Conservative politics don’t align with teachings of Christ

By Letter to the Editor on April 5, 2019.

Personal religious convictions and the unwavering belief that conservative politics are a step in restoring Canada to a nation of Christ-followers is a fallacy, but it’s also a stance not easily separated in Alberta. Though Jesus Christ himself defined the two most important commands within Scripture as including loving your neighbour as yourself (Mark 12:31), we don’t. In truth, many Christ-followers simply cannot abide the thought of supporting their neighbour though they speak it on their tongue.

Our neighbours include all individuals identifying as homosexual or as anything other than cisgender as well as those identifying with their birth sex. It includes Indigenous persons and Syrian refugees, the poor, wealthy, sheltered, homeless and individuals living with mental illness. It includes oil & gas workers, foreign temporary workers, young workers, workers with disabilities and unionized staff.

The New Testament, the recording of Jesus Christ coming to Earth to offer unconditional grace in the form of His death for the sins of the world, culminating in His resurrection and ascension to Heaven, overrides the Old Testament. It does not give free license to anyone to lavish hateful attacks against their neighbour, especially not individuals purporting to identify as Christ-followers or those who attend church solely in order to gain votes from the so-called faithful.

The hatred espoused by the United Conservative Party, most recently the resurfaced homophobic comments made by UCP MLA Mark Smith in 2013 and supported by Mr. Kenney in the form of not removing MLA Smith from the UCP ballot, indicates that Conservative politics simply do not align with the teaching and instruction given humans by Jesus Christ. I posit that a vote for the UCP is akin to supporting hate speech and racist conduct within Alberta. This is not what Jesus would do.

Michael Plait

Medicine Hat

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