The Armageddon Factor: The Rise of Christian Nationalism in Canada
By Marci McDonald
Random House, 2010
Author Marci McDonald is afraid of conservative Christians and she thinks you should be, too. In her book, she makes every effort to convince readers that this nation’s evangelical Protestants (and, to a lesser extent, traditional Catholics) are secretly plotting to take over the country. Their goal, she says, is to create a totalitarian, theocratic state where “nonbelievers – atheists, non-Christians and even Christian secularists – have no place, and those in violation of biblical law, notably homosexuals and adulterers, would merit severe punishment.” From a former bureau chief for Maclean’s and senior writer for US News and World Report, one would have expected meticulous accuracy of facts and at least a nod in the direction of journalistic objectivity. McDonald’s book provides neither.
Foregoing formal footnotes or some other type of rigorous reference system, she uses sketchy “source notes” found in a concluding appendix to back up her claim that born-again types are exercising undue political influence. Searching those notes for corroborating evidence time and again, I came up empty. For example, she claims radical Christian nationalists are “huddling with members of Parliament in the privacy of their offices to tout traditional values while joining hands with them in prayer” and the national childcare allowance initiated by the Harper Conservatives “was aimed at pleasing the religious right.” However, in these cases and others she doesn’t indicate where or how she came by her information. Too often I was left to wonder: Is this simply her speculation masquerading as fact?
Of course, in her opinion, no one is more treacherous than Prime Minister Stephen Harper – as the country’s leading evangelical politician he’s cast as the covert kingpin in McDonald’s conspiracy. For instance, she explains that during the last election campaign, while being interviewed on a Christian television show, Harper made the observation that “God works His purposes in our history.” While on the surface such an utterance seems benignly generic – something even the most nominally religious person might say in polite conversation – to McDonald’s eye, this short phrase was a shrouded shout-out to fundamentalist sleeper agents. With interpretive skill rivalling the prophet Daniel, she declares: “that unusual phrase seemed to be coded confirmation of the Christian nationalist conviction that Canada has a unique prophetic role to play in the final days before the Second Coming.”
That McDonald doesn’t like Harper or his policies is fine. There are dyed-in-the-wool Conservative Party supporters who are critical of his governance. But “manufacturing” examples of Harper’s foibles is beyond the pale.
To be fair, her observation that Canadian conservative Christians are becoming increasingly involved in the public sphere has merit. To be sure, evangelical participation in the political process has grown steadily in this country since the 1980s. In large part, that participation has been fuelled by dramatic changes in Canadian culture and society. Realizing that unless their voices were heard, the ideas they valued would be relegated to the trash bin of history, conservative Christians have sought ways to join the national conversation. Their political participation has been aided by the creation of a new federal conservative party that, unlike its predecessor the Progressive Conservative Party, peddles social conservatism in addition to fiscal conservatism. Whether in its incarnation as the Reform Party, the Canadian Alliance, or its latest manifestation, the Conservative Party of Canada, this new party of the right has openly welcomed those with biblically-inspired values.
It’s this unashamed mix of religious belief and politics – particularly in the federal Conservative Party – that McDonald objects to so strongly. In her opinion, people who are willing to let their conservative Christian faith inform their political decisions are not fit to run for municipal office let alone govern the nation. It’s this strongly held position – or, should I say, blindly held position – that begets the book’s greatest flaw.
Nowhere in the entirety of her text does McDonald rationally explain why conservative Christians should be one of the only Canadian minority groups excluded from the halls of power. More specifically, she doesn’t explain why humanism, liberalism, secularism, and a host of other ideologies are legitimate theoretical foundations for political decision-making but Christian ideology is not. The justification for her position rests on vague insinuations that there is something underhanded about the political activities of evangelicals and traditional Catholics. However, despite her rigorous digging, she’s unable to present any evidence that they’ve used nefarious means to accomplish their political ends. Instead, she inadvertently demonstrates that their negotiation of the political process is no different from other established interest groups. That is to say, they’ve used the lawful tools of democracy – forming lobby groups, rallying like-minded citizens, supporting candidates whose values agree with their own – to advance their cause.
From my own perspective, I think a strong argument can and should be made for tempering the influence that any single religion has on government policy. It’s too bad McDonald does not attempt to make that more moderate and nuanced argument.
There are other notable omissions. Nowhere in her text does McDonald mention that multiple studies have shown Canada’s evangelicals give more to charity and commit more time to public service volunteering than any other group in the country. Though she routinely uses American examples (especially when she wants a quote from an evangelical that sounds particularly radical) she never mentions the extensive research by sociologists like Sam Reimer that shows Canadian evangelicals are far more moderate than their southern cousins. To further bolster her characterization of Canadian evangelicals as radical, she often “forgets” to distinguish between those on the very fringe of the faith and the moderate majority. Reflected in the mirror of her prose, two or three religious outliers become the face of a Canadian community that represents over 10 per cent of the population.
As her book’s dust jacket proclaims, McDonald is convinced a full-out culture war has now arrived in Canada. Her willingness to provide questionable “facts” while omitting information that might contradict her main thesis – that evangelicals and their ilk are dangerous – makes it clear on which side her alliance rests.
It’s said that truth is the first casualty of war. McDonald’s book is proof of that.
