Ad Astra Per Aspera
Per Ardua Ad Astra
Growing up, my parent's always encouraged me to vote. They never divulged who they voted for. I suspect they voted all over the partisan spectrum, because for them it was all about who would best represent our local area. It was about local connection to the politican.
To my remembrance, my local church growing up never delved into politics, particularly regarding local elections. They were more concerned about eschatology, the end times, a futurist theology that didn't involve working to change the present but ensuring that one was ready for the rapture, the snatching away of the believers before things got really bad. Have you watched the movie, Left Behind? That wasn't considered fiction in the church of my upbringing. As an early teen, the youth group watched the Thief in the Night movie series. I'll save you the time of searching for it, and wasting your time watching it. It is essentially a Christian horror story of the Apocalypse. This is used to scare impressionable young minds into believing the doctrines of the church.
When I left for Bible College, I had a global sense of the world. I wanted to be a missionary. When I got to Bible College to study to be a missionary, the first election I voted in was 1993, a federal election. Even though my parents never suggested this, I had the mindset that good Pentecostals voted Progressive Conservative (PC).
In the coming years, I would vote PC/conservative again. When I was employed as a minister in a Pentecostal church, I became aware of a Pentecostal preacher from Alberta turned politician. I lapped it up and watched the national rise of Stockwell Day, even going as far as to join the Canadian Alliance to vote for his leadership. I have few regrets in life, but this is one of them.
My ultimate falling out with the evangelical political movement was Stockwell Day, the very one that attracted me to being a party member. It was my disappointment in his lying about his connections to the Holocaust Denier who lived in his riding. That action by the man who became Leader of Her Majesty's Official Opposition drove me out of partisan politics for a few years.
While I left the Canadian Alliance after that 2000 election, it still took me almost a decade to leave the Pentecostal church for good.
Getting out is hard
When the evangelical church is the community that one has known their entire life, it is hard to simply walk away...my not walking away was reinforced by an experience overseas with a cult. This experience, while living in Seoul, drove me back into the cultish upbringing of my youth. It took me graduating from STU to finally step out of the Pentecostal church.
I spent more time as a Pentecostal than I did as a partisan, within a party that I chose based on my studies at St Thomas University. I changed my partisan affiliation based on new information, based on looking beneath the surface, based on understanding the history. Canadian politics has been influenced by Christian socialism for decades. Look up James Woodsworth and his involvement in the Byng Affair of 1927. Tell me about Tommy Douglas's entry into politics in 1935. Surely, I don't need to tell you of Mr. Douglas role in bringing his system of healthcare insurance from Saskatchewan to the federal sphere. One word: Medicare.
So when i joined the New Democrats in 2003, I found I was looking into a religious mirror. I still find Woodsworth and Douglas inspiring, even as I found Mackenzie King and Pearson inspiring when I learned of them and their contributions to the Canadian national identity.
Canada might not be perfect. Canada got some things terribly wrong. Canada got some things right. But we, as Canadians, fall down miserably if we don't stand against the fascism of the Christian domininist like we see in 2023.
Ad Astra Per Aspera
I am a fan of Star Trek. I am currently watching the show, Strange New Worlds. Season 2 Episode 2 is entitled Ad Astra Per Aspera. I recognized this. I had recently looked for my high school graduation yearbook. I haven’t find it yet, but I did find a yearbook for a class two years prior. The 1990 cover had the school motto. The motto is Per Ardua Ad Astra. This was what I recognized.
Both phrases are Latin. They translate "through adversity to the stars" I won't share the synopsis of the episode because spoilers. Suffice to say, it was an appropriate episode to watch while writing this post.
We must speak when faced with injustice. I'm telling my story of change and growth, even though I'd rather hide away and not be seen. My life experiences combined with education have given me an unique perspective on the world. I could very well fit into the evangelical Christian politics that has become available in the mainstream. I have walked away in the opposite direction.
It has taken me 20 years to get to where I'm at. However, I don't think our society has 20 years to stop the intolerance and injustice of Christian nationalism. We need to open our eyes and see it. We can oppose it. We can create a better world in the face of adversity. To the stars through adversity.