"God in Exile?".

Calgary--In a 5-part series of articles running in the Calgary Herald last January, reporter Joe Woodard reflected on the role of Christianity in today's society in Canada. Here are a few highlights:

*Anti-Christian prejudice is the last respectable bigotry, and it's worse in Canada than anywhere else in the developed world (Jewish-American scholar Michael Horowitz). The recent Canadian federal election campaign bore this out, for example, with Christian-friendly Alliance members being branded as "holocaust deniers, bigots and racists."

*The pretext of the suppression of Christianity in Canada is "multiculturalism"-the need to protect minority faiths. In truth, Christianity is banished from the scene as being "intolerant".

*Canadian Christians, lacking in religious fervour or even quiet conviction, are buying into the consumer culture as they abandon their faith principles for secular consumerism.

*The secular establishment is making a slow squeeze on the country's fading Christianity in the area of secular ethics. "Tolerance" is becoming "public affirmation."

*Free speech is banned from public sidewalks outside abortion clinics in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, and Ontario. And yet, a statue of Pope John Paul II immersed in human urine, and a Manitoba provincial art show that gave first prize to a drawing of the crucified Christ sodomized by a priest, were defended by government officials as "free speech" of the artists they (i.e. we) were funding.

*Media objectivity is a myth.A 1980s survey of media personnel on their social, moral and religious beliefs found that at least 81% of the U.S. news media had voted for a liberal presidential candidate in every election back to 1964; 90% of them favoured abortion; 76% actively approved of homosexuality; and 53% thought adultery an acceptable personal behaviour. And 86% seldom or never attended a church or synagogue.

*Calgary political scientist Lydia Miljan, director of the Fraser Institute's National Media Archives, has found that only 42% of Canadian journalists believe in any sort of god; only 15% make an effort to attend church services regularly; and a surprising number are lapsed Catholics. She also found that 'journalists are distrustful of any religious authority and they don't seem to realize that having no religion is a value in itself, that it colours the way they look at the world."

*Toronto media Christian personality Michael Coren believes that a little discomfort may be good for us. "Christianity is about hope and joy, and we're supposed to get out there and take the culture head on."

*With all the negativity, there are small signs that Christianity in Canada is waking up. Signs like the lay Catholic movements Regnum Christi and Opus Dei that focus on nurturing the spiritual lives of their members in their workplaces. Or the growing Orthodox Church in America with its icons, incense and robes. Promise Keepers and the Alpha Program reignite family values and personal responsibility among Evangelicals. And Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity, with six Canadian houses, minister to the downcast, the throw-aways, the marginalized, with gratitude to God for his mercy.

In whatever way it takes to focus their efforts, Canadian Christians have a lot of work to do. As one commentator put it: "Christians can't surrender their right to be positive forces in their society".

For the complete text see: www.calgaryherald.com/God in Exile?