The arson and vandalism of churches across Canada are hate crimes, according to Canada’s first ambassador for religious freedom..Twenty-one churches have suffered arson, and another 32 have been vandalized since the announcement that undergrounds scans suggested 215 unmarked graves were at the residential school site in Kamloops, B.C..Rev. Dr. Andrew Bennett, the Canadian ambassador for religious freedom from 2013-2016, believes if 50 mosques, synagogues, or temples had suffered attacks, the outcry from national leaders would have been louder..“There has to be equity, if some other place of worship was destroyed in this manner, I think there would be rightfully, significant public outcry. And all we’ve seen is a very tepid response from the Prime Minister, very limited responses from other leaders,” Bennett told Western Standard..“If this is the sort of weak response we have to expect then it says something about our common life and our ability to recognize hate when it manifests itself.”.Bennett, Director of the Cardus Religious Freedom Institute, believes the attacks go beyond misdirected anger..“It’s more than misplaced, it’s hate. One can appreciate people who are upset about the ongoing scandal of the residential schools…but you don’t express that through the destruction of places of worship. These are clear acts of hate. And all you’re doing is creating more victims, especially when some of these churches have been on Indigenous land, and where First Nations Christians worship. Facilitating this violence is reprehensible. And these are clear hate crimes,” said Bennett..Bennett, a deacon in a Ukranian Greek-Catholic Church, said part of that misunderstanding includes efforts made by the Church already..“A lot of people think that the Catholic Church is this sort of monolithic organization projected from Rome when in fact the Catholic understanding is that each diocese contains orders of the Catholic Church. So appropriately since the early 1990s, when we first began to address the residential school situation, bishops in those dioceses that had residential schools have issued apologies. The heads of religious orders that manned those religious schools have issued apologies. And so I think we need to look at what is on the record, examine and understand,” Bennett said..Bennett is also a Senior Fellow at the Religious Freedom Institute in Washington, DC., a think tank dedicated to promoting religious freedom worldwide. He is familiar with Coptic churches who were started in the First Century in Egypt by the biblical author Mark..“Ukrainian Catholic churches, the Coptic Orthodox Church in Surrey, have been vandalized or had fires and had arson. So is that just as a result of ignorance…or are we seeing sort of a broader degree of anti-Christian sentiments in the country?” he asked..“That concerns me, especially if you look at the community of Coptic Orthodox Christians in this country, who, in recent decades have come here to escape horrible persecution in Egypt, then to come here and have their church in Surrey burned, again, creating new victims…..“And that sort of violence that is so insensitive to those communities where we’re talking about Coptic Orthodox Christians or Indigenous Christians – that’s what really frustrates me and worries me. And so I hope we can see a much stronger condemnation of these actions coming from our political leaders.”.Bennett has found some consolation in indigenous leaders who have universally condemned the attacks..“Those particular voices are critical because again, a significant proportion of First Nations, Metis and Inuit in this country are Christians. These are their churches in many cases, so it’s right and just that First Nations leaders should be some of the strongest critics of these burnings,” he said..Bennett said the public also needs a more nuanced understanding of the apparent graves..“These unmarked graves are now currently unmarked. They might have been marked in an earlier time with wooden crosses that maybe have deteriorated. We’re not sure. So there’s a lot of unanswered questions as to the nature of these graves, and how did these children die. And the Truth and Reconciliation report addresses this in considerable detail,” Bennett said..“The presence of these graves was known and has been accounted for…We have to make sure that when we’re looking at the situation with these graves, we have all the facts.”.Lee Harding is a Saskatchewan-based correspondent for Western Standard.
The arson and vandalism of churches across Canada are hate crimes, according to Canada’s first ambassador for religious freedom..Twenty-one churches have suffered arson, and another 32 have been vandalized since the announcement that undergrounds scans suggested 215 unmarked graves were at the residential school site in Kamloops, B.C..Rev. Dr. Andrew Bennett, the Canadian ambassador for religious freedom from 2013-2016, believes if 50 mosques, synagogues, or temples had suffered attacks, the outcry from national leaders would have been louder..“There has to be equity, if some other place of worship was destroyed in this manner, I think there would be rightfully, significant public outcry. And all we’ve seen is a very tepid response from the Prime Minister, very limited responses from other leaders,” Bennett told Western Standard..“If this is the sort of weak response we have to expect then it says something about our common life and our ability to recognize hate when it manifests itself.”.Bennett, Director of the Cardus Religious Freedom Institute, believes the attacks go beyond misdirected anger..“It’s more than misplaced, it’s hate. One can appreciate people who are upset about the ongoing scandal of the residential schools…but you don’t express that through the destruction of places of worship. These are clear acts of hate. And all you’re doing is creating more victims, especially when some of these churches have been on Indigenous land, and where First Nations Christians worship. Facilitating this violence is reprehensible. And these are clear hate crimes,” said Bennett..Bennett, a deacon in a Ukranian Greek-Catholic Church, said part of that misunderstanding includes efforts made by the Church already..“A lot of people think that the Catholic Church is this sort of monolithic organization projected from Rome when in fact the Catholic understanding is that each diocese contains orders of the Catholic Church. So appropriately since the early 1990s, when we first began to address the residential school situation, bishops in those dioceses that had residential schools have issued apologies. The heads of religious orders that manned those religious schools have issued apologies. And so I think we need to look at what is on the record, examine and understand,” Bennett said..Bennett is also a Senior Fellow at the Religious Freedom Institute in Washington, DC., a think tank dedicated to promoting religious freedom worldwide. He is familiar with Coptic churches who were started in the First Century in Egypt by the biblical author Mark..“Ukrainian Catholic churches, the Coptic Orthodox Church in Surrey, have been vandalized or had fires and had arson. So is that just as a result of ignorance…or are we seeing sort of a broader degree of anti-Christian sentiments in the country?” he asked..“That concerns me, especially if you look at the community of Coptic Orthodox Christians in this country, who, in recent decades have come here to escape horrible persecution in Egypt, then to come here and have their church in Surrey burned, again, creating new victims…..“And that sort of violence that is so insensitive to those communities where we’re talking about Coptic Orthodox Christians or Indigenous Christians – that’s what really frustrates me and worries me. And so I hope we can see a much stronger condemnation of these actions coming from our political leaders.”.Bennett has found some consolation in indigenous leaders who have universally condemned the attacks..“Those particular voices are critical because again, a significant proportion of First Nations, Metis and Inuit in this country are Christians. These are their churches in many cases, so it’s right and just that First Nations leaders should be some of the strongest critics of these burnings,” he said..Bennett said the public also needs a more nuanced understanding of the apparent graves..“These unmarked graves are now currently unmarked. They might have been marked in an earlier time with wooden crosses that maybe have deteriorated. We’re not sure. So there’s a lot of unanswered questions as to the nature of these graves, and how did these children die. And the Truth and Reconciliation report addresses this in considerable detail,” Bennett said..“The presence of these graves was known and has been accounted for…We have to make sure that when we’re looking at the situation with these graves, we have all the facts.”.Lee Harding is a Saskatchewan-based correspondent for Western Standard.
