{"id":604018,"date":"2021-07-27T16:06:47","date_gmt":"2021-07-27T20:06:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=604018"},"modified":"2021-07-27T16:06:50","modified_gmt":"2021-07-27T20:06:50","slug":"opinion-canadas-churches-are-burning-wheres-the-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/opinion-canadas-churches-are-burning-wheres-the-media\/","title":{"rendered":"OPINION: Canada\u2019s Churches Are Burning. Where\u2019s The Media?"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fopinion-canadas-churches-are-burning-wheres-the-media%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=604018&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-1234066971.jpg?w=1200&amp;h=800&amp;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Hundreds of thousands of Christians fled to Canada to escape religious persecution in Egypt, only to find the same irrational hatred lashing out at them in the West. On July 19, an arsonist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/watch-surveillance-footage-captures-woman-igniting-coptic-orthodox-church-in-canada-its-definitely-hate\">burned<\/a> down <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stgeorge.ca\/\">St. George Coptic Church<\/a> in Surrey, British Columbia.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMany of the members of our community immigrated here in search of safety from political persecution in our home countries, so it\u2019s difficult to wrap our heads around the idea of religious persecution in Canada,\u201d parishioner Steve Faltas <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/more-canadian-churchesburn-in-suspicious-fires-11627044714\">told<\/a> the Wall Street Journal. \u201cIt\u2019s a very difficult pill to swallow, to even think this is a hate crime based on our religious beliefs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The successful fire came just five days after video surveillance footage captured a woman attempting to set the church ablaze. Canada\u2019s Coptic population has \u201cmany questions about what the authorities did to protect our church, especially considering the attempt on the same church this past Wednesday,\u201d&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.stgeorge.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/CopticOrthodoxChurchDestroyed_in_Surrey_BC.pdf\">said<\/a> Bishop Mina, who oversees the Coptic churches of western Canada.<\/p>\n<p>The Copts, for whom persecution was a way of life in Egypt, are not the only ones whom modern-day Canada reminds of their lives under profoundly anti-Christian regimes. On July 4, someone <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/church-of-vietnamese-refugees-torched-in-latest-apparent-anti-christian-arson-in-canada\">set fire<\/a> to the Calgary Vietnamese Alliance Church, an evangelical church comprised of Southeast Asian refugees, many of whom fled Communism.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe escaped from Vietnam to come here to get more freedom, to live and we think it was a good country \u2014 and now it happened to our church,\u201d&nbsp;said Pastor Thai Nguyen. \u201cMaybe it is not safe to be here in Canada compared to Vietnam.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The fires are the latest in a string of at least <a href=\"https:\/\/www1.cbn.com\/cbnnews\/2021\/july\/number-of-canadian-christian-churches-vandalized-set-on-fire-rises-as-terror-campaign-continues\">45 cases<\/a> of church vandalism sweeping Canada. <a href=\"https:\/\/aleteia.org\/2021\/07\/09\/more-churches-in-canada-and-one-in-la-burn\/\">Ten<\/a> churches have been torched since June 21. In a familiar twist, the fires erupted as part of a media-fueled outrage after digging up atrocities from the long-dead past.<\/p>\n<p>For more than a century, the government sent indigenous children belonging to native tribes (now dubbed \u201cFirst Nations\u201d) to boarding schools. These schools, which were often run by the Roman Catholic Church, were supposed to teach them English and help assimilate them into Canadian culture. But the poorly supplied dorms were rife with physical and sexual abuse, and an estimated <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/07\/12\/us-media-shamefully-justified-a-string-of-canadian-church-burnings\/\">4,100<\/a> children died on their watch, often of disease. In May, officials found the remains of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/canada-lowers-flags-after-bodies-of-children-discovered-at-residential-school\">215<\/a> indigenous children at the site of a former residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia. In June, another <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/saskatchewan\/cowessess-marieval-indian-residential-school-news-1.6078375\">751<\/a> bodies were discovered on the grounds of Marieval Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan.<\/p>\n<p>These are not new or unknown deaths: They are long-forgotten graveyards. The Canadian government\u2019s Truth and Reconciliation Commission <a href=\"https:\/\/ehprnh2mwo3.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Executive_Summary_English_Web.pdf\">noted<\/a> that school administrators had buried children who died of disease in haste, \u201coften in poorly marked graves.\u201d When the schools shut down, the makeshift wooden grave markers decayed. What officials have uncovered is a cemetery, not a \u201cmass grave.