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08 Jan 2019 ARPA Canada – Plans for 2019

Posted at 16:23h in Blog, Canadian Politics 0 Comments
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by Mark Penninga In our weekly staff call this Monday morning, I read from 1 Corinthians 3:11-13: “For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.” As we look into a new year with hopes, plans, and maybe also some anxiety or fear, we do...

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07 Nov 2018 Alberta NDP to add gender identity ideology into child and family services

Posted at 20:04h in Blog, Family, Sexuality 1 Comment
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Take Action: Send an EasyMail letter to share your concerns with your MLA   UPDATE: Bill 22, has now passed in the Alberta Legislature.   Alberta’s NDP wants to emulate the family laws of the late Wynne Liberal government of Ontario. As many Albertans already know, that’s not a good thing. Alberta’s Bill 22 is similar to Ontario’s Bill 89 (2017), which inserted gender identity ideology into the law for child and family services, which governs child protection agencies, foster care, and adoption. ARPA Canada has been informed of cases in Ontario in which a Children’s Aid Society interferes in a family because...

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17 Oct 2018 Physicians at SickKids discuss euthanasia for children

Posted at 23:24h in Blog, Euthanasia 0 Comments
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by Daniel Zekveld In 2015, when the Supreme Court struck down the law against euthanasia, it dealt another blow to the dignity of human life. Canadian law now glorifies death as an autonomous choice. As if the list of people eligible to receive death at the hands of doctors was not long enough, Canadians are already discussing extending euthanasia to minors. As if the list of people eligible to receive death at the hands of doctors was not long enough, Canadians are already discussing extending euthanasia to minors. In an essay entitled, “Medical...

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09 Oct 2018 Canadian governance: is optimism a thing?

Posted at 16:04h in Blog, Canadian Politics, Public Theology 2 Comments
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by Daniel Zekveld As a young Christian interested in politics, I have heard questions such as, “Can Christians really be effective in politics today?” or “How much influence can you really have?” Other Christians will comment to the effect that politics is a hard task, and that it is difficult to retain the Christian faith while being involved in our political system. As a new intern with ARPA, I was also asked by a classmate, “Doesn’t ARPA get discouraged by the number of cases they work so hard on, and then lose?” The...

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24 Jul 2018 Charities are free to do political advocacy, Ontario court rules

Posted at 16:50h in Blog, Canadian Politics, Justice and Freedom 0 Comments
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Implications for charities and potential charities Registered charities may issue charitable tax receipts for donations. That’s a big benefit for any donor-funded organization, if it can be registered as a charity. Canadian law says a registered charity can only engage in “political activities” that are “ancillary and incidental” to its charitable activities. Those activities will then be deemed charitable, since all a charity’s activities must be charitable. The Canada Revenue Agency sets a 10% limit on the portion of resources that a charity may devote to ancillary political activities. But on July 16,...

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04 Jul 2018 E-petitions, Ice Cream, and Blasphemy

Posted at 14:15h in Blog, Canadian Politics, Justice and Freedom, Public Theology 1 Comment
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by Mark Penninga Earlier this year, e-petition maker Citizengo.org posted a petition and call for a boycott in response to a Toronto-based chain of ice-cream stores called “Sweet Jesus.” More petitions like it quickly followed. It isn’t only their name that is blasphemous. The company mocks our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in their marketing, symbols, and even the names they use for their ice-cream flavours. The mainstream media, always on the look-out for examples of perceived Christian fundamentalism, were quick to pick up the story of the petitions and boycotts. TV networks...

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28 Jun 2018 Civil Disobedience and Courageous Leadership by Alberta Schools

Posted at 16:59h in Blog, Education, Family, Justice and Freedom 0 Comments
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by Mark Penninga Many of us are ready to disengage for the summer, leaving behind the stress of our regular lives. But before doing so, please take a moment to reflect on yesterday’s Alberta court ruling against the application for an injunction on Bill 24. This may sound like Greek, and largely irrelevant to you. But it isn’t. For starters, have a look just at page 1 of the decision. Look at the names of the schools listed in the court challenge. Do any of them look familiar to you? This may be the...

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19 Jun 2018 Post-TWU: A time for courage

Posted at 15:35h in Blog, Education, Justice and Freedom, Public Theology, Sexuality 0 Comments
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by Mark Penninga I’m often asked whether political and legal developments in Canada get me down. And my honest answer is that they rarely do. I’m often amazed and encouraged by the impact we can still have when we seize the freedom God has given us and take action. But I admit that last Friday’s Supreme Court of Canada TWU decision really hurts. It is a game-changer. I don’t think most Canadians realize just how profound an impact it will likely have on our most fundamental freedoms. At the risk of oversimplifying it,...

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12 Jun 2018 There are some things money shouldn’t buy, like babies

Posted at 15:44h in Blog, Family, Pre-Born Human Rights 0 Comments
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by Nick Suk (ARPA intern) Children are gifts from God, not products to procure or commodities to purchase. Procreation should take place within marriage, not through the deliberate fracturing of natural relationships. This biblical foundation is violated when a third party becomes part of the procreation process, either as a genetic parent (gamete seller or donor) or as a surrogate mother. These are live issues in Canada today. MP Anthony Housefather has tabled Bill C-404 to decriminalize commercial surrogacy and the sale of gametes. The intent of the bill is to increase the...

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28 May 2018 Handing over the keys to the State? The challenges of church as legal entity Part 3 of 3

Posted at 15:00h in Blog, Public Theology 0 Comments
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  An ARPA Three-Part series on Church and State in Canada By André Schutten and John Sikkema The church, says the Belgic Confession, is “a holy congregation and assembly of true Christian believers” that “has existed from the beginning of the world and will be to the end” and “is not confined or limited to one particular place or to certain persons, but is spread and dispersed throughout the entire world.” Yet in common parlance we use “church” to mean several other things. We may use it to refer to a certain denomination, or a...

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