The threat that modernity posed to traditional religious morality knew no boundaries in North America. In both Canada and the United States, the 1960s witnessed the beginning of an outpouring of concern about the loss of conservative cultural values in the face of government supported, or tolerated, social and economic libertarianism. 2 Sociologist, Jose Casanova, has characterized this period as one of "deprivatization" of religion and the taking on of contestation and legitimization of religiously inspired morality in civil society. 3 In both nations, a wide spectrum of religious communities were increasingly dissatisfied with the political response to such issues as the sanctity of life, the degeneration of sexual mores, and the intrusion of government into the lives of ordinary Christians and their churches. In varying degrees, Christians on both sides of the border believed that their nations had been founded on biblical values, beliefs and morals which were being so undermined that only direct intervention accompanied by a spiritual repentance and revival could restore moral propriety.4 The strategies used by concerned Christians in the United States and Canada to respond to this threat were, however, quite different.
In the United States a massive organization of the right began to bring direct pressure on the American Government through their well-financed political lobbying and campaigns to elect Congressmen who would support their traditional values. The rebirth of Protestant fundamentalism or the Christian Right, as they were often labeled, had formed their well-publicized Moral Majority, Christian Voice, and Religious Roundtable. In Washington, members of Congress and their staff were the targets of the Christian Right while the bureaucrats played virtually no role with regard to advancing this moral agenda.5
Canadians also decried their changing moral landscape but, with the exception of the occasional outburst emanating from Renaissance Canada, they were not comfortable with the more brazen tactics and the strident voice of the American religious right.6 Most Christians sought a quieter way of preventing the government's encroachments on their biblical morality rather than seeking to impose it on the nation by political means. They generally eschewed any organized proactive political involvement in the public affairs of the nation.7 There was in the 1970s an awakening of an evangelical social voice that joined with like-minded believers from the mainline Protestant and Catholic communities to influence the morality of Canadian society in the face of increasing secularization.8 A combination of federal bureaucrats and their allies in the House of Commons used their influence to uphold conservative cultural values and to encourage the organization of like-minded public interest groups who would provide the needed public support for their activities under the banner of, "The people who know their God will display strength and take action" (Daniel 11:32b). How this unique combination of multi denominational Christians converged to make a difference through their prayers and organization in Ottawa in the 1970s and 1980s is the subject of this essay.
Although there were several independent Christian fellowship groups functioning within the government before the mid-seventies, there was no coordination among them and little interest by any of them in taking a position on government policy. The oldest was the Military Christian Fellowship which traced its roots back to before World War II. By 1980 it had grown to 800 members who were meeting in groups on virtually all military bases and in National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa. Their mandate was to help people in the military to grow in their private spiritual maturity, to support each other through the trials of repeated military postings and to encourage the work of the military chaplains.9
Much better known was the group on Parliament Hill. In 1962 the national leader of the Social Credit Party, Robert Thompson, was becoming disappointed with the continuing partisan wranglings on Parliament Hill. He began to speak about the need for Christians of all parties to unite in transcending their partisan wranglings in order to find a statesmanlike way of bringing civility into politics and offering an alternative Christian perspective.10 Knowing that such a move would require more than a minority voice, he enlisted the cooperation of Walter Dinsdale, a fellow Christian and Conservative member from Brandon, to begin a weekly Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast for members and senators to gather around a devotional thought and to pray for one another in their private lives.11 In 1964, a National Prayer Breakfast was launched to invite Christian leaders from across the land to join with parliamentarians, judges, the diplomatic corps and other Ottawa dignitaries, regardless of their political or religious affiliation, "in the spirit of Christ to express their spiritual values and reflect on the spiritual heritage of Canada."12 It was an opportunity for Christians from across party lines to meet regularly and to provide encouragement for those who were bold enough to speak out on the basis of their Christian faith.
At first, the group seemed to be an exclusive gathering of those who shared Thompson's fundamentalist beliefs. Later, under the leadership of Jake Epp and Ursual Appollini, the group expanded to include a broader section of interested but not necessarily committed parliamentarians. Although it was never spoken of publicly, these regular meetings did provide a means for drawing together members who could work together on legislative tactics outside of the maelstrom of their partisan activities.
More recently within the Public Service there were a few Christians who had come together informally to study the Bible for personal spiritual encouragement. Such groups had existed at various times in the National Research Council and the Department of Health and Welfare and, from 1971, a more consistent group had been meeting weekly for the same purpose in the Department of the Environment.
In 1975 a new form of Bible study and prayer group emerged. Its focus was more work-related for both Bible study and prayer. The first of these groups began in the Department of External Affairs. A secretary had been challenged by her supervisor to enroll in a course in transcendental meditation, as a means of improving her work habits, but before she could complete the enrolment she met a Christian colleague who offered, at no cost, to teach her proper work habits from the Bible. The Bible study began in the cafeteria over breakfast and others quickly joined in. A few weeks later a Christian member of parliament led his secretary into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and asked another Christian woman on the Hill to disciple the new convert. That initiated a Bible study on the Hill for staffers, who had not been allowed to join the exclusive prayer breakfast for parliamentarians. Through church connections with the people at External Affairs, a group was started in the Department of Trade and Commerce and so it continued to expand to a total of 16 such groups by 1979.
What made these groups different from their predecessors was that most of them followed a specific Bible study outline prepared by the leader at External Affairs, which addressed work-related issues through the study of another public servant who faced difficult challenges in his service, Daniel. The thrust of these studies was to encourage the individual pursuit of Christian values in their workplace. Participants were also strongly committed to praying for their minister and senior leadership in their department in accordance with the apostle Paul's admonition "to pray for those in authority over you (1 Timothy 2:2)". The impetus for bringing these groups together with a common focus leading to a public ministry came not from within but from religious forces moving outside of the public service.
In 1971 a religious revival had swept across western Canada led by the Sutera Twins, Ralph and Lou, from Mansfield Ohio who went on to hold crusades in many cities under the auspices of the newly formed Canadian Revival Fellowship. In the spring of 1979 they went to Ottawa at the invitation of a large local church. Night after night through their rallies many Christians who worked for the government came forward to recommit their lives to a more meaningful walk with God. Realizing the potential in these people, the Suteras challenged them to organize themselves so that they could become an effective witness for righteousness within the government. One evening after their meeting an organizing committee was struck of Christians who worked for 14 different departments. They chose Ray Robinson, an assistant deputy minister at Environment Canada and the author as co-chairmen to organize a conference to begin the Public Service Christian Fellowship (PSCF) in Ottawa.
