Scapegoating doesn’t solve the problem

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/05/2021 (1771 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Back in November, when COVID-19 cases were surging, 23 Steinbach-area pastors wrote a letter calling on Christians to abide by the restrictive public-health orders that were in effect at the time. “Since Jesus is our Lord (King) our first allegiance belongs to him. However, obeying governing authorities whenever the laws of the land do not cause us to disobey God is also every Christian’s duty,” the pastors wrote. “We believe that Manitoba’s current public-health orders in no way contravene our ability to obey and worship God.”

Now, as then, I agree with those Steinbach pastors. There is no doubt Christians are called by scripture to congregate. But communication technology makes safe remote meetings possible on a temporary basis.

There are always going to be Christians who disagree and who think Manitoba’s public-health orders bring them into conflict with what they think God requires of them. Churches such as the Church of God Restoration south of Steinbach and the GraceLife Church of Edmonton have been walloped with multiple fines and eventually closed by provincial authorities.

The result has been widespread anger aimed at these churches. In various venues, the leaders and congregants of these churches have been accused of being hucksters, media darlings and dupes. That could all well be true. But it could also be true that they were motivated by a good-faith view that public-health orders force them to disobey God, and that they therefore had no choice other than to disobey those orders.

It’s not particularly easy for me to write even this half-hearted defence since, like other Manitobans, my family and I have been impacted by the public-health orders (though certainly not to the same extent as many others have been). I’ve watched angrily as others have flouted the rules and prolonged the pandemic.

But that doesn’t mean I think Christians or anyone else should be subjected to abuse or scorn. And as someone who, like many Manitobans, is a descendent of Mennonites who fled their previous homes precisely because the requirements of the secular law brought them into conflict with the requirements of scripture, it is discomforting indeed watching social-media mobs gather online to vilify and demonize Christians for even questioning the government’s rules.

Last fall, Springs Church challenged public-health orders banning drive-in church services, after the church was fined a total of $32,000 for violating the order banning such gatherings. The province subsequently amended its orders to allow drive-in services.

Clarifying whether a church can hold drive-in services under public-health orders seems ho-hum. But this episode provoked the anger of many Manitobans. Springs and its senior pastor, Leon Fontaine, were subjected to torrents of abuse on Twitter and other social-media platforms.

The abuse directed toward the church was far from deserved. Springs was simply asserting its rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, as other individuals and groups go to court to do all the time.

Last week, Springs was in the news again when pictures of a graduation ceremony for Springs College seemed to show groups together indoors unmasked. Once again, the reaction was visceral, so much so that provincial politicians felt the heat and were compelled to speak out against the church.

Members of the provincial cabinet and NDP Leader Wab Kinew rushed to condemn Springs. Manitoba Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont tweeted that the church should be padlocked. The statement calls to mind Quebec’s notorious Padlock Law, enacted in 1937, which allowed police to padlock any office or home suspected of producing communist propaganda.

As it turned out, Fontaine clarified the next day that the group of students was not required to wear masks because they were always distanced. Fontaine claimed Spring College invested significant effort into conforming to the public-health regulations. It’s not yet clear whether the explanation will pass muster, but it does provide context.

One wonders whether the elected officials who rushed to judgment without giving the church an opportunity to respond will bother to apologize if it turns out Springs is vindicated. One also wonders if politicians calling for a church to be padlocked based on entirely flimsy evidence is appropriate in a liberal democracy where religious rights are protected.

It’s to be expected that, in a time of emergency, people will seek out scapegoats. But just because it’s expected doesn’t mean such behaviour is acceptable.

Royce Koop is an associate professor in the department of political studies and co-ordinator of the Canadian studies program at the University of Manitoba.