On February 7, Pastor James Coates, of the Grace Life Church west of Edmonton, was arrested for holding a Sunday service in defiance of Alberta’s lockdown orders. He wasn’t charged for being a Christian, but he was charged carrying out his duties to his Christian church as he saw them..While the arrest was carried out under the orders put in place by the UCP government, the most enthusiastic cheerleader for locking the man up was NDP leader Rachel Notley..“We cannot have open defiance of public health orders while the vast majority of Albertans do their part to stop the spread of COVID-19.”.An evangelical Christian pastor makes for an easy target, but one has to wonder if the NDP leader would have done a similar Super Bowl touchdown dance if in the place of Pastor Coates, the arrested man was the leader of a different religious institution..Lockdown-cheerleaders have been wringing their hands as to why the most persistent resisters have been Christian churches, and evangelical ones in particular..Ryan Jesperson (before the latest lockdown arrest) tweeted: “Why is it faith communities, Christians in particular, that are so prominently breaking the law, brazenly ignoring COVID regulations?”.Libertarian Leader Tim Moen’s response summed up the most likely reason aptly..“Maybe they are the least prone to state worship. They already worship a non-corporeal entity that sees and controls everything. The idea that popularity contest winners are imbued by the deity with the right to control the singing of others is an article of faith they can’t buy.”.Christianity has had a spotty history in mixing church and state since the conversion of Constantine, but beginning with the Protestant Reformation in 1517, it has led the way in separating the two. It was the revolutionary liberals (or proto-libertarians) of the early United States that became the first state in history to formally separate the two in its constitution..The separation of church and state is meant not just to keep the church out of the state, but to keep the state out of the church. On February 7, the state forcefuly entered the church to enforce its will..When we are arresting people for peacefully practicing their faith, we have to ask ourselves if we’ve lost something along the way..One man angry at this last statement asked me a question be probably believed to be rhetorical..“Is there a rate of transmission or fatality that you feel would support these actions?”.My response – which he may also have assumed was rhetorical – was “Live Free or Die.”.I meant it quite literally. I would rather die a free man, then live unfree..COVID-19 is a very real crisis. It is only a fraction as bad as we were told it would be when it first broke out last year, but it is none-the-less a serious pandemic requiring a serious response..But that response must be proportional to the crisis, and still leave life worth living..For many, life is increasingly not worth living. Deaths from suicide and drug overdoses have spiked across the board. People are dying from surgeries and other health services being postponed. People -unprotected by privileged government jobs – are losing their homes and businesses. Families will increasingly come apart under the stress..“Is there a rate of transmission or fatality that you feel would support these actions?” is a fair question, but the burden of proof is not on those having their liberties taken away; it is on those taking liberties away to justify why it is necessary..Even if we ignored the increased deaths and misery that are a byproduct of the lockdown and restrictions, we have to ask ourselves a more fundamental question: “Is life worth living if we are unfree?”.This was what American revolutionary general John Stark meant when he penned the words “Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils.”.Stark was likely working from the famous speech given by Patrick Henry to the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1775..“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death.”.Canadians happy to pay their taxes on tea and stamps might think that a tad harsh, but the sentiment should be deeply imbedded in the souls of every free man and free woman..Is society even worth saving, if what remains of it is unfree? Is life worth living if we are not free to earn a living, or see members of our own families? Is worldly life worth continuing for people of faith if they are denied their right to go to their church, mosque or synagogue together?.For the free man, lockdowns are to a pandemic, as conscription is to war..A defensive war may be just, but conscripting young men to fight and die against their will – even in the name of freedom – may be worse than the prospect of defeat at the hands of an enemy. The act of making a people unfree to protect their freedom is a self-evident contradiction..Like a just defensive war, the COVID-19 pandemic must be fought. But at what cost? The man who asks “Is there a rate of transmission or fatality that you feel would support these actions?” should instead ask himself, “Is there any liberty that you would not take away to support the government’s actions?”.The answer appears to be for far too many, ‘no.’.A poll conducted by Campaign Research showed that a majority of Canadians support imprisoning those who spread COVID-19 “misinformation.” While there are people spreading genuine “misinformation”, are we really prepared to jail people for it, and where would we objectively draw the line between “misinformation” and honest dissenting opinion (which has often turned out to be correct)?.The same poll found that 38 per cent of Canadians – and a clear majority of Quebecers – support letting the police enter private homes without a warrant “at their discretion” to enforce lockdowns. That kind of power is historically the reserve of authoritarian police states..Thankfully, resistance to these measures was highest in Alberta and Saskatchewan, but a disturbingly large minority still backed them..If an individual’s risk tolerance for COVID-19 is high, they have the freedom to stay at home and lock themselves down. Those in at-risk categories would be wise to do so. But those for whom the risk of COVID-19 is less than the risk of losing their home or business, must be free to make that choice for themselves..Like a justified defensive war, COVID-19 is worth fighting, hard. But like war, life is not so dear as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery..Derek Fildebrandt is the Publisher of the Western Standard
