Marci McDonald's The Armageddon Factor - Review by Ron Dart

Marci McDonald, The Armageddon Factor: The Rise of Christian Nationalism in Canada, Random House Canada, 2010. Review by Ron S. Dart

See also Douglas Todd, "War of words explodes as Armageddon Factor hits bookstores," The Search - Vancouver Sun, May 22, 2010 [note: Todd quotes Ron Dart as John Dart].

How did Canada, in the last two decades, become transformed to a significant extent, into a republican nation? What has been the nature of our national journey that has dashed the historic Canadian High Tory-Liberal tensions and clashes, so well depicted in Robertson’s Davies The Papers of Samuel Marchbanks, into a plaything and centre fold for American republican conservatism? And, equally important, what are the organizations, leaders and hot button issues in the culture wars that define, shape and animate the right of centre rise and development of Canadian Christian nationalism? The Armageddon Factor: The Rise of Christian Nationalism in Canada, by Marci McDonald, answers such questions in a poignant, probing and searching manner. This is a must read tome (400 pages plus) for those interested in how a type of Christian nationalism has come to define Canadian nationalism in a distinctively republican manner, and the implications of such a shift for the Canadian soul and politics.   

McDonald opens the door on this hefty book with a ‘Preface’ and historic warning for Canadians on her experiences in the USA as a journalist. Many Canadians were more amused than alarmed at the rise of the religious right in the USA in the 1970s-1980s. The religious ethos that cheered on Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority and smiled on Tim LaHaye, Pat Robertson and Ralph Reed, and some thought brought Ronald Reagan to power in 1984, could never happen in Canada. McDonald had seen this drama play itself out across the border, and she heard those who thought such a thing could never occur in Canada. But, history has an uncanny way of repeating itself, and Canadians are not immune to such republican fervor and fever. How did Harper manage to form a minority government twice, and who are the many troops that have brought such a political General to power?

There are eleven well fleshed out chapters in The Armageddon Factor, and to these I will now briefly turn to unpack McDonald’s wide reaching argument.

‘God’s Dominion’ (chapter 1) opens with the large ‘TheCRY’ event at the Parliament Buildings in 2008. Faytene Kryskow led her young disciples to cry out to God for the reformation of Canada, and to turn Canadians back to the Christian origins of the Dominion. ‘TheCRY’ is an echo of the ‘TheCall’ in the USA. Both events drew thousands to the centre of power to urge their leaders to reverse decades of secular liberalism. ‘4MYCanada’ (Kryskow’s child) has a notion of what God’s Dominion should look like, and she and clan are bent on guiding Canadians to such a place. McDonald notes that many Roman Catholics and Evangelicals have joined affectionate hands to challenge the drift of secular humanism in Canada, and Stephen Harper has, judiciously, tapped into such a resource. McDonald tracked Harper’s religious journey from a disenchanted United Church origin to the large American style Alliance mega churches of the Rick Warren and Bill Hybels variety in Calgary. Harper’s turn to a much smaller version of the conservative evangelical way in Ottawa still remains connected to a version of how God’s Dominion will unfold at a variety of ethical levels. Harper’s agenda is furthered unpacked by pondering his connection to Preston Manning, Civitas and the National Citizens Coalition. Other groups such as Focus on the Family, Ted Byfield, Charles McVety, Evangelical Fellowship of Canada and Campus Crusade for Christ are mentioned. More and more dots are connected as page after page is turned.  Obviously, Pro-Choice, alternate family values and supporters of Gay Rights are seen as questionable allies. ‘Faith, Family and Freedom’ become the new trinity for the return to the Dominion in all its pristine purity.