\u201d One tribal chief said or Marieval, \u201cThis is not a mass gravesite. These are unmarked graves.\u201d Yet the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/05\/28\/world\/canada\/kamloops-mass-grave-residential-schools.html\">New York Times<\/a> (\u201cthe newspaper of record\u201d) and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2021\/05\/31\/americas\/canadians-mourn-mass-grave-childrens-remains\/index.html\">CNN<\/a> (\u201cthe most trusted name in news\u201d) both describe such areas as a \u201cmass grave.\u201d The reality is terrible enough without embellishment.<\/p>\n<p>Instantly, vandals began targeting Catholic and Anglican churches, sometimes scrawling \u201c215\u201d or \u201c751\u201d on the buildings. But soon, any Christian would do. Obviously, Coptic immigrants never had anything to do with the indigenous school system. Neither did the Vietnamese, or recently formed Pentecostal or non-denominational congregations that have experienced the wrath of modern-day leftists bound to exact revenge for a sin these parishes never committed.<\/p>\n<p>To their credit, tribal leaders have condemned the violence. \u201cTo burn things down is not our way,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/edmonton\/burning-churches-unmarked-graves-1.6087602\">said<\/a> Perry Bellegarde, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations. \u201cOur way is to build relationships and come together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>These church burnings are not the explosive rage of the descendants of those harmed; they express the Canadian intelligentsia\u2019s hatred of Christianity. Hearing of these acts of arson, the head of the B.C. [British Columbia] Civil Liberties Association tweeted, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/burn-it-all-down-civil-rights-official-reacts-to-burning-of-churches-in-canada\">Burn it all down<\/a>.\u201d Another attorney <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kwetoday\/status\/1411641001505177601\">tweeted<\/a>, \u201cI would help defend anyone charged with arson if they actually did burn things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite the unhinged hatred towards Christian houses of worship taking place in our closest neighboring country, the U.S. media have said virtually nothing about it.<\/p>\n<p>Fox News is an exception, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/media\/churches-burned-to-the-ground-in-canada-in-anti-church-hate-crime-wave\">having<\/a> run a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/world\/canada-church-fires-first-nation-residential-schools-graves\">number<\/a> of stories on their website. The highest-rated host on cable news, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/dark-days-church-arsonists-plunging-canada-toward-kristallnacht-levels-of-evil-journalist-warns\">Tucker Carlson<\/a>, interviewed Canadian <a href=\"https:\/\/video.foxnews.com\/v\/6262789520001#sp=show-clips\">journalist Ezra Levant<\/a> about the string of anti-Christian vandalism and destruction on July 8. <a href=\"https:\/\/video.foxnews.com\/v\/6263750316001\/\">Shannon Bream reported on the tragedies<\/a> on the July 15 edition of \u201cFox News @ Night.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, that stands in stark contrast to the left-of-center cable news outlets. A Google search appears to show <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=church+burning+canada+site%3Amsnbc.com&amp;client=safari&amp;rls=en&amp;tbs=cdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3A5%2F5%2F2021&amp;ei=eRn_YOGTHJi3tAaqsJzgDQ&amp;oq=church+burning+canada+site%3Amsnbc.com&amp;gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EANKBAhBGAFQgJwEWN-lBGDFqARoBHAAeACAAVaIAY8EkgEBN5gBAKABAaoBB2d3cy13aXrAAQE&amp;sclient=gws-wiz&amp;ved=0ahUKEwihtNaTyIHyAhWYG80KHSoYB9wQ4dUDCA4&amp;uact=5\">zero results<\/a> for the church arson story on MSNBC, but the network ran <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/opinion\/america-s-catholic-bishops-are-trying-punish-biden-his-stance-n1272035\">two<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/rachel-maddow-show\/catholic-bishops-take-provocative-shot-biden-s-direction-n1271884\">articles<\/a> bemoaning the fact that U.S. Catholic bishops are considering telling pro-abortion Catholic politicians it is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=1+Corinthians+11%3A29-30&amp;version=NKJV\">unwise<\/a> to receive Holy Communion while facilitating the mortal sin of abortion. Rachel Maddow also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/transcripts\/transcript-rachel-maddow-show-7-9-21-n1273681\">interviewed<\/a> Texas State Rep. Nicole Collier (D-95) on July 9, who praised local churches for organizing against the state\u2019s voter integrity law. Apparently, denying the vote to non-citizens and the dead is a greater atrocity than the mass persecution of Canada\u2019s largest faith community.