colinnew
Canada is third on the list of Christian-persecuting Western nations under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s leadership.
According to a report published on January 31 by Family Research Council’s (FRC) Center for Religious Liberty, Canada ranks third among Western countries that persecute Christians for their faith.
“These stories are alarming and show the diverse ways Western governments – which ought to be the standard bearers for upholding freedom of religion and expression – are undermining the fundamental human right to religious freedom,” Arielle Del Turco, author of the report and director of FRC’s Center for Religious Liberty, said in a press release.
“This report serves as a warning about how basic freedoms can erode even in Western democracies,” she continued. “Religious freedom must be protected at home so that we may also defend religious freedom across the globe and stand up for the persecuted.”
The report, titled, “Free to Believe? The Intensifying Intolerance Toward Christians in the West,” documented 168 incidents of persecution or unfair discrimination against Christians across 16 countries between 2019 and 2023.
According to the report, the United States ranked first with 58 incidents of Christian persecution, followed by the U.K. with 43 and Canada with 36 cases.
The authors of the report admit that their work is “far from exhaustive” but does highlight “the factors contributing to Western governments’ violations of Christians’ religious freedom.”
The majority of the cases recorded in 2020 and 2021 were related to COVID-19 restrictions, as many church leaders were fined for holding in-person services during lockdowns or because Christians lost their jobs for refusing to take COVID-19 shots due to moral and religious objections.
The second theme seen throughout the past four years was Christians being fired, fined, arrested, or even imprisoned for speaking out against the LGBT or abortion agendas, as well as for praying or preaching in public.
During the COVID “pandemic,” churches across Canada were shut down as the government deemed them “non-essential.” Those who opposed the mandates and held church services were severely punished.
The report counted a total of 16 instances in which churches were targeted for holding in-person services. Perhaps the most famous case is that of Pastor Artur Pawlowski who arrested and jailed multiple times for protesting against COVID mandates and for holding church services.
In February 2022, he was arrested for the fifth time by an undercover SWAT team just before he was slated to speak at a Freedom Convoy protest taking place in Coutts. Pawlowski was then jailed for three months.
Additionally, the report listed several instances of Canadians who were punished for publicly condemning the LGBT agenda and quoting the Bible.
The cases included that of then 16-year-old Josh Alexander, who was suspended and then expelled from his Catholic school in Renfrew, Ontario, for quoting Genesis to combat LGBT ideology.
Despite being arrested for protesting multiple times, Alexander continues the fight, traveling across Canada holding protests against the LGBT agenda. He has now become a familiar face in the pro-family movement, with many recognizing him by his red “Save Canada” hat.
Another famous, or infamous, case is that of Alberta pastor Derek Reimer, who was forcibly removed from a public library last year after protesting at a “drag queen story time” event targeting children, at which he said “homosexuality is a sin.”
He was later arrested in March before being released on bail for protesting the event. Reimer was arrested again that same month after appearing to breach his bail conditions by protesting a new Calgary bylaw that bans demonstrations against “drag queen story time” or other so-called LGBT events at public facilities.
Notably, the report did not count the church burnings that have taken place across Canada since 2021. According to a map created by independent media outlet True North, 44 churches have been burned, while 52 others have been vandalized.
If these instances were counted, they would have placed Canada at 132, making it the Western country with the highest number of incidents of persecuting Christians.
However, Trudeau and his Liberals have repeatedly refused to condemn the church burnings or, indeed, any of the acts of persecution against Christians.
Instead, the state-funded CBC recently produced a video seemingly justifying the intentional church burnings.
Campaign Life Coalition’s Jack Fonseca told LifeSiteNews that “The fact that Canada ranks third among Western countries in terms of being most hostile to Christians is not at all surprising.”
“Justin Trudeau has turned the Liberal Party into a veritable hate group against Christians,” he added. “Through his oppressive legislation, policies and statements, Trudeau has revealed that he is the enemy of the cross.”
Fonseca further explained that Trudeau’s “conversion therapy ban” makes it illegal for pastors to “preach from the pulpit that Christ has the power to transform homosexuals and transgenders.”
Additionally, many experts have noted that the bill would seem to allow parents to be jailed for up to 5 years if they refuse to allow their young child to undergo a “gender transition.”
“I believe that Justin Trudeau is a sociopath who has spent the last nine years trying to build a totalitarian police state in which Christians will eventually bear the full brunt of his hatred for the faith,” Fonseca warned.
“We are at a point in time with the Trudeau regime’s hostility that is eerily similar to Adolf Hitler just before he seized total power in Germany,” he added. “Hitler made moves, just like Trudeau is doing, to change laws and regulations which would help bring about the fascist police state dictatorship that he craved.”
“Hitler seethed with hatred for Jews the same way that Trudeau now seethes with hatred for Christians,” Fonseca said.