‘Coat of Many Colours’ (chapter 2) touches on the many colours of the evangelical clan: Stiller’s former stint with Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, Ken Campbell’s Renaissance Canada, Mulroney’s ‘God Squad’ (Stiller, Jake Epp and Benno Friesen), McVety’s Canadian Christian College, Hagee’s Christian Zionism, Rushfeldt’s Canadian Family Action Coalition, Tristan Emmanuel’s Equipping Christians for the Public Square, Gwen Landolt’s REAL Women and Joseph Ben-Ami’s Institute for Canadian Values form part of the network of interlocking connections.   The issue of abortion and same sex marriage has united social conservatives across the right of centre religious spectrum, hence social conservatives are not just from the Christian tradition: Jews, Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus are now on board. McDonald, to her credit, does make distinctions between a more moderate and centrist approach on the right and a more aggressive and confrontational style. Distinctions do need to be made if the religious right is to be properly understood. There is, in short. a plurality of colours on Joseph’s coat, and these colours do need to be noted, even though it is the same political and ideological coat.

‘Serpents and Doves’ (chapter 3) walks the curious reader into the complex world of Preston Manning and his journey within Albertan republicanism to the halls of power in the Reform and Alliance parties.  The Manning Centre for Building Democracy is now part of the right of centre think tanks in Canada, and much that Manning has learned in his religious and political odyssey is embodied in the institution. The earlier clashes between Manning, Day and Harper have been mended and patched over for predictable reasons, and Manning, now the reigning patriarch of the republican right, does his mature deed of guiding young religious and political zealots, to be as patient and subtle as serpents and harmless as doves (never an easy task to accomplish). Again, McDonald, to her sleuth like credit, connects all the dots. The family compact is brought on stage, and Manning is portrayed as the wise father of the family. Manning’s many moves and alliances into a variety of areas are tracked and traced in ‘Serpents and Doves’, and it is obvious he is much more moderate than many within the Canadian republican family both in tone and content.

‘Watchman on the Walls’ (chapter 4) leads the interested into the National House of Prayer in Ottawa (run by Rob/Fran Parker), the American origins of such a movement, and the beginnings of Watchman for the Nations by Bob Birch and Bernice Gerard.  Both the National House of Prayer and Watchman for the Nations originated in British Columbia, and both, although denying partisan politics, use the language of prayer and worship, Biblical texts and prophetic language, to serve the republican agenda. The ‘Apostolic Reformation’ movement of Peter Wagner in the USA has done much to shape and inform these groups, and Jason Kenny has affirmed the ideas of David Demian from Watchman for the Nations on a variety of issues. The metaphor cannot be missed. Such organizations see themselves as watching over the Canadian way to ensure the Dominion returns to God’s sound and sure path. Needless to say, questions do need to be asked if God can be equated with selective ethical issues in the culture wars and republican politics.

‘Rocking the Vote’ (chapter 5) is a fascinating overview of the Alice in Wonderland world of the Christian charismatic and Pentecostal traditions and their interpretation of texts and experiences into republican nationalism.

Many of the young and naïve are called forth in this chapter and events like ‘Acquire the Fire’, organizations like Teen Mania Canada and ‘4MyCanada’ are front staged. Faytene Kryskow is again the lead actress as a self proclaimed ‘modern day Joan of Arc’. Self flattery and modern day messiah complexes are certainly not absent within such a clan, and, to make the brew more heady, McDonald has demonstrated how Stockwell Day has been an essential player in this drama as he has in the renewal of populist republicanism in Alberta and Canada. The tale becomes more intriguing when McDonald, Sherlock Holmes like, touches on the surreal charismatic world that Kryskow has called home: Patricia Cocking, Todd Bentley, Stacey Campbell and other ‘extreme prophets’ from the charismatic movement. Needless to say, most conservative and moderate evangelicals would take a wide berth around such emotive and erratic types, but Stockwell Day, unlike the more staid Preston Manning and rational Stephen Harper, has been their shepherding father. Even David Mainse (100 Huntley Street) has stepped into the fray and become a keen supporter of Kryskow. The nationalism of such types tends to be paper thin and historically questionable, but historical depth and accuracy means little to self styled Joan of Arcs, Spirit filled Christians and devotional romantics. The hope is that the vote will be rocked by the energetic youth in ‘4MyCanada’ in a way that is decidedly republican.