On Saturday, November 24, 1979 nearly 400 public servants from across Ottawa and Hull came to hear Christian members of parliament, Robin Richardson and Jake Epp, Assistant Deputy Minister in Veteran Affairs, Nick van Duyvendyk, French speaking Colonel Ferdinand Braun from National Defence Headquarters who had become a Christian while serving as Commandant of the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario, and the co-chairmen share their dreams and visions for making Canada a better country through the moral influence of Christians who felt called by God to work for a higher purpose than just fulfilling their job responsibilities in the public service. What was remarkable about this gathering was its diverse nature. They were Catholics, Baptists, Presbyterians, Anglicans, Canadian Reformed, Pentecostals, anglophone and francophone, men and women, members of parliament and clerks, all earnestly seeking to work towards the same end; a discernible Christian presence in the Public Service of Canada. Two months after this conference which brought members of the MCF, the PSCF, and the Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast into cooperation with each other, there were 35 groups functioning throughout the public service. 13
A CBC Radio Noon broadcast carried a special on the formation of the PSCF on January 14, 1980; the movement became a public fact. In April 1980, Canadian Press carried a wire story on the PSCF that the Globe and Mail ran under the heading "Bible study groups spurt suddenly in Ottawa."14 A month later the Ottawa Citizen headlined an article, "In govt. bible groups, even opposites attract." The story was about Toronto Liberal MP Ursula Appolini who found Christian fellowship in a "hot-bed of Toryism" and the work of the PSCF. What made it newsworthy was that such a large number of public servants had come together, not to argue their departmental viewpoints, but to express a new unity of spirit through their love of God. It also reflected, as was pointed out in an article in the Ottawa Citizen, "an international trend towards greater interest by society in religion and greater emphasis towards evangelism and learning more about the Bible."15 As news of their existence was spread by the media, similar groups were inspired to organize themselves in the provincial governments in Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta, and British Columbia.
While the various groups retained autonomy in their actual operations, they shared a common executive that had been selected by those attending the initial meeting. Because of the informal nature of the PSCF, this group was never voted into office but became self perpetuating with the support of the constituent groups. This executive became the primary spokespeople for the PSCF and the publisher of a monthly which was aimed at inspiring members in the fulfilling of their mission of "learning and applying Christian principles in all areas of public service" through aspiring "to work worthily, honorably, heartily, lovingly, and diligently." 16 Any group of like-minded public servants could select a leader and seek the endorsement of the PSCF executive. By this means the executive ensured that new groups would support the purpose of the PSCF. Because anyone could join a group, the membership tended to be more broadly based than the group leaders and executive who tended to come from the evangelical wings of their denominations which espoused conservative beliefs and cultural values.
Group leaders nurtured and encouraged the spiritual growth and fellowship of Christians in the public service as they faced the daily trials of working in a large and often impersonal bureaucracy. These groups were not, as some thought, to replace worship services in churches. Group leaders were repeatedly warned by the PSCF executive that "Bible studies and prayer meetings in government offices can become mini Sunday churches in which we escape back into the comfortable Sunday worship atmosphere during a mid-week lunch hour. They should be times in which we find refreshment and strength to enable us to be Christ's ambassadors in the office environment. Instead of places for retreat they should be places for mutual strengthening to do His work as sojourners in your work place. ...Then let us see what God is going to do in the lives of our colleagues in the public service."17 As one senior departmental secretary in the External Affairs group, who had caught the mission, told a visiting reporter from the Ottawa Citizen newspaper, it's like a "spiritual gas station. It gives an extra bond between us and it sure is nice when the going gets tough. It's like an oasis in the desert."18
The PSCF's monthly newsletter featured testimonials to the power of God working in the lives of individuals, news about the work of the different groups and a feature article on working as Christians in the public service. Such articles were usually adapted from other sources to the needs of public servants and included such topics as handling adversity, discouragement, conflict, goal setting, stress management and decision-making with Jesus as the model and a Biblical criteria for success. Through its various conferences, retreats, and the newsletter, the PSCF provided counseling, skill development, and coping mechanisms at a time when these things were not readily available to the rank and file through the public service itself. Through its members, a Christian work ethic was to be modeled but not preached to fellow public servants. PSCFers were occasionally embarrassed, therefore, when a few "born-again Christians" flaunted their Christianity as an excuse for doing less work while they proselytized on the job.19 As more than one deputy minister acknowledged, the PSCFers were championing habits of work that should be the goal of all public servants, whether they were spiritually motivated or not. 20
Since group meetings often focused on personal spiritual rejuvenation through mutual help, they soon became known for caring about the personal needs of fellow employees. Even non-members referred fellow employees who were going through difficult personal struggles to the group for help. For example, a secretary in National Defence who had been trying drugs, alcohol and the occult in order to get control of her life was referred to the Bible study group where she embraced Christ as her personal savior and, through her witness, later led her whole family into a new lifestyle and Christian commitment and has subsequently gone on to a more senior position with the Superintendent of Financial Services. 21 Then there was the security guard who, finding a Bible in an unlocked cabinet of a PSCFer, scrawled the plea "How can I know Jesus?" A Christian MP passed a copy of the newsletter to a secretary who was threatening to commit suicide and her life was transformed through fellowship with the group for staffers on Parliament Hill. 22
Apart from assisting those who came to their meetings, a few groups hosted noon hour Christmas Carol singalongs in their buildings, and the groups on Parliament Hill and External Affairs also offered the occasional gospel concerts. Once or twice a year when Christian college and university choirs were visiting Ottawa, they would be invited by the PSCF to sing to employees and public in the rotundas of their buildings. Although the employees responded warmly to these free concerts of secular and sacred music, senior management were not at first convinced that this activity was appropriate in government buildings. When the leaders of an international communications conference invited the touring musicians to stay after their concert in the lobby to open their afternoon conference session with songs extolling a God whose love for all people transcended national human barriers, gospel concerts were recognized as an appropriate tool of international diplomacy. Henceforth, the concerts continued with the acquiescence of senior management. The PSCFers also reminded senior management that they promoted the singing of Christmas carols each December without questioning the spiritual content of the music.
Prayer was always a major part of every meeting but with a very diverse format and content because of the wide denominational affiliations of members. As the group in Agriculture Canada declared, "Our prayer concerns encompass anything and everything -- international affairs, our families, internal departmental concern, the prime minister and his family, MPs, our work attitudes, co-workers, the drought in Western Canada. The list is endless -- like the needs."23
As senior public servants, the leaders of the PSCF did not want to be seen by their colleagues as having an agenda. Although they stood for righteousness and open government, they were careful never to identify themselves with the agenda of the religious right or the Moral Majority in the United States. When a misguided reporter tried to make that connection, they protested vehemently. 24 They were sufficiently politically astute to know that such identification, even if they did share some of the same concerns and interests, would completely destroy their credibility to work effectively with other decision-makers in Ottawa. In typical Canadian fashion, they preferred to support each other through networking behind the scenes in order to influence the levers of power on issues around which they felt deeply. Thus Christian clerical workers played a key role in curbing violence during a clerical strike in the public service in 1978 and lobbied to restrict official travel on Sundays so that they could worship with their families. Requirements for truthful advertising were written into legislation, against the wishes of certain business lobbyists, because of the values espoused by the PSCFers in Consumer and Corporate Affairs.25
Christian public servants were often challenged with extraordinary demands that would take them to their knees along with their spiritual brothers and sisters. During the process of drafting the Clean Air Act, a Christian assistant deputy minister in Environment Canada gave the following testimony: "For the man or woman who puts his or her trust in God and in the liberating power of His Son's Sacrifice, there is no limit to what Christ can do through that person. ...I know my own shortcomings, my human limitations and I am frequently overwhelmed by them. I look at the tasks before me -- bring about control of acid rain; establish an efficient means, including new legislation, of testing and if needed controlling all new industrial chemicals and as many as possible of the 50,000 existing ones; promote effective federal-provincial cooperation in an atmosphere of growing tension; devise means of protecting and enhancing the environment in the face of enormous energy and other projects all over the country; maintain and improve morale among those who must undertake specific portions of these tasks and who have only their own human resources to rely on. When I look at myself in purely human terms, I am tempted to despair. Then I am reminded of who I am -- an adopted son of God. I remember that He loves me far more than I can love myself and that what is important to me is important to Him also. He has placed me in my job -- of that I have no doubt. He has told me to be a good employee, to render unto Caesar what is Caesar's. I can therefore with confidence say that He will enable me to do what has to be done." 26 At every stage, his work was supported through a network of prayerful advisors among his PSCF colleagues. The amendments to the Clean Air Act were later approved by cabinet and parliament in record time.
