Sometimes I feel sorry for Premier Jason Kenney. He didn’t put his name forward to be Alberta’s premier expecting a global pandemic. Yet at other times I feel no sorrow, for life’s tribulations are like a refiner’s fire burning away the dross to reveal the character beneath. It’s in life’s most difficult moments that we find out who we truly are. And without exaggeration in Premier Kenney’s case, all the world is watching this happen..Yesterday, the RCMP and various other agents of the Government of Alberta raided the private property of GraceLife Church west of Edmonton, erecting two fence perimeters around the church building in an attempt to stop the congregants from continuing to meet together for corporate worship, something which has been transformed into an act of civil disobedience in Alberta under Premier Kenney..This is the church of Pastor James Coates who gained international attention for his personal stand against what he believes are illegal restrictions on his congregation’s God-given freedom to worship..The Soviet Union and the East German Socialist Unity Party built the world’s most famous wall in Berlin to keep the enslaved inside, and enforced it with bullets. While it is unlikely that anyone will be shot for trying to cross Kenney’s wall, he has ordered men with guns to stop ostensibly free men, women and children from entering their place of worship. It is a scene that a year ago would be unimaginable in a first world country. But in 2021, the premier who was elected on a platform entitled “Strong and Free” has erected a small iron curtain of his own, in a province that prides itself as the freest place in Canada. .Premier Kenney’s wall is tangible evidence of the deep divide fomenting between Albertans. I’m sure that many Albertans have applauded these steps against GraceLife and view the church’s members as monsters. .NDP Leader Rachel Notley, certainly seems to. Her social media displays an inordinate fixation that lacks any nuance or even a recognition of the complex moral and legal issues at play. Sadly, many under her influence seem to agree. It seems, now Jason Kenney is one of them. Just weeks after Notley demanded that Kenney step in to forcefully close the church, he acceded. .It is assumed that congregational worship above the 15% capacity allowed is an existential threat to the health and safety of the greater community, despite a complete dearth of evidence that this is true. .It is assumed that these congregants are selfishly prioritizing their own interests above those of their fellow Albertans, even though it would not surprise me at all to hear that province-wide compliance with provincial health measures has fallen off precipitously. .It is assumed that no health measures whatsoever are being followed at GraceLife, even though spokespersons for the church have repeatedly stated and demonstrated otherwise..On International Religious Freedom Day in 2019, Premier Kenney tweeted that “we should rededicate ourselves to the defence of the inalienable freedoms of conscience and religion enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Canadian Charter of Rights, and Alberta law.” He then continued, “Alberta has long been a refuge for those who fled religious persecution from many parts of the world. They remind us never to take these freedoms for granted.”.Where is that refuge now? Or perhaps referring to freedom of religion as “inalienable” was merely colourful language never intended to be taken literally?.It’s no mistake that the free exercise of religion is one of the traditional English immunities that has been inherited in bills of rights in liberal democracies around the world. Religious associations offer congregants many spiritual and social benefits. It allows individuals who feel adrift in our even increasingly detached society to root themselves within a community of like-minded peers. It provides meaning, fulfilment and social support. And it is one of the few remaining institutions that still teaches how to lead a virtuous life. Those of us who do not regularly experience what it means to fellowship in such a context simply cannot understand the depth of the government’s intrusion when this important social institution is rendered inoperative. .But most importantly, religious institutions are a threat to the authority of the state. They offer an alternative view of political legitimacy. When the state enacts a law or regulation that contradicts what God has commanded, the believer is compelled to disobey the law. Christians have long suffered at the hands of the state for this. Martin Luther King famously said “A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law,” and that, “One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”.Kenney and Notley are on the wrong side of history. When the witch-hunt ends and we someday return to something resembling normalcy, it will be remembered which politicians stripped their citizens of their basic liberties in an effort to appease the panicked. .The world is watching. Mr. Kenney, tear down this wall. .Derek James from is a Columnist for the Western Standard