‘In the Beginning’ (chapter 6) flies, straight as a well fired arrow, to the bull’s eye of the creation-evolution debate. McDonald, yet again, does her homework well, and she examines why and how the debate so polarizes many and draws in the newest act in this play, Intelligent Design. Interviews are done with those that represent all sides of the debate, and the fire does burn bright and hot on this issue. The predictable themes and script in the culture wars do ever unfold before McDonald’s watchful eyes.

‘Raising the Joshua Generation’ (chapter 7) moves from the creation-evolution debate into the battle over education and schooling. Public schools have failed the young, hence the rise of private and home schooling. There is no doubt that the politics of education is a vital part of reclaiming the public square. The debate over the teaching of ‘Social Justice 12’ in the public schools has divided many a Canadian. The gay issue is front and centre in such a dustup. The controversial Corren decision is at the core of the ire. Conservatives in Canada have become increasingly suspicious of the drift and direction in modern education, and McDonald makes clear why universities like Trinity Western University and Laurentian Leadership Centre (a spin off from Trinity) have captured the ethical imagination of many. The merging of religion, family and education are part of the political process of reclaiming God’s Dominion in Canada, and McDonald has demonstrated how and why this is the case in ‘Raising the Joshua Generation’. Again, McDonald highlights the close affinity between the American and Canadian nationalist right of centre tradition.

‘The Electronic Pulpit’ (chapter 8) makes it abundantly clear that the media is also central to reinvigorating the conservative cause. The journey from being refused acceptance by CRTC to being part of a variety of media possibilities is now the ground gained by the religious right. 100 Huntley Street, Miracle Channel and It’s a New Day have won their stripes, and now have the right to be seen on television by a large donor base.  The media war has been won on certain fronts as a firm No to much that passes as entertainment.          

‘Judgement Day’ (chapter 9) turns to the courts, law and the way the language of human rights is used to further the liberal agenda. The opposition and resistance by the Christian nationalists to the takeover of the courts by liberals are duly unpacked and described. The agenda of ‘Christian Legal Fellowship’ in Canada is connected to the larger American version of the same bent. McDonald, to her credit once again, makes the distinction between the more moderate nationalist reformers and the flame throwers that brook no opposition to their theo-con and reconstructionist mandate for the Dominion.

‘The Armageddon Factor’ (chapter 10) brings to a close the underlying way of thinking that often animates and drives such conservative evangelicals and fundamentalists on Middle East foreign policy issues. The dispensational theology initiated by Darby, fleshed out in the Scofield Bible and warmly embraced by the Christian Zionists leads to an uncritical support for the state of Israel. Such a position, also, affirms the notion that history is moving into its last and catastrophic days.  The Christian Zionist tradition in Canada is at work at the highest level of political thought, and at a more popular level: Dimant’s B’nai Brith, Hagee’s Christians United for Israel, Tweedie’s Christians for Israel International, McVety’s Canada Christian College, Hedding’s International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem and Stockwell Day’s Zionist leanings have done much to make Harper’s position one of the most pro-Zionist in Canadian history.  The henny-penny mentality cannot be missed in such doomsday Zionist keeners.

‘Here to Stay’ (chapter 12) brings the well researched tome to a fitting close. The Christian nationalists in Canada should not be dismissed as a cloud that will soon fade and pass. The main thesis in The Armageddon Factor is that the republican right has now, brick by brick, put in place think tanks, organizations, educational institutions, media mansions, creationist museums and a new generation of lawyers and publishing companies that will last long after Harper descends from the throne. In short, the tribe is here to stay. The question, therefore, is what is to be done?