In some situations, PSCFers happened to be in the right place to hear and respond to events in their normal course of conducting the government's business. On a Friday afternoon in External Affairs a PSCFer learned from her supervisor that a Canadian swimmer in Columbia had contracted a rare disease that could cause her to lose her life unless she could be put on an iron lung within 24 hours. The supervisor tried but could not get a commercial airline to take the risk of flying her back to Canada. In her frustration, she shared her disappointment with her secretary who called her PSCF colleagues to pray and take action. Through MCF contacts in National Defence it was learned that a Canadian military aircraft was in nearby Venezuela but diverting the aircraft to Columbia would require the approval of 5 cabinet ministers. The required approvals were sought and given so that the plane could pick up the swimmer and take her to Quebec City where an ambulance containing an iron lung met her at the airport. Because of the intervention of PSCFers in several departments, the swimmer's life was saved. 27
On another occasion seven Siberian Christian dissidents had taken refuge in the basement of the American Embassy in Moscow. The Americans were unable to get permission from the Soviet authorities to allow these two families to gain political asylum in the United States. Through denominational connections, the situation was made known to some members of the group in External Affairs who passed prayer requests to other PSCFers and made a representation to their deputy minister. Through the Department of Employment and Immigration Canada, it was ascertained that the Canadian Government would be willing to apply to bring the dissidents to Canada if, within 24 hours five sponsors and $50,000 could be obtained for their support. Within 6 hours the PSCF had obtained the necessary sponsors and financial pledges. The Secretary of State for External Affairs then made the representation to the Soviet authorities that eventually led to the dissidents' release. The deputy minister acknowledged the Government's gratitude for the work of the PSCFers on this case. 28
The groups worked with remarkable inclusivity. As the francophone leader of the group in the RCMP, Jean Blaquiere, pointed out: "We are quite diverse and in this diversity we grow in love, understanding and faith about the things that are in heaven. We are neither French nor English, neither catholic nor protestant. Instead of trying to come together on points that already set us apart, we try to focus on the person of Jesus Christ and strive to improve our relationship with our Father in heaven. Simply being this type of a Christian enables us to see each other very well and we are all comfortable with each other. Our mission is simple. 'We are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation...' (1 Peter 2:9). This makes us ambassadors of the Kingdom of God and ministers of the Word." 29
While the ecumenical spirit of acceptance worked extremely well in the public service, given the history of non-cooperation among churches in Ottawa from which PSCF members came, the PSCF was not without its occasional operational problems. Strains developed over the participation of Mormons in one group that led to its temporary suspension of activities. It was also learned that because of the latent memories of religious wars in Quebec, francophone catholics and baptists would not attend groups that were led by someone from the other side. But these were exceptions to an otherwise strong unity of spirit and cooperation. Thus, as Blaquiere explained, potentially divisive church politics and denominational distinctives were set aside in favor of the things that united believers. Periodically, there were complaints that the government's notice boards or rooms were being used for PSCF purposes that were being denied to other religious groups. If not always through logic, these complaints were overridden because of the senior positions held by some of the executive of the PSCF and their close connections to Christian members of parliament, including some cabinet ministers.
As the PSCFers involvement in the working of the government became more public in Ottawa, Christian interest groups asked for their advice and support. This developed unexpectantly from their prayer ministry contacts and in recognition of the effective network of influencers that they, combined with their elected friends on Parliament Hill, had become.30 They also developed a Biblical justification for their activism and public ministry.
Under the theme, "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord" and the nation's motto, "He shall have Dominion from sea to sea" (Psalm 72:8) the PSCF had, like other conservative Christian groups in the United States, united its prayers around the challenge of 2 Chronicles 7:14: "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."31 This verse was the theme of the first PSCF conference in 1979. The PSCFers were convinced, on the authority of the Bible, that: "The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and all who live in it" (Psalm 24;1) and that "There is no power but of God" (Roman 13:1). Being commanded in 1 Timothy 2 to pray for those in authority over them, they believed that God would hear their prayers and, according to God's will, respond to them because the Bible indicated that "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water; he turneth it withersoever he will" (Proverbs 21:1) and "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is perfect toward Him" (2 Chronicles 16:9). Thus they prayed regularly that their leaders in government would have wisdom to discern between good and evil (1 Kings 3:9), that they would develop common sense and good judgment (Proverbs 4:7), that the counsel of the Lord would stand (Proverbs 19:21), and that they would not become weary in well doing (2 Thessalonians 3:13). To these and other scriptures they added specific issues in the belief that "Righteousness exalteth nation: but sin is a reproach to any people" (Proverbs 14:34). Other Christian ministries invited the PSCFers to teach them how they could pray for government leaders. 32
In the late 1970s Campus Crusade for Christ of Canada was persuaded by its American parent organization to begin a nation-wide Great Commission Prayer Crusade (GCPC) in Canada. Through its staff workers in various cities the GCPC was launched with the mandate to pray for a spiritual awakening in the nation and its leaders.33 This last part of the mandate brought the GCPC into an informal working relationship with the PSCF. Together, they offered over several years workshops to hundreds of churches and denominational conferences on how to pray and a list of specific prayer requests related to the government's current activities.
