Wise Like Daniel

The current situation involving the jailing of Pastor James Coates of Grace Life Church in Edmonton, Alberta has divided the larger Christian community. Some believe, along with Coates, that freedom of religion rights under this country's Charter of Rights and Freedoms are being violated in Canadian churches with the imposition of crowd and other restrictions due to COVID-19. Conversely, many believe that no such violation has taken place because all the other churches in that city are allowed to hold regular services, albeit under the Alberta Health Services pandemic guidelines. Pastor Coates holds that any attempt to limit the number of people in his church or to inhibit the services in any way, such as requiring people to wear masks, is unconstitutional. A quick observation for the record: under Canadian law, at least on paper, Coates’s and his congregation’s rights are not being violated. The Charter considers it reasonable to impose limitations on such freedoms in emergency circumstances like a pandemic.

Background: Pastor Coates and his congregation have been holding regular open and unmasked services since at least December 2020 (one parishioner said they were doing it well before then), thereby contravening the COVID-related health restrictions limiting public gatherings, religious or otherwise. On several occasions he was warned against this and ordered, through the courts, to comply. He refused each time. The church was also fined $1,200 in December. The last straw was on February 14 when he led an unrestricted service with the police and an AHS official visiting the church. Coates turned himself into police two days later and was placed under arrest for non-compliance with health restrictions and breach of an undertaking. At a bail hearing, he was set to be released on the condition that the church impose the restrictions. He again refused and was taken back to jail.

I don’t think much of what Coates is doing. He's spinning this as a case of religious persecution. I would be on his side if he was being told what he could or could not preach but that is not the case. That has never been the case. Nor was he ever compelled by anyone to say or do something that violated his faith. The RCMP is on the record as saying their only concern is with Coates’s repeated and open flouting of the law as regards the AHS restrictions and the court orders he was given. It’s notable that all the other churches in the area have conducted their services without interference and have made them work with the restrictions. A little inconvenient, perhaps, but they are conducting them just the same.

If Christians are willing to investigate, there are some related lessons to be learned from the prophet Daniel. When he was forbidden to pray to anyone but the king for 30 days, he disobeyed. He was not one to compromise on the proper worship of God. Yet, he did compromise on something else once. At the beginning of the book that bears his name, Daniel refused to eat the king’s food and drink the king’s wine that was provided for him and the other exiles who were being pressed into the king’s service. They felt it would defile them before God. This upset the king's steward because he could lose his own head if the exiles weren't properly nourished. However, instead of boycotting all meals from the king or standing on his inalienable rights as a human being, Daniel said to the steward, “I’ll tell you what. Give my friends and me vegetables and water and see how healthy we are after ten days”. The steward agreed and after ten days, Daniel and his friends were in excellent condition and the steward was greatly relieved. Daniel didn’t stubbornly refuse to eat all food from the king, just the food that was forbidden by his faith. He made a wise compromise. In that same spirit, most Alberta churches said, in effect, to the government, "Tell you what. We'll obey the guidelines you set in restricting the number of people and wear masks and physically distance without changing the content of our services even if we have to run multiple ones." Premier Jason Kenney, Dr. Deena Hinshaw and the health police were satisfied and even encouraged. That was a wise compromise.

The Scriptures tell us that Daniel had "an excellent spirit". To be sure, there were lines he wouldn't cross. However, he also knew how to not only get by in a pagan society, but to thrive in good conscience in one, to the benefit of many. He understood that accommodation can sometimes be a good thing and is not always a betrayal of godly values. In this day of post-modernism where we're told we can't know anything for sure and that truth is a personal construct, this kind of discernment should be preferred and applied over knee-jerk resistance and a troubling lack of concern for the welfare of others.