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, CNN\u2019s transcripts <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=canada+churches+site%3Atranscripts.cnn.com&amp;client=safari&amp;rls=en&amp;biw=1415&amp;bih=732&amp;source=lnt&amp;tbs=cdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3A5%2F5%2F2021%2Ccd_max%3A&amp;tbm=\">don\u2019t record<\/a> any mention of the church arsons on television. By contrast, CNN\u2019s website has run <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2021\/05\/31\/americas\/canadians-mourn-mass-grave-childrens-remains\/index.html\">four<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2021\/05\/28\/world\/children-remains-discovered-canada-kamloops-school\/index.html\">stories<\/a> about the heartbreaking, but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2021\/06\/24\/americas\/canada-unmarked-graves-discovered\/index.html\">long-ago<\/a>, residential school <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2021\/07\/01\/americas\/unmarked-graves-human-remains-british-columbia\/index.html\">abuse<\/a>, and Jake Tapper <a href=\"https:\/\/transcripts.cnn.com\/show\/cg\/date\/2021-07-08\/segment\/01\">covered<\/a> the abuse story on July 8. Thus far, CNN has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=canada+churches+burned+OR+arson+site%3Acnn.com&amp;client=safari&amp;rls=en&amp;biw=1415&amp;bih=733&amp;source=lnt&amp;tbs=cdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3A5%2F5%2F2021%2Ccd_max%3A&amp;tbm=\">posted<\/a> only <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2021\/06\/29\/americas\/canada-church-fires-indigenous-land\/index.html\">one<\/a> story about the anti-Christian hate crimes \u2014 which may be worse than nothing. The second sentence describes the arsons as \u201cthe latest in a string of recent events affecting the country\u2019s Indigenous communities,\u201d rather than a string of arsons affecting the country\u2019s <em>Christian<\/em> communities. CNN adds, \u201cThe churches were destroyed as Canada confronts its history of systemic abuse of [i]ndigenous communities with the recent discoveries of hundreds of human remains at the sites of two former boarding schools, which were operated by Catholic religious groups.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That makes it sound like they kind of had it coming \u2014 a sentiment echoed by Canada\u2019s left-wing prime minister, Justin Trudeau. The Liberal Party leader began his condemnation of the arsons by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianpost.com\/news\/canadian-pm-trudeau-denounces-church-burnings-vandalism.html\">saying<\/a>, \u201cI understand the anger that is out there against the federal government and institutions like the Catholic Church. It\u2019s real, and it is fully understandable.\u201d Please don\u2019t burn their churches \u2014 but who could blame you for wanting to?<\/p>\n<p>And, as in the United States, the powers that be seem to indicate that they will take great pains to stop the arson, as long as rioters burn the \u201cright\u201d targets. If innocent brown people suffering PTSD from decades of persecution overseas are retraumatized, so be it. The arc of social justice bends slowly \u2026.<\/p>\n<p>The victims maintain their hope through supernatural faith and inspiration from the Word of God. \u201cWhile we are in shock and devastated by this loss, we hold firm to the belief that a church is far more than a building and we will come together as a community to rebuild,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stgeorge.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/20210719St-GeorgeCopticOrthodoxChurchPressRelease.pdf\">said<\/a> Fr. Bisenty Gerges, the parish priest. \u201cWe reflect on the words of the prophet Amos who prophesized the words of God saying, \u2018In that day, I will restore David\u2019s fallen shelter\u2014 I will repair its broken walls and restore its ruins and will rebuild it as it used to be\u2019\u201d (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Amos%209%3A11&amp;version=KJV\">Amos 9:11<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>The people of the West should also learn another verse from the Bible, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/verse\/en\/Ezekiel%2018%3A20\">Ezekiel 18:20<\/a>: \u201cThe son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Americans and Canadians must take that verse to heart before more of our cultural and moral capital burns. And the media must stop fanning the flames.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/watch-surveillance-footage-captures-woman-igniting-coptic-orthodox-church-in-canada-its-definitely-hate\">https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/watch-surveillance-footage-captures-woman-igniting-coptic-orthodox-church-in-canada-its-definitely-hate<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Ben Johnson (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/therightswriter\">@therightswriter<\/a>) is the Media Reporter at The Daily Wire.&nbsp;He previously worked at the Acton Institute, FrontPage Magazine, and LifeSiteNews. He\u2019s the author of three books, including&nbsp;<\/em>Party of Defeat<em>&nbsp;(2008, with David Horowitz).<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The views expressed in this piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em>member<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hundreds of thousands of Christians fled to Canada to escape religious persecution in Egypt, only to find the same irrational hatred lashing out at them in the West. On July &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1896073,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-604018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=604018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604018\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1896073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}