To facilitate the transmission of prayer requests and to link these various prayer ministries together, a National Prayer Leadership Conference was held in Toronto in November 1982 under the sponsorship of the Executive Ministries of Campus Crusade for Christ of Canada. Among the speakers calling for a national prayer movement at this conference were: MPs Jack Murta, the chairman of the Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast; the Hon. Jake Epp; Jack Burghardt; and representing the PSCF were Diane Scharf, from the Prime Minister's Office and the leader of the PSCF group for staffers on Parliament Hill; and the author as co-chairman of the PSCF. The primary outcome of this conference was the decision to launch immediately a National Telephone Prayer Chain. By this means, a prayer request originating in Ottawa, usually by Christian MPs or the PSCF, could be sent across the land to those who had committed themselves to pray for such requests. The GCPC facilitated the organization of the national prayer chain which in its first year had prayer chains operating in 40 cities in 9 provinces so that within an hour of the first transmission, 3,000 people would be praying and within 24 hours well over 100,000 had been reached by individual phone calls. Many more would receive such requests when they met for worship on the next Sunday. To be transmitted, the prayer request had to be of "a national nature involving legislation, a speech by a Christian MP on an issue of specific concern to Christians, or a national emergency." 34 Ironically, although the PSCF was one of the primary instigators and contributors to the national prayer chain and had developed its own prayer chain to connect with the national movement, not all of the PSCF groups could agree on the wording of the requests and the prayer chain movement functioned better across the country than within the PSCF itself. 35
Soon after the national prayer chain was launched, a National Prayer Committee of church leaders and representatives was established to promote city-wide inter-denominational Concerts of Prayer to pray for Canada and its leaders. While Campus Crusade had formed the national prayer chains, other groups also began promoting prayer for Canada: Prayer Canada out of Surrey, British Columbia; Intercessors for Canada out of Fort Erie, Ontario; and Canadian Revival Fellowship out of Regina, Saskatchewan. The daily television ministry of 100 Huntley Street embraced the call to prayer in the nation through regular broadcasts of prayer requests and invited guests from the PSCF, MCF, and Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast. A representative sample of requests included: the inclusion of a reference to God in the constitution; a ruling outlawing the production of a film in Canada that would portray Jesus as a homosexual; an amendment to Bill C-10 involving the Non Profit Corporation Act which would exclude churches from certain government imposed fiduciary controls; the defeat of Bill C-53 to amend the Criminal Code to allow acts of gross indecency between consenting adults in privately owned establishments; the hiring of a Christian on the Prime Minister's personal staff; the outlawing of lotteries wishing to operate in sports arenas; protection for the charitable status of certain Christian organizations that had been critical of government policies; arrangements for evangelist Billy Graham to have a private meeting with Prime Minister Trudeau; and provisions for Bible College students to deduct their tuition fees on their income tax returns.
In most cases, prayer was directed to efforts being made by PSCFers and Christian MPs to effect changes or to stop or to amend legislation that was regarded as potentially threatening to the work of the churches or detrimental to conservative Christian values. For example, when the Equality for All Report (1985) recommended amendments to Section 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, successive ministers of justice hinted that they would introduce amendments to include sexual orientation as a basis for non-discrimination. The Christians in Ottawa, with the support of their praying partners across the land, organized a letter writing campaign in opposition and then arranged meetings with the justice minister, his legal staff, and the prime minister, leading to extracting a promise before his caucus from Prime Minister Mulroney that his Government would not proceed along these lines.36
Another major campaign of prayer and influence was mounted over the inclusion of a reference to God in the new constitution. The prime minister had made it known publicly that he was not in favor of such an inclusion and his Liberals had defeated an Opposition amendment to that effect. 37 Through its many contacts, the PSCF persuaded other like-minded organizations to join with them in educating the Christian public on the importance of having a reference to the sovereignty of God in the constitution. For them it would provide a basis on which to appeal to those in authority over them should they experience the state's interference with their Christian principles on which they wished to conduct their lives. Prayer requests went out, meetings were held, and 300,000 Christians across many denominations were persuaded to prayerfully, and in writing, express their dismay over the lack of a reference to the sovereignty of God in the constitution. Since the Government would not listen to the Official Opposition, PSCFers lobbied sympathetic Liberal MPs to put pressure on the prime minister. The prime minister, who was anxious to get on with repatriating the constitution, relented and agreed to allow an amendment acknowledging the sovereignty of God. The Christian lobbyists at that time thought that it would be often cited in defence of their faith but, in fact, it has seldom been used for that purpose, although it is often referenced by grateful Christians who wanted to reinforce their spiritual roots. 38
Another important event that brought a focus to religion and the PSCF in public life flowed, in part, from the successful conclusion of this debate over the constitution. The Rev. David Mainse of 100 Huntley Street had a dream of a great prayer pilgrimage from sea to sea in June 1981. 39 The 17th city in this "Salute to Canada" was Ottawa and the PSCF and MCF were at the heart of a local committee planning the event on Parliament Hill. Suitable a nglophone, francophone, and aboriginal spokespeople representing a wide spectrum of denominations as well as the leaders of the PSCF, the MCF, and the Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast were to be part of the program. From their own ranks, they could also provide uniformed RCMP and armed forces officers to give an official and colorful flare to the proceedings. But Mainse wanted Prime Minister Trudeau and the Leader of the Opposition, the Rt. Hon. Joe Clark, to participate as well in this televised tribute to the nation's spiritual roots.
Invitations to Trudeau and Clark had been delivered weeks beforehand but neither responded. Both were waiting to see what the other would do. Finally, the Prime Minister's Office indicated that the prime minister would not participate because it would break a long-standing practice of not participating in public religious events that might show favoritism to any religious organization. As Salute to Canada began to move across the nation the momentum and following began to build. It was not only a technological wonder; it exhibited quality programming featuring glimpses of Canada's religious history, that had never before been televised, and live interviews with Canadians from all walks of life who shared something of their religious convictions and hopes for Canada. Guests included denominational leaders, mayors, members of parliament and provincial legislative assemblies, and the Lieutenant Governors of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The projected North American audience for the Ottawa broadcast and its subsequent rebroadcast was estimated at 10 million viewers and there would be an estimated 2,000 people on Parliament Hill for the live broadcast. Just days before the Ottawa broadcast, Clark announced that he would release a prerecorded statement for the broadcast and the Prime Minister's Office reversed its position and quickly followed suit. Both offices turned to the PSCF for a draft speech.
Trudeau began by acknowledging the debt we owe to our forefathers whose "golden thread of faith is woven throughout the history of Canada from its earliest beginnings up to the present time." "Faith," he concluded, "played a large part in the lives of so many men and women who have created in this land a society which places a high value on commitment, integrity, generosity and, above all, freedom. To pass on that heritage, strong and intact, is a challenge worthy of all of us who are privileged to call ourselves Canadians."
Clark also acknowledged the important values that religious people added to Canadian society. "That support of faith," he added, "is as important today, in modern times, as it ever was, and even more so, because the forces of cynicism and doubt are so much more strong today. ...We pray today that God's sovereignty over our Canada continues to bless and to guide us." 40 These statements were not only heard by millions of Canadians, they were quoted over and over again by many Christian groups to demonstrate the importance of recognizing the influence of religion on public life.