On February 7, Pastor James Coates, of the Grace Life Church west of Edmonton, was arrested for holding a Sunday service in defiance of Alberta’s lockdown orders. He wasn’t charged for being a Christian, but he was charged carrying out his duties to his Christian church as he saw them..While the arrest was carried out under the orders put in place by the UCP government, the most enthusiastic cheerleader for locking the man up was NDP leader Rachel Notley..“We cannot have open defiance of public health orders while the vast majority of Albertans do their part to stop the spread of COVID-19.”.An evangelical Christian pastor makes for an easy target, but one has to wonder if the NDP leader would have done a similar Super Bowl touchdown dance if in the place of Pastor Coates, the arrested man was the leader of a different religious institution..Lockdown-cheerleaders have been wringing their hands as to why the most persistent resisters have been Christian churches, and evangelical ones in particular..Ryan Jesperson (before the latest lockdown arrest) tweeted: “Why is it faith communities, Christians in particular, that are so prominently breaking the law, brazenly ignoring COVID regulations?”.Libertarian Leader Tim Moen’s response summed up the most likely reason aptly..“Maybe they are the least prone to state worship. They already worship a non-corporeal entity that sees and controls everything. The idea that popularity contest winners are imbued by the deity with the right to control the singing of others is an article of faith they can’t buy.”.Christianity has had a spotty history in mixing church and state since the conversion of Constantine, but beginning with the Protestant Reformation in 1517, it has led the way in separating the two. It was the revolutionary liberals (or proto-libertarians) of the early United States that became the first state in history to formally separate the two in its constitution..The separation of church and state is meant not just to keep the church out of the state, but to keep the state out of the church. On February 7, the state forcefuly entered the church to enforce its will..When we are arresting people for peacefully practicing their faith, we have to ask ourselves if we’ve lost something along the way..One man angry at this last statement asked me a question be probably believed to be rhetorical..“Is there a rate of transmission or fatality that you feel would support these actions?”.My response – which he may also have assumed was rhetorical – was “Live Free or Die.”.I meant it quite literally. I would rather die a free man, then live unfree..COVID-19 is a very real crisis. It is only a fraction as bad as we were told it would be when it first broke out last year, but it is none-the-less a serious pandemic requiring a serious response..But that response must be proportional to the crisis, and still leave life worth living..For many, life is increasingly not worth living. Deaths from suicide and drug overdoses have spiked across the board. People are dying from surgeries and other health services being postponed. People -unprotected by privileged government jobs – are losing their homes and businesses. Families will increasingly come apart under the stress..“Is there a rate of transmission or fatality that you feel would support these actions?” is a fair question, but the burden of proof is not on those having their liberties taken away; it is on those taking liberties away to justify why it is necessary..Even if we ignored the increased deaths and misery that are a byproduct of the lockdown and restrictions, we have to ask ourselves a more fundamental question: “Is life worth living if we are unfree?”.This was what American revolutionary general John Stark meant when he penned the words “Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils.”.Stark was likely working from the famous speech given by Patrick Henry to the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1775..“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death.”.Canadians happy to pay their taxes on tea and stamps might think that a tad harsh, but the sentiment should be deeply imbedded in the souls of every free man and free woman..Is society even worth saving, if what remains of it is unfree? Is life worth living if we are not free to earn a living, or see members of our own families? Is worldly life worth continuing for people of faith if they are denied their right to go to their church, mosque or synagogue together?.For the free man, lockdowns are to a pandemic, as conscription is to war..A defensive war may be just, but conscripting young men to fight and die against their will – even in the name of freedom – may be worse than the prospect of defeat at the hands of an enemy. The act of making a people unfree to protect their freedom is a self-evident contradiction..Like a just defensive war, the COVID-19 pandemic must be fought. But at what cost? The man who asks “Is there a rate of transmission or fatality that you feel would support these actions?” should instead ask himself, “Is there any liberty that you would not take away to support the government’s actions?”.The answer appears to be for far too many, ‘no.’.A poll conducted by Campaign Research showed that a majority of Canadians support imprisoning those who spread COVID-19 “misinformation.” While there are people spreading genuine “misinformation”, are we really prepared to jail people for it, and where would we objectively draw the line between “misinformation” and honest dissenting opinion (which has often turned out to be correct)?.The same poll found that 38 per cent of Canadians – and a clear majority of Quebecers – support letting the police enter private homes without a warrant “at their discretion” to enforce lockdowns. That kind of power is historically the reserve of authoritarian police states..Thankfully, resistance to these measures was highest in Alberta and Saskatchewan, but a disturbingly large minority still backed them..If an individual’s risk tolerance for COVID-19 is high, they have the freedom to stay at home and lock themselves down. Those in at-risk categories would be wise to do so. But those for whom the risk of COVID-19 is less than the risk of losing their home or business, must be free to make that choice for themselves..Like a justified defensive war, COVID-19 is worth fighting, hard. But like war, life is not so dear as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery..Derek Fildebrandt is the Publisher of the Western Standard