The strength of The Armageddon Factor is the way McDonald has described, in intricate detail, the nationalist family tree, multiple American-Canadian connections and how God’s Dominion might be formed into a Biblical=republican agenda. Many of the liberal mandarin class will purr with ample pleasure at the way McDonald has clarified the agenda and the implications of it for Canadians. A few questions do need to be asked by way of concluding this review, though. First, could McDonald have been more nuanced and subtle in distinguishing the many colours on the evangelical coat? Many evangelicals, for example, would be quite wary of the Armageddon agenda that the populist right is so dazzled by. There is, also, a wide range of positions taken by evangelicals on the hot button issues in the culture wars. Second, The Armageddon Factor does a meticulous job of isolating and describing significant aspects of the evangelical republican tribe, but a deeper theological, exegetical, cultural, ethical and political analysis is needed to unpack the reasons for such positions taken. Third, The Armageddon Factor could have been made stronger by demonstrating that there is in Canada a distinctive High/Red Tory tradition that is thoroughly nationalist, but such a tradition would have little in common with the modern versions of conservatism and nationalism that are merely echoes of American nationalism. There is a worrisome sense in which the nationalist republicans that McDonald describes are Canadian colonials that are merely importing American models into Canada. The irony is this. The earliest form of conservatism in Canada was deeply suspicious of the USA, whereas modern Canadian conservatives genuflect to their imperial masters. McDonald could certainly have raised this argument to highlight the contradictions between, for example, George Grant’s Lament for a Nation and Ernest Manning’s Political Realignment. 

I have taught at the University of the Fraser Valley in the Department of Political Science/Philosophy/Religious Studies since 1990. The Fraser Valley is often viewed as the Bible Belt of BC, and Abbotsford (where I live) has been called the buckle of the Bible Belt. All of the points that McDonald has dared to raise have been played out, again and again, in the Fraser Valley, and I have had too deal with such challenges for two decades (not always easy for a boy that was raised in Toronto). The task when facing such an ideological position is never to uncritically hold high the liberal agenda as an alternate nor genuflect to the republican way as the answer. The dialogue between classical Canadian Toryism and Liberalism needs to be again resumed rather than pitting one ideological agenda against the other. This, I fear, leads to the dialogue of the deaf that dominates the tribal solitudes of our time.  

There can be no question that The Armageddon Factor is an A++ keeper of a tome. The book threads together, in the finest way, the varied challenges to Canadians by an American form of republicanism Do read this probing primer on a most timely of topics, then enter the fray at a more demanding  dialogical level. The future of Canadian nationalism hinges on how Canadians deal with the newest phase of Puritanism.  

 

Ron Dart

Department of Political Science/Philosophy/Religious Studies

University of the Fraser Valley

Abbotsford, BC                           

Comments

[Brad]

Yes, Logan, please feel free to use this thread conversationally. Your comments on Clarion have always been thoughtful.

Re: my comment about 'make sure we're not like what she says,' what I was attempting to say might have been better unpacked this way:

Marci might very well be accurately describing a trend in Canadian evangelicalism towards greater political leverage in Ottawa as a lobby group for right wing politics.

IF SO, then either we need to ask, 'Why is that a problem?' Christian people should take their values into the public domain and impact their world ... think of Wilburforce in the UK or MLK in the US. Absolutely nobody enters the public fray values free and Christians should not be expected to either. We certainly ought to be asking how we can be a prophetic voice that challenges (without apology) our culture, our government and our religious systems to do justice and love mercy in the land.

On the other hand, I am personally concerned when the Canada-US prayer movement connections become a gateway for Republican policy to identify itself as Christian per se and then push its agenda through us into Ottawa. Canada used to carry an intentionally alternative and sovereign vision for just society in North America which continues to slip away. I'm afraid we're too vulnerable to the secondary influence of the Glenn Becks and Rush Limbaughs south of the border and we're too forgetful of our own public prophets from Tommy Douglas to Bruce Cockburn ... and what the word of the Lord was that they actually proclaimed.

BUT (and here was my original intent) if Marci's critics BELIEVE that she is wrong in how she's represented the evangelical right in Canada, then I would encourage those critics to lead the way in proving her wrong, not just by defensive or angry backlash against her book, but by double-checking both who we are behind the scenes and up front in public (whether in the pulpits or the papers). I'm sad that so many of the comments against her book have so powerfully confirmed her suspicions, because as a movement, I think we're better than that.

[Deb]

"...The Armageddon Factor does a meticulous job of isolating and describing significant aspects of the evangelical republican tribe, but a deeper theological, exegetical, cultural, ethical and political analysis is needed to unpack the reasons for such positions taken."

The reasons for such positions taken... that stands out for me.