Such outpourings of Christian concern for public life in Canada were also tied into electoral politics. From the early 1970s onwards there were an increasing number of politicians elected to the House of Commons as a result of groups of Christians becoming more active in local politics. Many of these MPs became vocal about the need for Christians to join with others in making their views known in the shaping of public policy. Thus the Hon. Warren Allmand in a book entitled Christians in the Crises: Toward Responsible Citizenship that was published by the Anglican Book Centre in Toronto, sought to bring the churches into the realm of participatory democracy by announcing that: "Political parties and other community groups should be more open and communicative with citizens in general. In this way, they would encourage citizens to participate and to make their views and policies known. The churches have a responsibility to speak out on public issues which have moral implications: ie., racism, war, poverty, etc." His call came with a distinct affirmation and warning: "Faith in Christ and the message of the scriptures have very great significance with respect to public life today. If public life is not conducted according to such faith and principles, then it quickly degenerates into an exploitative and manipulative society. Christian citizens should attempt to live out the principles that are given in the Bible and other religious teachings and, in particular, to live them out in political and community life. If Christians do not take these steps, then social, economic, and political life is left to those without faith, with resulting harm for all mankind. The major disasters throughout history have taken place because Christian thinking and beliefs were not applied in the conduct of political affairs: ie., Nazi Germany, etc." 41 Christian members of parliament who were saying the same thing as Allmand could be found in each of the three main political parties. By careful design, the PSCF invited representatives of each of these parties to be the keynote speakers at their annual conferences. 42
It was an auspicious time for interested Christians to increase their involvement in public policy issues. Since the late 1960s the Trudeau Government had been actively encouraging the public to express their views to the Government as part of an increasing effort to overcome public alienation from Government through the notion of "participatory democracy." 43 Christian citizens were now being called upon to participate in the affairs of their nation through the political process. Those who were looking for a biblical justification for such involvement found it in the example of the Apostle Paul who explained the reason for his spirituality to the Areopagus of politics in ancient Athens (Acts 17: 16-34).44
Public conferences were also organized to publicize the role of religion in public life. One of the most noteworthy ones was held in Ottawa in April 1984, immediately after the National Prayer Breakfast, when Christian leaders were invited to a meeting to discuss their responsibility for upholding Biblical morality in our land. The keynote speakers and their topics best explain the thrust of their two days of meetings. The Hon. Jake Epp, speaking about being an evangelical on Parliament Hill, was followed by the Moderator of the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches, Dr. John Redekop, on understanding the political and religious ethos of Canada. Business consultant and religious broadcaster, Preston Manning, spoke about the temptations of political and spiritual leadership. The President of Regent College in Vancouver spoke about developing leadership in Canada and the PSCF contributed a session on what church leaders needed to know about influencing Ottawa. One predominant message emerged from this gathering: Christians should be taking advantage of their Government's openness to hear their views "as the conscience of society and the reflector of the divine ethic, the faithful church presses for human dignity, justice, and decency." Thus the churches were encouraged to make their views known against immorality, militarism, poverty, racism, unemployment, etc. 45 The agenda was to be not only moral protection but was to include social justice issues as well and MPs committed themselves to work alongside of the PSCFers on this wider agenda.
Because of the national publicity given to the work of the PSCF and the national prayer movement, the PSCF found itself unexpectedly beginning to function as a network for Christian interest groups and individuals seeking to influence the federal government or its many agencies. The range of issues dealt with was as broad and far reaching as the work of the government itself. Thus the PSCF was called upon to assist: a pastor who needed to obtain a visa; a missionary gain safe passage abroad; the printing of Bibles in China for the Gideons; in representations against terrorist attacks on Canadian missionaries abroad; in obtaining permission for children in Havana to go to Sunday School; in obtaining aid for a new roof for an orphanage in Brazil; in banning certain sexually suggestive advertisements for jeans; in honoring American airmen who had lost their lives in Labrador; in finding out how Canadian standards were applied to an importer of electrical fans; and in reconciliation and counseling, etc. These requests came to the PSCF because many Christian organizations and individual Christians did not know how to influence effectively a complex government system. Working together from the inside, the PSCFers in many departments and a handful of supportive MPs, connected their petitioners with sympathetic power brokers and activated the levers needed for favorable decisions. Such levers were available to all Canadians but few knew how to access and use them to their advantage the way the PSCFers did.
Before long, many Christian groups were asking the Christians in Ottawa to give seminars for churches, para-church organizations, and denominational conferences, not only on how and what to pray for, but also on how to influence government policies through lobbying, letter writing, etc. An average of three dozen such seminars were offered each year outside of Ottawa by the PSCF and supportive MPs. Already by the autumn of 1983, this aspect of the PSCF's work had become so extensive that Ray Robinson could no longer carry on as co-chairman and he was replaced by Nick van Duyvendyk, an assistant deputy minister in Transport Canada who would now look after the 38 groups who were meeting weekly in 22 government departments while the other co-chairman would look after relations with these external groups. 46
This was also a time when major moral issues were being decided that encouraged Christians to influence the Government's proposed course of action through their network. Thus during the abortion debate of 1988-89 Christian MPs arranged for prominent pro-lifers to meet with the prime minister but the PSCFers briefed the delegation on how to make an effective presentation to him. Supportive pro-life letters were written by individuals from the churches and expert testimony from Christian doctors and lawyers against the gestational approach were used in strategically managed debates in parliamentary committees and the Conservative Caucus. Even though Bill C-43 was passed by the House of Commons before being lost through a tie vote in the Senate, it was an example of the growing deprivatization of religion in Canada. 47
Similar integrated campaigns were mounted over issues pertaining to divorce legislation (1985) sexual orientation (1986), rights of the unborn (1986), child care (1987), the Fraser Royal Commission on Pornography and Prostitution's recommendation for the decriminalization of prostitution, the legalizing of brothels, and anti-pornography legislation (1987), reinstatement of capital punishment (1987), Without necessarily identifying themselves as Christians, they also took their case on logical, rather than religious terms, into the media. 48
More often than in the past, MPs would be lectured by their Christian colleagues on their responsibilities to uphold truth, righteousness, justice and mercy. 49 Christians in Government endeavored to bring a morality and logic to the public debate more than a religiosity. When the Hon. Jake Epp was accused of letting his religion influence his attempts to restrict beer and tobacco adds he replied: "I've never used the argument that the body is the temple of God. That's not a valid point from the public point of view. ...I believe I have had an influence, often behind closed doors and sometimes just by my reputation." 50
The 1980s was certainly the high point of Christian activity in the public service as religion went public in its advocacy of righteousness in the country. The PSCF peaked in 1983 with 38 groups which shrunk to 26 groups with a total of approximately 1,000 members by 1989.51 All of these organizations, including the PSCF, MCF, and the Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast continued into the 1990s but their focus changed as newer ministries took their place in the nation's business. The more political activities of the PSCF were spun off in 1988 to a new organization known as the Christian Network that sought a more proactive and strategic means of influencing cabinet members without endangering the positions of apolitical public servants. It sought to inform and mobilize Christians in every federal constituency to become more aggressive and professional in their direct lobbying for changes in government regulations and legislation. It published and distributed information packets on how to lobby persuasively and effectively under the title of "Christian Networking: Building A Constituency." These packets were widely used during the lobbying by Christians to have Christian values reflected in the Canada Clause or Preamble to the 1992 Charlottetown Accord. 52 The first issue of the Canadian Christian Activist was published in December 1989 but the organization was unable to build the needed support in the constituencies to continue. More lasting has been the Centre for Renewal in Public Policy which was developed in the early 1990s by former PSCFers who recognized the need to present a well-researched conservative perspective on public policy issues through its Ottawa office.53
The Great Commission Prayer Crusade changed its name to Prayer Alert and, following the 1988 federal election, tried to organize its prayer chains on an electoral riding basis in order to have more direct and local impact. While prayer captains were found for most constituencies, the movement became overextended and found that it could not sustain itself. The original financial backers who had supported the staff necessary to maintain the prayer chains and publish Prayer Alert were unwilling to support the extra cost of the new organization and the anticipated donations from those involved in the ridings' prayer chains did not materialize. Moreover, those involved lost interest. When Campus Crusade for Christ established the Christian Embassy in Ottawa to work with parliamentarians and foreign diplomats it was expected that its staffers, rather than the PSCFers, would use their contacts to furnish the prayer requests. While this did happen occasionally, it was not as frequent as in the past and the follow-up was less direct because the requests were not as explicit. Gradually, Prayer Alert took on less of a national focus and reverted back to its original purpose of supporting the ministry opportunities of Campus Crusade.
