the past.

CBC

What matters here, for today, is this:

Often, progressive and inclusive faith groups and others have been content to simply quietly act inclusively, while accepting the discriminatory policies of others, even within the same denomination, in the name of “unity.” Basically – “if you want to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people and I don’t, we’ll each do what we want and turn a blind eye.”

Personally, I don’t think discrimination is one of those “we can agree to disagree and still have unity” kinds of things. And, I think that, if the discrimination was on any other factor (eg skin colour) – “You only want to allow whites in your church and believe in allowing minorities”, I don’t think we would be so quick to agree-to-disagree in the name of “unity.” We simply do not allows congregations within our denominations (at least any that I am aware of) to choose whether or not to allow racial minorities into their buildings or not.

However, even if we thought that worked in the past (which I don’t think it did), we are absolutely past that point now. Ultra-right wing Christian nationalists are passing anti-LGBQT+ (and other) laws in the US at an incredibly rapid rate, and those influences are coming into Canada, faster than we would like.

Doing inclusion quietly, without rocking the boat, is not enough. We need to speak up, be loud and open about what we believe in. Well funded groups are working intentionally and directly to use the electoral system to take away basic rights from many Canadians. We can not let this happen. As Canadians, we are polite and nice. That should not change. However, we need to make our voices heard – clearly and in mass mobilizations, to elect governments who will not let these terrible things happen.

Let’s amplify our voices, and put an end to the discrimination. We can do it, together.

Decades ago, at least in my circles, I was assured that churches (ones that I was connected with, at least), had long since moved past any old or outdated policies on gender or sexual orientation. The somewhat spoken – and somewhat unspoken – message that I got was “Of course we’re inclusive, and everyone younger knows it. We just aren’t talking about it widely because that would upset the oldest members. In a few years, everyone here will be safe and inclusive – just be patient for a few years.” Now, it’s totally possible that I completely misread the assumptions of organizations that I was with, and others might report something completely different. However, I waited patiently, and gave organizations the benefit of the doubt, and yet now, decades later, things haven’t changed to a degree that matches what I was expecting. In fact, things are far short of what I – and so many others – have been “waiting patiently” for.

Now, still, so many faith groups (and the family units within them) discriminate against LGBTQ+ people, whether actively or passively. “Weaponized unity” as described by Jemar Tisby, is the perfect description of this phenomenon – “Just wait a bit longer for your basic rights to be accepted. Don’t rock the boat. As long as you wait quietly and don’t say anything that will upset the people who are hurting you, and don’t ask for more, we can all still come to the same services/family gatherings/spaces. But if you speak up, others will be upset and the disruption will be your fault.”

It’s yet another variation of blaming the victim. Instead of demanding that people stop discriminating, we’re asking some people to hide their true identities, or accept less than full equality, while others, in power, discriminate without consequence.

If the only thing holding our families or faith groups together is the fact that some people are allowed to discriminate, we don’t have unity. Plus, we have been asking people to “just wait a bit longer” for way too long. At the same time as people are leaving the church in rapid numbers (and leaderships wonder why), too many denominations use “weaponized unity” to keep those who are being discriminated against quiet, so that those who are discriminating don’t get upset.

We all deserve protection from discrimination – and it’s not OK to take the protection that we get and turn it around to offer someone else less than we get. It goes every direction and overlaps in countless ways. Women, minorities, Muslims, gays and so many others are legally protected from discrimination (even though it still happens). If we, as women, don’t want to be discriminated against, we can’t promote discriminate against Muslims or LGBTQ+ families. We as LGBTQ+ families deserve protection, and need to extend the same respect to our Muslim neighbours – and expect the same respect to be shown to us. We can not, in good conscience, expect someone else to tolerate discrimination that we wouldn’t accept for ourselves.

We can – and must – do better.