KNOWLES: The Limits of Religious Tolerance

Pastor Artur Pawlowski will not genuflect before the high priests of public health, and so Canadian police dragged him on his knees down a highway and threw him into the back of a squad car. The cops did not arrest Pawlowski at his church — the last time they tried that, the pastor and his congregation chased them out with cries of “Gestapo” and “Nazi” — but rather waylaid him on the street as he returned from leading the religious service.

“Law enforcement recognizes people’s desire to participate in faith-based gatherings,” the Calgary police insisted, “However, as we find ourselves in the midst of a global pandemic, we all must comply with public health orders in order to ensure everyone’s safety and wellbeing.” Canada recognizes the people’s “desire” to practice their religion, but not their right. When Christianity comes into conflict with the cult of secular progressivism, the state will side with the lab coat-clad bureaucrats over the cassock-clad priests.

Canada continues to disguise its persecution of Christians in the language of science. Officials in the United Kingdom, on the other hand, have admitted the fundamentally religious character of the conflict. In late April, police arrested a street preacher in London for causing “alarm and distress” by quoting allegedly “homophobic” verses from the Book of Genesis. And the putatively Christian Trent College near Nottingham recently fired its chaplain, the Reverend Dr. Bernard Randall, for discussing the differences between Christian and leftist sexual ethics.

“When ideologies compete, we should not descend into abuse, we should respect the beliefs of others, even where we disagree,” Reverend Randall explained. “Above all, we need to treat each other with respect, not personal attacks.” But Randall found himself the subject of just such personal attacks when he defended freedom of conscience against the sexual orthodoxies of the modern Left. “You should no more be told you have to accept LGBT ideology than you should be told you must be in favor of Brexit or must be Muslim — to both of which I’m sure you would quite rightly object.” The ideologues did not agree.

After Randall gave his sermon, Trent College’s “designated safe guarding lead” reported him not only to school officials, who fired him, but also to the British government’s anti-terrorism unit, which exists to protect young Brits from “radicalisation.” In the United Kingdom, the transgender ideology, which holds that men can become women simply by wishing it so, is considered common sense; the notion that men and women are different, radical.

But what happens when protected victim groups come into conflict? If a Muslim student quotes the Qur’an, which instructs, “Punish both of those among you who are guilty of [sodomy],” does he thereby victimize or stigmatize homosexuals on the basis of their sexual orientation? If the Muslim student faces criticism or punishment for quoting the Qur’an, has he been victimized or stigmatized on the basis of his religion?

Religious tolerance has limits, as liberals and leftists throughout the Anglosphere prove more clearly every day. Contrary to popular and hysterical fears of “theocracy,” all regimes necessarily recognize and pursue some conception of the good. Political correctness has promoted various slogans as euphemisms to just such an effect. Most recently it has exalted “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” and it has installed deans and vice presidents of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” on campus, in government agencies, and throughout corporate America to perform the sorts of religious and ethical functions once reserved for chaplains and the episcopacy.

Christianity has long been the most persecuted religion in the world, as the Pew Research Center demonstrated in 2018. That trend, once largely confined to places such as China and the Arab states, appears to be spreading to the West. Perhaps Christendom will stand up to defend the faith of its fathers. In the meantime, the religion of the martyrs returns to its roots.

The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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