The Christian Embassy, meanwhile worked very closely with a small group of Christian MPs, primarily in the Conservative Party, who received personal spiritual nourishment and became excited by participating in the Embassy's evangelistic ministry to government officials and diplomats in other countries. In Ottawa, successive directors of the Embassy devoted more of their attention to foreign diplomats which lessened their contact with PSCFers and the power brokers in Ottawa, especially after the 1992 federal election which brought a new group of Christian MPs to Parliament Hill through the Reform Party. In order to be effective in its primary non-partisan evangelistic ministry, the Christian Embassy chose to avoid any direct association with controversial public policy issues.
While social justice issues were not ignored by the PSCFers, they were secondary in their effort to influence government policy because there were already well- established channels operating for religious and government officials to interact on these issues. Representatives of the mainline denominations continued to make their representations directly to cabinet ministers on issues pertaining to social welfare, unemployment, international development assistance, disarmament, peace and human rights, but there were now more evangelical denominations and individual congregations joining with them in expressing their views. In the 1980s, the Government , on its own initiative as part of participatory democracy, organized regular consultations with religious groups on disarmament and human rights.54 PSCFers were not needed to facilitate such interaction with these special interest groups which now had well-established and officially sanctioned channels to the bureaucracy. Consequently, the PSCFers focused more on moral issues and enabling the more evangelical newcomers to participatory dialogue with the Government to gain access and confidence in making their views known.55
Once Christian organizations had established their own channels to the levers of government power, they no longer needed the PSCF and Christian MPs to open doors for them. This was particularly true for the largest and most outspoken group, the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada and its very active Social Action Committee. Its new executive director, Rev. Brian Stiller, quickly learned through PSCF tutoring how to access various levels of government, including the office of Prime Minister Mulroney. Representing over 100 evangelical organizations and 28 denominations, Stiller came to speak for a estimated 2.5 million evangelicals. He saw himself as "an "activist" in the fight to increase the clout of evangelicals. As editor of the largest subscriber-driven religious magazine, Faith Today, host of a weekly television show known as the "Stiller Report," and a presenter of a very popular public seminar on "Understand Our Times," Stiller brought a powerful voice for righteous government to Ottawa. 56 Through its publications, "National Alert" and "Sundial," the EFC had the means of generating its own prayer support and informing Christians across the country of what they needed to know regarding all government actions, including municipal and provincial as well as federal, followed by instructions on how to make their views known strategically. Thus, it was the EFC that organized the presentation to parliamentarians that became the basis for including Christian values in the draft Preamble to the Charlottetown Accord. 57 The EFC later opened its own permanent office in Ottawa to lobby the Government and to orchestrate interventions in cases before the Supreme Court.
At the close of the 1980s, as the EFC and other smaller groups of Christians made their appeals directly to the Government, the PSCF focused more on their original mandate of bible study and prayer for strengthening their individual and private witness as Christians within the bureaucracy. Christian MPs continued to interface as speakers with the PSCF but there was no longer a need for a coordinated network for public ministry. An era had passed. The most activist oriented leaders of the PSCF retired or left Ottawa and those who succeeded them had the same intent but rotated through the leadership every couple of years, thereby depriving the movement of consistency in leadership. There were new Christian newspapers and other channels for getting information to possible prayers and the Chretien Government was much less interested in facilitating the participatory democracy that Trudeau had championed and Mulroney had expanded.
What the PSCF had done was to enable Christians to come out of the woodwork and to gain respect from their political masters for how they worked and what they stood for in public affairs. By no means were all of their conservative cultural values enshrined in legislation, but their perspective on these matters and those of social justice did make it onto the table for decision-making. Without their networking, such values would not have received a serious hearing.58 Unlike the American religious right, that sought to organize for political warfare, supporters of conservative cultural values and righteousness in government in Canada had found a more direct method for influencing their Government through a sympathetic group of networked Christians within the bureaucracy. At the end of the 1990s the influence and interaction continues but it has found its own less conspicuous and more diverse channels through more proactive and supportive MPs. Perhaps one of the greatest legacies from this period was the bridging through the PSCF of the historical gap between those who focused on social concerns and influencing governments and those who focused more on personal piety and evangelism. The PSCF always drew support from across the multitude of denominational connections of its members. The three most prominently represented denominations among its members were three very theologically different denominations: Catholics, Pentecostals and Baptists.59 Because of their efforts, there seemed to be a greater respectability accorded by church leaders and government officials to those who boldly expressed their Christian concerns in the public square. And, thousands of Christians were now better informed about the workings of government on their behalf and their means for influencing matters of state.
2. See Robert Wuthnow, The Restructuring of American Religion (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1988), 65 and John G. Stackhouse, Jr., Canadian Evangelicalism in the Twentieth Century: An Introduction to Its Character (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993), 201.
3. See Jose Casanova, Public Religions in the Modern World (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994), 65-66.
4. See James Davidson Hunter, America Evangelism: Conservative Religion and the Quandary of Modernity (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1983), 113-14. There was, however, an important difference between the two. While evangelical Americans emphasized that their nation was founded on Christian principles, Canadians could make no such historic claims and chose to focus on the Christian principles of its leading figures who influenced the morality of Canadian public life and legislation. For the best example of this see Paul Knowles, ed., Canada: Sharing Our Christian Heritage (Toronto, ON: Mainroads Productions, 1982), 9,11.
5. See Matthew C. Moen. The Christian Right and Congress. (Tuscalosa, AL: University of Alabama Press), 65-80.
6. While one could find examples of James Skillen's 7 categories of political approaches found in the United States, it could not be said that any of them would be prominent enough to warrant independent recognition in influencing any substantial number of Canadian Christians whose political clout would be recognized in Canada. See James W. Skillen, The Scattered Voice: Christians at Odds in the Public Square (Grand Rapids,MI: Zondervan, 1990). The group that was closest to the Moral Majority in Canada was Ontario-based Renaissance Canada led by the Rev. Ken Campbell but it was disregarded in Ottawa because of the harshness of its ads attacking major political figures. Jerry Falwell of the Moral Majority visited Campbell in Canada in 1979 and wrote the preface to Campbell's book, No Small Stir: A Spiritual Strategy For Salting and Saving A Secular Society (Burlington, ON: Welch, 1980). See George Egerton's unpublished paper on "Trudeau, God, and the Canadian Constitution: Religion, Human Rights, and Government Authority in the Making of the 1982 Constitution" regarding the contribution made by Renaissance Canada. Renaissance Canada had more impact on the education system and abortion clinics in Ontario than it had on Ottawa.