[Logan Runnalls]

"but I would say that the book is a good look in the mirror and if we're NOT like what she says, we should MAKE SURE we're not like what she says,"

I don't know what that means. "like" as appearance or reality?

is it all right to use this comment system conversationally?

[Brad]

I was at a 'prayer movement' event a while back and during the flow of the evening I did experience some of what Marci is addressing. The host made some sarcastic comments about 'the Charter of Wrongs' and was quite openly Zionistic (in the sense that for us to be repentant about anti-semitism, Canada's national foreign policy should be supportive of contemporary Israel's domestic policy.

I was also privy to the political lobbying married to some national intercessors' groups when it came to the gay marriage issue. I think overall, this is Marci's basic research and follow-up question: She demonstrates that the evangelical conservative / charismatic prayer movements have occasionally made it their aim to be political lobbyists in Ottawa and use their prayer networks to rally the masses to pressure Parliament re: moral issues in order to legislate Christian values. That's simply a fact. The question then is whether that's appropriate or not.

While I would like the church to have a prophetic voice when it comes to the state, there are also some obvious reasons why a united Christian stake can be problematic:

1. The Canadian Conservative prayer movement has many relational ties to the American Evangelical prayer folks, who are in bed with American Republican organizations. I would think we need watchmen to resist the power of American Republican capitalist agendas rather than opening the gate for them.

2. If the Canadian evangelicals want to erode a hard won secular state committed to religious freedom by taking territory for religious agendas in parliament, we are demographically on the way, not to a Christian state, but ultimately, an Islamic one. Watch Europe.

3. I would like to see us have some measure of public involvement in the tradition of Wilburforce with the abolition of slavery. But when the prayer leaders took on gay marriage as a political battle, it appears to me that Christianity in Canada took on a new and uglier face that finally defined us as 'those who are against.' Moreover, in loosing that battle, innumerable faithful 'prayer warriors' found themselves despairing of the effectiveness of prayer or else pronouncing judgments on the nation or on the laxity of God's people. Something went horribly sideways across the board, not least of which is our failure to be people who bear good news.

Marci's research was very extensive. Five years as far as I'm aware and included not only countless hours of face to face interviews with 'the players,' but also attendance at prayer functions where she was at times offered (and received) prayer and at others, treated as a pariah. She personally gave me four hours to clear up what I felt were factual errors on one of her story lines.

I'm not saying she's always right or always fair, but I would say that the book is a good look in the mirror and if we're NOT like what she says, we should MAKE SURE we're not like what she says,

bj

[victor]

My dear Church

My dearest Church

you mustn't be offended

My dearest Bride

you only need to take a sincere look at Yourself with Me.

telling You the Truth.

You only need to sit with Me a moment.

[Logan Runnalls]

hmmm. My response to the review is that I am both intrigued and suspicious of this book. The book appears to view the topic in a simplistic manner. I am curious what it means to be a "well researched tome." That it there is a breadth in the material is not the same as depth or understanding of the topics.

I have some knowledge of Watchmen for the Nations and whatever flaws the organization might have they are not nationalistic. Their concern is for the Church of Canada not the State of Canada. check out http://www.watchmen.org/Journey/index.asp

The apparent misread of the Watchmen leads me to suspect all the research as merely superficial.

The fallout from a book that is overly simplistic should be (tragically) obvious. There will be many Evangelicals who feel carelessly misrepresented and take a defensive or even agressive stance which will then be seen as justification for the initial characterization.

[Logan Runnalls]

hey Jan. you don't need to be ashamed (?) of your resistance to this article. you are completely correct that we are only to "pursue the One Who is Truth." the thing is, we only know this Truth through the Incarnation.

What I mean is that in pursuing Jesus we will find that He leads us to engage this world and the conflicts therein.

At the same time you also set us a good example by asking why you felt the need to defend yourself. Lord, give me the same grace and wisdom to confront my own defenciveness.

[jan]

forgive the preaching...
perhaps i feel that i have been misrepresented.
possibly, i have been.

but if at the end of this review i feel like i need to defend myself... why is that?

perhaps what i need to do is examine my heart.

what in this world is of great import?

only, only pursue the One Who is Truth.