c. 2007 Religion News Service

CALGARY, Alberta _ Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has rarely talked publicly about his evangelical Christian beliefs.

And Lloyd Mackey, author of “The Pilgrimage of Stephen Harper,” says he understands why Harper stays quiet, even to sympathetic biographers such as himself.

Harper is one of many conservative Christians in Canadian politics, Mackey says, who have been striving to downplay the public’s fears about evangelicals being “scary.”

Mackey and other observers say Harper could suffer politically if he were more open in largely secular Canada, or publicly embraced the beliefs of his denomination, the Christian and Missionary Alliance (CMA).

“If Harper came out and said those who don’t know the Lord are `lost,’ (that they) are doomed, he’d be held up to ridicule,” said Bruce Foster, head of policy studies at Mount Royal College here.

“In a multicultural, diverse, relativistic country like Canada, that’s toxic stuff for most voters.”

Fewer than one of 10 Canadians consider themselves evangelicals, the religious stream to which the Colorado Springs-based CMA belongs.

However, the 48-year-old prime minister receives a great deal of support from Canada’s evangelicals, says his friend and former pastor, the Rev. Brent Trask, head of RockPointe Church in this oil-rich prairie city.

Trask said he believes the more than 2,000 evangelicals in his thriving church _ and most of the 2.5 million evangelicals across the country _ are enthusiastic supporters of Harper, who deeply explored evangelical beliefs before embracing them almost two decades ago.

Harper “didn’t just believe what he was told. He had to rationalize what he was hearing about Christianity. He wasn’t a blank slate. That’s the best way to come to faith,” said Trask, declining to say much more about Harper’s personal life.

Trask said Harper, as a “small-c conservative” on moral issues, encourages followers to help the poor through Christian charity rather than government programs, trusts in the free market and shares the evangelical belief that Jesus Christ is the only route to salvation.

As a sign of how evangelicals support Harper on policy issues, Trask last year joined a network of Canadian Christians in vigorously supporting Harper’s cancellation of the former Liberal government’s universal daycare program, in favor of handouts for parents. Evangelicals, Trask said, don’t want the state meddling in the sacred duty of raising children.

In the late 1980s, Harper shifted away from the mainline Protestant denominations of his youth and found a home in the CMA, which claims 2.5 million members in 14,000 congregations worldwide. One-fifth of its members live in North America, with Alberta a Canadian hotbed.

Since Harper moved in 2003 from Alberta to the capital in Ottawa, he has been attending the city’s CMA church, called East Gate, under the guidance of Pastor Bill Buitenwerf.

Mackey said the prime minister is a “cerebral” evangelical Christian who appreciates Buitenwerf and “speaks warmly of the influence” and intelligence of Trask.

Philip Goff, a religious studies professor at Indiana University-Purdue University who has written widely about the CMA, said the denomination holds to four foundational convictions, which emerge out of its belief the Bible is without error.

The CMA places an intense focus on the need for personal salvation and missionary activity, emphasizes leading a “holy” life, and encourages spiritual healing, Goff said.

The denomination also stresses that Jesus Christ’s return to Earth is imminent and those who don’t accept him as their Savior will be “lost” to suffer eternal torment.

In contrast to Canada’s legalization of same-sex marriage, CMA rules _ like those of other evangelical denominations _ strongly oppose same-sex relationships, describing them as the “basest form of sinful conduct.” Indeed, Harper launched an unsuccessful bid to overturn Canada’s gay marriage law.

The CMA is also tough on divorce and holds that Christians who have been adulterous do not have a right to remarry. The denomination’s leaders oppose abortion, euthanasia, and women in the pulpit.

Airing such beliefs in the U.S. would not cause many politicians much damage, said Goff, in part because evangelical theology is considered mainstream on the U.S. side of the border, and President Bush has set the standard for talking openly about religious faith.

But Notre Dame University’s Mark Noll, one of North America’s leading evangelical church historians, said that wouldn’t be the case in Canada.

“I suspect many Canadians would be upset to learn about the conservative beliefs of the Christian and Missionary Alliance,” Noll said. “They certainly are far less tolerant than, say, the United Church of Canada,” which allows gay and women clergy.

A 2006 Ipsos Reid poll showed the percentage of Canadians willing to vote for a prime minister who is evangelical had fallen 17 points in a decade.

Only 63 percent of Canadians said they’d vote for a prime minister if he were an evangelical, just below the 68 percent who wouldn’t hesitate to vote for an atheist or a Muslim.

It is hard for the Canadian public to reconcile Harper’s image as a highly rationalistic policy wonk with the conservative Christian morality and belief system of the CMA, said Foster, of Calgary’s Mount Royal College.

Some observers think Harper may be forced _ perhaps unwillingly _ to be more open about his beliefs, in part to boost sagging poll ratings. A July poll showed his approval ratings dipping below 50 percent for the first time.

“Harper is stolid. He’s solemn. The man is almost robotic. You can’t get a feel for the guy. And he must know it’s a problem,” Foster said. “If voters can’t get a sense of the man, then it’s no surprise his personal ratings have stalled, or worse.

“He’s the prime minister. Questions about his faith and personality are not going to go away.”

KRE/LF END TODD1,000 words

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