7. In this sense Canadians did not fit the four postures of the political rebirth of Protestant fundamentalism in the United States. See Jose Casanova. Public Religions in the Modern World (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994), 157. For how differently organized Canadian evangelicals responded see John G. Stackhouse, Jr., Canadian Evangelicalism in the Twentieth Century: An Introduction to Its Character (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993), 170. There was, however, the Christian Heritage Party which was formed in the late 1980s in response to these challenges but it failed to make any significant mark on the electoral landscape.
8. See Brian C. Stiller, From the Tower of Babel to Parliament Hill: How to be a Christian in Canada Today (Toronto: HarperCollins, 1997), 68-71 for the main reasons for this change in outlook and cultural participation by evangelical groups. See also John Webster Grant, The Church in the Canadian Era (Burlington, ON: Welch, 1988), 231-34.
9. Similar organizations had existed in the military in Britain and the United States for some time but it was the close association brought on by the war that caused the Soldiers and Airmens Christian Association to form in 1939 in order to provide fellowship and to evangelize the Canadian armed forces during the war. While the return of so many of its members to civilian life after the war caused the Association to disband, the contacts made during the war persisted and in 1948 the Canadian Officers Christian Union was formed through the joint financial support of the British Officers Christian Union and the American Officers Christian Fellowship. In 1975 the Canadian OCU changed its name to the Military Christian Fellowship with a mandate to minister to all ranks. See Bob Fletcher, "History of the Military Christian Fellowship (MCF) of Canada" PSCF Newsletter, (March 1980), 4-5. and "Military Christian Fellowship" PSCF Newsletter, (January 1986), 3-5.
10. In Thompson's own words, "Canada, to fulfill her destiny, must be a nation under God." He believed that Christians should become a viable third force in politics either through their dominance over the leadership of one of the traditional parties or through a Christian political movement that would ensure social justice and liberty. See Robert N. Thompson, From the Marketplace (Langley, BC: Trinity College Press, 1979). 142 and 197.
11. See Robert N. Thompson, A House of Minorities (Burlington, ON: Welch, 1990), 123.
12. See Robert N. Thompson, A House of Minorities (Burlington, ON: Welch, 1990), 124.
13. See Ray Robinson, "Public Service Christians Join in Worship" PSCF Newsletter, (March 1980), 2-3.
14. See Globe and Mail (April 12, 1980), 15
15. See Leslie Dutton. "In govt. bible groups, even opposites attract." Ottawa Citizen, (May 17, 1980), 43. For a later version see "Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast unites political leaders for spiritual reflection." Ottawa Citizen, (April 29,1989), D20.
16. According to its own literature, "The Public Service Christian Fellowship is an organization of ambassadors for Christ in the public service. It is open to all who seek to find and make Jesus Christ Lord of their lives. As Christ's ambassadors, its members seek to reflect Christian attitudes and principles in their work. Believing that the Bible is the standard for working and living, the PSCF promotes Bible study, prayer and Christian fellowship directed toward the application of Christian principles in their workaday world in a way which will always glorify Christ." "Report on the Prayer and Business Meeting." PSCF Newsletter (March 1983), 1.
17. See "Getting Started on Your Week" PSCF Newsletter (November 1987), 4.
18. See Louise Crosby, "PS noon worship like 'spiritual gas station." Ottawa Citizen, (August 22, 1981), 50.
19. See Roger Appleton. "Action Line" Ottawa Citizen, (January 9,1980), 43.
20. Interview with Nick Van Duyvendyk, Ottawa, May 18,1999.
21. See Robert Douglas. "Witness Behind the Scenes" Faith Today (March/April 1987), 30-35 and interview with Diane Scharf, Ottawa, May 17,1999.
22. See Don Page. "Reflections from the Past to the Future of the PSCF." PSCF Newsletter (May 1989), 1-2.
23. See Heather McKenzie. "Demolition Led to Reconstruction at Agriculture Canada" PSCF Newsletter (September 1980), 5.
24. See the Letter to the editor on "Salute's spiritual message ignored" by Roy Rowe who signed a protest letter written by the PSCF (July 2,1981 p6) in response to Jacquie Miller's article on "More than 2,000 crowd Hill to see TV preacher's Canada salute" Ottawa Citizen, (June 22, 1981), 24.
25. Interview with Nick Van Duyvendyk, Ottawa, May 18,1999.
26. See Ray Robinson. "1981 Priorities" PSCF Newsletter (January 1981) 4.
27. See "Annual Report" PSCF Newsletter (June 1984) 2.
28. See "What's Happening. . . " PSCF Newsletter (September 1980), 6. Through widespread publicity initiated by several churches in Canada in June 1981, the situation was well known but there had been no breakthrough up to the point when some PSCFers became involved.
29. See Jean Blaquiere. "Greetings from the Mounties" PSCF Newsletter (June 1981), 5.
30. Interview with Diane Scharf, Ottawa, May 17,1999.
31. Although the message and the scriptural basis was the same, especially calling on the promise of 2 Chronicles 7:14, Canadians were not beholden to their American friends for their inspiration or activities. For a parallel American version see James Davidson Hunter, America Evangelism: Conservative Religion and the Quandary of Modernity (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1983), 113 and Matthew C. Moen, The Christian Right and Congress. (Tuscalosa, AL: University of Alabama Press), 38.
32. Thousands of copies of the leaflet "Praying For Our Nation And Those In Authority Over Us" were distributed by PSCFers to churches across Canada. It was also published in the PSCF Newsletter (March 1986) 1-3.
33. The purpose of the ministry was "to unite Christians of all denominations and organizations to pray for a moral and spiritual awakening throughout the world." See the Great Commission Prayer Crusade Prayer Handbook (San Bernardino, CA: Campus Crusade for Christ, 1975), 2.
34. See "National Prayer Chain Operating" PSCF Newsletter (November 1982), 1.
35. The PSCF segment of the prayer chain began operating in the Spring of 1983 but as a result of concerns expressed by the group at the Canadian Radio and Television Commission (CRTC) at a meeting of the PSCF executive, the requests were reworded as subjects to pray for without any direction as to how to pray. The CRTC group did not feel comfortable in passing on requests that suggested a desirable outcome or had an implicit political connection attached to the passing of a piece of legislation. No other group felt this way but out of deference to the CRTC group, henceforth the PSCF neutralized and generalized its prayer requests coming from the National Telephone Prayer Chain. See "Two Important Decisions at our May Sharing and Prayer Meeting" PSCF Newsletter (June 1983), 4-5.
36. Interview with John Reimer, Langley, June 3, 1999.
37. See John Gray, "Tories dragging of God into patriation row detestable: PM" Globe and Mail (April 25, 1981), 12. See also Robert Sheppard, "Tory plan would put God, family in preamble." Globe and Mail (January 22, 1981) 15. The PSCF carried a lengthy excerpt from the debate in its newsletter under the banner - "God keep our land glorious and free!" PSCF Newsletter (February 1981), 3-6.
