Many would call Canada the United States ‘ closest sibling, born of the same desire to go west and inhabit new lands for freedom. Not only do the two nations share a border, but they also tend to share the same ideas on legislation and policy on a significant number of things.
And so, it should be no surprise that the Coronavirus pandemic was handled in both nations much of the same way. Restrictions were put in place, mask mandates initiated, and businesses shut down.
So too, has the reopening of the nations been similar, with municipalities slowing opening their schools and allowing their economy to rebuild.
Churches, however, like in several parts of America, have had no such luck.
As in many liberally held cities in the US, more than a few churches in Canada have still been forced to shut their doors and meet online only.
Take Calgary, Alberta’s Street Church, for example.
Here the church has been shuttered for some time, with no end in sight for the lockdowns even though bars, restaurants, and other businesses of all kinds have been allowed to reopen.
And so, Pastor Artur Pawlowski has decided to buck the restrictions and open his doors anyway. Of course, this didn’t sit well with local liberal leaders, and so the authorities were called and an arrest made.
Yes, on Saturday, after holding a church service, police showed up and arrested Pawlowski for “organizing an illegal in-person gathering,” according to Fox News. Artur’s brother, Dawid Pawlowski, was also arrested, in the middle of a crowded street, no less.
YouTube videos of the arrest show police physically carrying both men to police vehicles, as it appears that both men refused to walk themselves.
Nearing the end of the video, as Dawid was being loaded into a police vehicle, someone, presumably, the videographer, can be heard shouting, “Shame on you guys. This is not Communist China. Don’t you guys have family and kids? Whatever happened to ‘Canada, God keep our land glorious and free?’ What are you going to do when they come for your kids?”
Canada, like the US, was built on the foundations of freedom and equality. And as they still find themselves still controlled by Great Britain, albeit loosely, with her sovereign also being the head of the church, religious freedoms and the sanctity of God should be a rather big deal. At least you’d think so.
And yet, while businesses nationwide have been allowed to open their doors, without limitations in some cases, churches and places of worship still find themselves under a very heavy thumb.
Why? Well, apparently, liberals don’t think too highly of God.
Instead, they seem to see themselves in that light, with all the power and all the rights to do as they please.
Pawlowski is just one of the few who has noticed and is standing up to those supposed powers that be.
In fact, this is not the first altercation he has had with local police on the matter of his church being open.
Last month, police entered his church during a celebration of the Passover and intended to shut the place down. However, Pawlowski, who was raised in Poland behind the Iron curtain and knows the atrocities of a totalitarian government, kicked them out.
He told them, “Nazis are not welcome here, out – and don’t come back without a warrant.” He continued, until they left the premises, “Gestapo is not welcome here. Do not come back, you Nazi psychopaths.”
Needless to say, the officers were driven off in defeat but clearly butt-hurt about being sent away in such a fashion. And so when this more recent opportunity for arrest occurred, they were all too happy to oblige.
Now, clearly, these law enforcement officers were just doing their job. The real problem is that some government leader decided that attending church or participating in worship is somehow no longer a God-given right, despite that Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, much like our Constitution, still says it is.
And if we are going to keep those freedoms, men and women like Pawlowski will have to continue to stand up and fight against tyranny. Let’s make sure they aren’t alone.