Faith a factor

May 27

You'd never know it by the headlines, but faith is a factor in this coming election. A recent poll by Ipsos-Reid says that 78 per cent of Canadians believe in God, 66 per cent of citizens identify themselves as Christian, and more than six million of us are so convinced about this we believe that God is the source of everything.

That includes government, and it means faith is what motivates us to vote. It's a response to care for the land that is so good to us. The ballot is connected to the Bible, because it's in the Bible we are told the government is God's servant, and the politician is a gift from God to do us good and we dare not ignore them. So I'll argue that voting is a spiritual response to the reality that millions of us have a God inspired conscience to care for the land.

First thing I'm looking for in my leader is integrity, and then I'm looking for the party I best feel protects my patriotic sentiment, "God keep our land, glorious and free." Those two attributes aren't synonymous and frankly I'm a voter who thinks both our glory and freedom are under threat in Canada. That threat is facing us in at least seven political areas: marriage and family, protection of children, religious freedom, poverty and homelessness, respect for human life, foreign policy. Health care and education are edge issues for me, they still are glorious, certainly not free, but I think this race may pander to those causes more than necessary at the risk of ignoring some critical questions.

Let's get the most obvious hot moral potato out of the way first: marriage. How often will we redefine marriage in Canada? I'd like a leader to answer that because more definitions of marriage will clamour for rights so where exactly is this taking us? I was glad Paul Martin opened his race with the question "Do you want a Canada that builds on its historic strengths and values?" Yes, I do and I'll talk with the candidates in my riding on where they stand on that as it relates to marriage, their answer will affect my vote. Today alone in my e-mail box I counted four national voting campaigns coming from Christian organizations supporting traditional marriage. Also, the Interfaith Common Ground on Marriage coalition recently held a Toronto press conference on the subject and no national media showed up. It may not be politically correct to admit this is an election issue, but redefining marriage is going to affect the way millions vote. Watch for it to be a sleeper issue that may never make the press, but it will knock out candidates.