Harper and Evangelical Capitalism

[Oscar]

Harper and Evangelical Capitalism

[ http://www.watershedsentinel.ca/content ... capitalism ]

Media Release January 3, 2015

As Stephen Harper gears up for the next election, a small magazine on the west coast poses the unmentionable question: Are the massive changes to Canada that have already been perpetrated by the Harper government connected to his religious beliefs? It is not a very Canadian practice to discuss religion and politics, but in the latest issue of the Watershed Sentinel, Joyce Nelson suggests things in Ottawa are not what they seem.

We think of right-wing evangelical religion as an influence in American politics, but, unrecognized by the public and mostly unreported, it is a powerful influence on the Conservative caucus. That would explain the destruction of environmental policies and those omnibus bills.

Excerpt: "In her 2010 book, The Armageddon Factor, Marci McDonald warned about the “theo-cons” (Stephen Harper’s word), who view “science and environmentalism as hostile to the Bible.” Regarding the church that Harper has belonged to for nearly three decades – the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church – McDonald noted that its “adherents believe that the Bible is ‘inerrant’ and the Second Coming is ‘imminent’.”

"Harper’s church of nearly three decades – the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church – is squarely in the Evangelical tradition called dominionism, those who believe in the so-called “dominion mandate” spelled out in Genesis 1:28: “And God blessed them [Adam and Eve], and God said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the Earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the Earth.”

"In taking the Bible literally and as inerrant (rather than as metaphorical or symbolic truth), most dominionists also believe that the Earth is a mere 6,000 years old, and that the “end times” are not only “imminent” but welcome, because the Faithful will be “raptured” to Heaven before the Battle of Armageddon takes place in the Middle East. The handy Rapture Index at http://raptureready.com/ helps them determine just how “imminent” those end times are.

Now some Canadians are wondering: Does the Prime Minister’s Office check the Rapture Index regularly? Does Harper?"....

"In other words, just how much has the separation of Church and State been blurred in Canada?"

Read Full Article from the Watershed Sentinel, January-February 2015 HERE:
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The Watershed Sentinel is western Canada's environmental news magazine.

Delores Broten

Editor, Watershed Sentinel

PO Box 1270, Comox BC V9M 7Z8
http://www.watershedsentinel.ca
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