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05 Feb 2021 Why is ARPA Canada Advocating for In-Person Worship Services During a Pandemic?

Posted at 15:07h in Fundamental Freedoms 0 Comments
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Those who follow ARPA Canada’s work will know that government-imposed COVID-19 restrictions have received a lot of attention from us over the last year. We expect this to continue into 2021 as we seek to intervene in a variety of court cases with a specific focus on the restrictions limiting or prohibiting in-person worship services. Almost a year has passed since the first lockdowns in March of 2020, and Christians in most of the provinces in Canada are currently forbidden by their provincial government from taking part in corporate worship. Through...

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25 Feb 2021 Webinar: Elder Care and Christian Political Advocacy

Posted at 14:46h in Elder Care, Events 0 Comments
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Topic: Elder Care and Christian Political Advocacy Co-Host: Word and Spirit Institute Date and Time: March 13, 10 AM PST | 1 PM EST Covid-19 has revealed existing gaps in elder care in Canada, and also created new ones. We will discuss the Canadian elder care context, lay out a biblical perspective on eldercare, and explain how to engage in advocacy on this issue as a Christian. Register for the webinar! Need help with registration? Watch this tutorial video. ...

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19 Feb 2021 Updates on Worship Service Restrictions in British Columbia

Posted at 11:56h in Fundamental Freedoms 2 Comments
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Update #1: Injunction Against Churches Dismissed Earlier this week, the Supreme Court of British Columbia denied the government’s request for an injunction against a number of churches in British Columbia that continue to carefully hold corporate worship services contrary to the provincial health order in accordance with their conscience. This is not the final decision in this court case. An injunction is a temporary court order designed to force a specific group of people to do or not do something until the court makes a final decision on their case. In this instance,...

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17 Feb 2021 ARPA’s Newest Policy Report: Educational Diversity

Posted at 17:38h in Education 0 Comments
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“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” ~ Proverbs 22:6 The central importance of Christian education in the life of Reformed Christians inspired ARPA’s latest – and perhaps long overdue – Respectfully Submitted policy report on the topic of Educational Diversity. God commands parents to raise their children in the fear of the LORD and to pass along the covenant promises to their children (Deuteronomy 6:7, 11:19, Joshua 4:7, Exodus 12:26-27). Reformed thinkers such as Louis Berkhof have...

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16 Feb 2021 Submission to Earthly Authority: Christian Freedom and Responsibility

Posted at 13:55h in Blog, Public Theology 0 Comments
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How comparisons to employment law and deference to office might help Christians better understand each other on church lockdowns and bring a sense of peace By André Schutten Over the past year, provincial governments in Canada have used their power to restrict to varying degrees the church’s corporate, in-person worship of God for the stated purpose of slowing the community spread of COVID-19. The multiplicity of public policy and legal issues arising from different provincial responses to COVID-19 has resulted in much tension and division within the Reformed community. I’ve tried to wrap...

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11 Feb 2021 Guest Blog: Praying for Pandemic Policy

Posted at 12:00h in Blog, Public Theology 0 Comments
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By Pastor Gerrit Bruintjes ARPA invited Pastor Gerrit Bruintjes to write a guest post to articulate the differences between Public Safety, Public Health, and Healthcare. Disentangling these three concepts can help Christians pray for the specific needs, tasks, and failures of specific government officials.   Pandemic response is incredibly difficult, and COVID-19 has given the world some unique challenges. This disease is highly contagious and affects people in different ways. Our leaders need our prayers as they wrestle with what is best for their communities. As we continue to pray, we can often do...

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10 Feb 2021 Haggai and the call to rebuild the temple: a case study in church-state relations

Posted at 12:35h in Blog, Fundamental Freedoms, Public Theology 0 Comments
6 Likes

By Colin Postma Canadians find themselves beginning 2021 under varying levels of lockdown. Across our country churches are wrestling with how to respond. The Bible seems to contain few practical examples of believers facing something comparable to our current scenario. However, over the Christmas break, I stumbled across an article about the story of Haggai and its connection to the book of Ezra. The story struck me as having particular relevance, or at least uncanny parallels, for the church in Canada today. I offer this reflection not to recommend a particular...

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10 Feb 2021 Online porn industry under government scrutiny – ARPA submits policy brief to Ethics Committee

Posted at 11:02h in Action Items, Gender and Sexuality 0 Comments
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The House of Commons Standing Committee on Information, Privacy, and Ethics is studying the question of 'Protection of Privacy and reputation on Platforms such as Pornhub.' As we discussed in previous posts (here from Dec 17th and here from Jan 27th), the December 4, 2020 New York Times exposé on the porn industry has brought a welcome level of concerned attention to the website and business model of Pornhub and the Mindgeek corporation based in Montreal. Parliament needs to address the fact that these sites host videos of violent...

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02 Feb 2021 Press Release: ARPA Canada Supports UN’s Stance that Disability Status is Not a Reason for MAiD

Posted at 13:58h in Euthanasia 0 Comments
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For immediate release from the Association for Reformed Political Action (ARPA) Canada February 2, 2021 OTTAWA, ON – Experts from the United Nations have released a press statement declaring, “Disability is not a reason to sanction medically assisted dying… Disability should never be a ground or justification to end someone’s life directly or indirectly.” These experts express “alarm at a growing trend to enact legislation enabling access to medically assisted dying based largely on having a disability or disabling conditions, including in old age… [and] concern at the lack of involvement of people...

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02 Feb 2021 COVID-19 Fact Sheet

Posted at 13:39h in Justice and Freedom 0 Comments
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Updated February 2, 2021 Information about COVID-19 abounds. Whether you are perusing the local newspaper, scrolling through social media, or talking to friends, COVID-19 dominates the discussion. However, all this information is rarely presented in a single place or presented in an easy-to-understand way. Sometimes, different friends or news stories may report very different facts. We have created this fact sheet and background research in response to the many questions and requests we get in regard to COVID-19. We hope it will be a helpful resource for individual supporters, parents, church councils,...

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