38. See the report of MP, John Reimer's speech to the 1986 Vancouver Executive Seminar sponsored by Campus Crusade for Christ as printed in "Making a Difference in Today's Society" Canadian Challenge (Winter 1987), 10-11. For the best account of religious influence on these constitutional matters see, George Egerton's unpublished paper on "Trudeau, God, and the Canadian Constitution: Religion, Human Rights, and Government Authority in the Making of the 1982 Constitution." The only two legal cases thus far where the sovereignty of God in the preamble has been referred to are in two obscure cases: Zylberberg v. Ontario (1988), 52 DLR (4th) 577 (Ont. C.A.) at 593 and O'Sullivan v. Canada (1991), 84 DLR (4th) 124. In this last case, Justice Muldoon wrote, "The preamble to the Charter provides an important element in defining Canada, but recognition of the supremacy of God, emplaced in the supreme law of Canada, goes no further than this: it prevents the Canadian state from becoming officially atheistic. It does not make Canada a theocracy because of the enormous variety of beliefs of how God (apparently the same deity for Jews, Christians and Muslims) wants people to behave generally and to worship in particular. The preamble's recognition of the supremacy of God, then, does not prevent Canada from being a secular state."
39. It was the largest undertaking anywhere in the world in television satellite history, a 25 city live daily national broadcast with international relays of 90 minutes of Christian programming designed as a "Salute to Canada" and its spiritual heritage. The story of Salute to Canada can be found in David Mainse. God Keep Our Land: A Salute to Canada. Toronto,ON: Mainroads Productions, 1981.
40. Both statements were reprinted in the PSCF Newsletter (September 1981),1-3 and can be found in the Global Network Broadcast, "Salute to Canada," June 20, 1981.
41. See Warren Allmand, "What Canadian leaders say" in Christians in the Crises: Toward Responsible Citizenship. by Gerald Vandezande, (Toronto, ON: Anglican Book Centre, 1983),155.
42. Robin Richardson (Beeches) Progressive Conservative in 1979, Laverne Lewycky (Dauphine) New Democratic Party in 1980, Jake Epp (Provencher-Steinbach) Progressive Conservative in 1981, and Garnet Bloomfield (London-Essex) Liberal in 1982.
43. See Richard Gwyn, The Northern Magus: Pierre Trudeau and Canadians (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1980), 18 and 271.
44. This biblical model was also at the heart of the justification for the involvement of Christians that was espoused at the 1992 Regina Conference on Canada's Future sponsored by the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada.
45. See John Redekop. "What Christian leaders say." in Christians in the Crisis: Toward Responsible Citizenship by Gerald Vandezande (Toronto, ON: Anglican Book Centre, 1983), 194-96.
46. See "New PSCF Co-Chairman" PSCF Newsletter (November 1983), 1.
47. See House of Commons Debates (July 28,1988) 18153-62 for how the pro-lifers voted on the pro life amendment. For an earlier attempt during the Clark Government see House of Commons Debates (November 30, 1979), 1916-21 when a private member's bill was talked out.
48. See "An Issue That Rocks a Nation: Canada's vision should be enlightened enough to embrace both the rights of women and their unborn children" by Robert Nadeau in The Globe and Mail (August 10,1989), A7 regarding the Chantal Daigle case. An article that appeared as an op-ed piece in The Globe and Mail (April 26,1988), A7 on "The right to Life" by Richard Bastien was passed on to Prime Minister Mulroney through the PSCF and was reported by his staffers to have had a significant impact on the prime minister.
49. See speech by Jim Jepson from London: "As Christians, we must stand for our Christian principles of truth, righteousness, justice, and mercy, regardless of the cost. . . . The focus today with young and old is on rights which only promote rebellion! What is not stressed is responsibility which promotes revival. If responsibility was emphasized may I suggest that rights would no longer be an issue or problem. . . . We see a justice system that is being structured on the basis of fairness rather than justice. Laws based on justice and mercy are based on personal responsibility to a holy and just God. Laws based on fairness are based on personal rights which can and will only produce rebellion in a nation." This same argument was used by Jepson in the debate of the reinstatement of capital punishment. See House of Commons Debates (June 18,1987), 7309. Jepson had been introduced to this line of thinking through the Christian Legislators' Conference sponsored by the Bill Gothart Organization at its Northwoods Conference Center in Michigan in 1981 and was elected to Parliament in 1984.
50. Quoted by Bob Harvey in "Christians have right to lobby too, says MP." Ottawa Citizen (April 15,1988), H6.
51. See David Scanlon, "Community leader takes up new post in British Columbia." Ottawa Citizen, May 27,1989, H4.
52. See Don Page, "Participating in Constitutional Debate" in Shaping A Christian Vision for Canada: Discussion Papers on Canada's Future edited by Aileen Van Ginkel (Toronto, ON: Faith Today Publications, 1992), 77-80.
53. The possibility of such a research centre had been discussed at length by PSCFers Phillip Bom, Ian Shugart and the author in the early 1980s and its first two full time employees, Paul Racine and Greg Pennoyer, were former members of the PSCF group on Parliament Hill and two of its early directors were former co-chairmen of the PSCF. The PSCF as an organization, however, was not connected to the Centre. Because of their connections and that of one of its principal sponsors, former MP Benno Friesen, the Centre was able to work directly with the offices of MPs rather than through the PSCF.
54. See Robert Matthews and Cranford Pratt, eds., Church and State: The Christian Churches and Canadian Foreign Policy (Toronto, ON: Canadian Institute of International Affairs, 1982). PSCFers also participated in these discussions.
55. One group that worked equally hard on moral as well as social justice issues was Citizens for Public Justice whose Public Affairs Director, Gerald Vandezande, was at the forefront of several coalitions of diverse Christians lobbyists. Vandezande was equally at home with the General Council of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC), the social activists of the mainline denominations, both protestant and catholic, and the PSCF. See Gerald Vandezande. Christians in the Crisis: Toward Responsible Citizenship (Toronto: Anglican Book Centre, 1983) and Catalyst, the magazine of Citizens for Public Justice.
56. The fervor of his appeals can be seen in the book by Brian C. Stiller, Don't Let Canada Die By Neglect and Other Essays (Markham, ON: Faith Today Publications, 1994) and Critical Options for Evangelicals (Markham, ON: Faith Today Publications, 1991). "The days are over", wrote one reporter about Stiller's influence, "when the often-poor, marginalized evangelicals let the sin-filled world go to Hades while the righteous remnant waited for salvation in Christ's second coming." Douglas Todd. "The new face of evangelicalism" Vancouver Sun (May 4,1991), D13.
57. "Submission by the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada to the Special Joint Committee on a Renewed Canada" as printed in Shaping A Christian Vision for Canada: Discussion Papers on Canada's Future, ed. Aileen Van Ginkel (Markham, ON: Faith Today Publications,1992), 85-92.
58. Interview with John Reimer, Langley, June 3,1999.
59. Unlike the membership as a whole, Anglicans were the largest group comprising the executive of the PSCF but its chairpersons were consecutively an Anglican, Presbyterian, Christian Reformed, Pentecostal and Catholic. Interview with Nick Van Duyvendyk, Ottawa, May 18, 1999.