Albertans who want to separate from Canada cite various reasons for wanting to leave: economic unfairness, political alienation from Ottawa, conflicts over energy and environmental policies.
Add another reason to the mix: faith.
That is the message from the Alberta Prosperity Project, the group leading the effort for Alberta to leave Canada.
“This is a huge day for every Albertan who believes in faith, family, freedom and in Alberta’s right to chart its own course,” said Mitch Sylvestre, CEO of the Alberta Prosperity Project, in early January after Elections Alberta approved a citizen-initiative petition proposing a referendum question.
The organization now needs to gather about 177,000 signatures by May 2 to get an independence question on the ballot in October.
Tim Stephens, a longtime pastor of the evangelical congregation Fairview Baptist Church in Calgary, is getting a lot of attention for his views on faith and Alberta separation.
In February, Stephens organized an event at the church titled “For the Good of the City: A Christian Perspective on Alberta Independence.” A YouTube video of the event has racked up more than 28,000 views.
In an interview with Canadian Affairs, Stephens reiterated the economic, resource and political rationales for Alberta separation. But support for independence also reflects a deep spiritual longing on the part of some Christians in that province, he said.
This longing is shaped by what he says are four biblical principles: liberty, justice, vocation and belonging.
For Stephens, liberty means limited government, local authority, personal responsibility and property rights. This is compared to what he calls the “soft totalitarianism” promoted by the federal government.
“Christians have always been people who’ve promoted freedom,” he said. The federal government “continues to get bigger and bigger, becoming more intrusive into the lives of people. And that just hinders people’s lives … so people are just groaning for more freedom.”
By justice, he means that everyone should be treated equally — a concept he says is distinct from a socialist justice that seeks to redistribute wealth.
“Albertans feel incredibly taken advantage of,” he said, adding he feels that programs like equalization are unjust since they “try to achieve some level of equality of outcome across our country.”
Stephens believes that work is divinely ordained and that the hard work of Albertans in the oil sector should not be used to support people in other provinces through equalization payments.
“The labourers are worthy of their wages,” he said, citing verses from the New Testament. Money should not be taken “from those who have and given to those who have not,” he added.
Finally, like the nation of Israel in the Old Testament, Stephens sees Alberta as a unique place of belonging — a place that is different politically, culturally and religiously from the rest of Canada due to its support for traditional Christian and moral values.
“We have a much more conservative culture and values, and we want to see our families grow up in that,” he said.
Ultimately, he sees the separation debate as a competition between worldviews: one shaped by Christianity, the other by what he calls secularist and Marxist ideas. Through independence, Albertans can promote these Christian principles.
However, Stephens says there would be religious freedom for all in an independent Alberta.
“I think the Christian worldview is the best worldview,” he said, while adding that he also believes in the Christian principles of tolerance and respect for others.
“I think an independent Alberta will be good for everybody, not just for Christians.”
‘It gets attention’
Other church leaders say they disagree with grounding a separatist movement in Christian principles.
“For me, freedom in scripture means the freedom to love God and my neighbour,” said John Pentland, a minister at Calgary’s Hillhurst United Church. “It’s not just about my individual rights.”
Using Christian faith to promote separation “is very self-serving,” Pentland said, adding he thinks the number of church members who want to use religion that way is very small.
“But it gets attention,” he added.
For Pentland, faith is about promoting the common good for everyone — in Alberta, across Canada and around the world. “It’s not just about me, my family and my province,” he said.
As a well-off province, Alberta should be “gracious” about sharing with others, he said, noting that its resources “aren’t ours. They come from God.”
Jeremy Duncan, lead pastor of the evangelical congregation at Commons Church in Calgary, took a similar view. He noted Christianity should be primarily focused on advocating for people who are vulnerable and marginalized, not for political separation.
“I wouldn’t say that my faith tells me to push me to any kind of separatist movement,” he said.
Personally, he is very supportive of staying in Canada, due to his “deep gratitude for what Canada has provided me, including a space to practice my faith.”
Duncan has also not felt constrained by any “secularist agenda that is squeezing faith” or preventing Christians from practicing their religion.
“The reality of the separatist movement in Alberta is that it is probably overinflated … I think it is a very small minority who are talking about this.”
A Feb. 9 poll by the Angus Reid Institute showed 29 per cent of Albertans favour separating from Canada, while 65 per cent were opposed. The poll does not indicate the religious affiliation of the respondents.
Similar playbooks
Joseph Roso, an assistant professor of sociology at Ambrose University in Calgary, says pastors are unlikely to sway the vote to leave Canada.
“At the end of the day, support for independence is deeply underwater,” said Roso, who teaches sociology with a focus on the political activities of religious congregations and leaders.
What interests him are the similarities he sees between Christians in Alberta who are using their faith to promote separation and Americans using their faith to call for Christian nationalism in the United States.
“I’m seeing an encroachment of U.S.-style politics here,” Roso said.
“There is a similar playbook in Alberta” with the United Conservative Party and Premiere Danielle Smith, he said.
Sarah Bessey, a best-selling author and speaker about faith and spirituality who lives in Calgary, says there is not a Christian case for Alberta separatism.
“If people want to separate, they should simply stand on that belief, rather than hiding behind a pulpit or a cherry-picked Bible to justify themselves,” she said.
Every faith-based argument she sees from the Christians in the Alberta separatist movement “is pretty easily refuted from Scripture,” she said.
“One could probably make a robust counter case for unity, humility, service, care for the marginalized, honour for diversity, sacrifice, freedom, justice, and non-treasonous citizenship within Canada from the Scriptures more easily than the hermeneutical gymnastics that many Christian separatists do to justify their own desires,” she added.
Judging by the conversations she is having with other Christians in the province, “there is a lot of grief from fellow Christians that our public witness within the province and even the nation is being compromised by voices like this,” she said.
