Justin Trudeau's Christian Faith

[Glacier]

What might we expect from the openly professed Christian faith of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau? In his recently released memoir, Common Ground, our new Prime Minister wrote that the tragic death of his brother Michale, prompted him to "welcome God's presence into my life" and to "reaffirm the core of the Christian beliefs I retain to this day."

When the Ottawa Citizen probed those beliefs just over a year ago, Mr. Trudeau explained that some of those beliefs have been shaped by his attendance at Alpha, a 12-week course in Christianity.

“'When Miche died, I had a friend who said to me, ‘Come with me to this Alpha course.’ I said sure. I was schooled by Jesuits to a certain extent and my father certainly was Jesuitical in his thinking. So I’m always up for a great theological conversation and debate. The Alpha course – the message there was: Don’t feel you have to do it all alone. Put your trust in God every now and then. Be comfortable about saying I need help. And recognize that. It came at exactly the right time. Trusting in God’s plan. For someone as rational and scientific and logical and rigorous as I am to accept the unknowable and to re-anchor myself in faith was really, really important to me. And ended up being of solace at a very difficult time. Since that moment, I still consider myself and have re-found myself of a deep faith and belief in God. But obviously very aware of the separation of church and state in my political thinking,” said Mr. Trudeau in his October 2014 interview with the Ottawa Citizen.

My friend Shaila Visser, the CEO of Alpha Canada is steadfast by her rule that she will not comment on any person’s experience with the free of charge course, but she did describe the content the Prime Minister would have covered during it’s 12 weeks;

“The course always starts with the opening night of ‘is there more to life than this?’ Then they would explore who is Jesus, why did Jesus die, why and how do I pray, and what about faith? The course then explores Does God heal today? Can I resist evil? Why and how should I read the Bible? Then we study who is the Holy Spirit, which looks at the supernatural component of God, all of these topics are covered week to week to give people an honest look at the experience of God to know if they want to pursue a relationship with God,” said Shaila.

As for the public interest in having had a Prime Minister take the course?
“We are delighted that anyone in Canada can attend an Alpha course to explore the meaning of life. Over 650,000 Canadians have taken the Alpha course and over 27 million worldwide – the Prime Minister is just one of those guests and we are so pleased to hear he had a good experience,” said Shaila.

(Alpha is a remarkable Canadian ministry whose staff are currently on a 40 day fast and prayer effort for “the spiritual awakening of Canada.”)

I am among the many speculating how Mr. Trudeau and the Liberal Cabinet will view the importance of faith in public life. But more importantly, I’m challenged to respond to the New Testament directive on how my own faith should affect this government. It’s pretty simple -- our job is to pray “for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” —1 Timothy 2:1-4

http://www.contextwithlornadueck.com/bl ... tian-faith

[Rwede]

So what you're saying is that we have a bible-thumping Christian as Prime Minister?

Uh-oh.

[Donald G]

I thought that that was one of the reasons that a percentage of Liberals and NDP were adamantly opposed to Ex PM Harper ??

PM Trudeau's father was also a Jesuit believer which had a lot to do with why capital punishment was abolished in Canada. It also accounted for his extreme Liberal left wing thinking regarding rewriting and reinterpreting the Canadian Bill of Rights.

[GordonH]

What a PM believes in his or her personal life, is none of my business.
Justin was hired/voted in to do a job, as long as he does that job. Thats all that matters.

[OREZ]

I thought that that was one of the reasons that a percentage of Liberals and NDP were adamantly opposed to Ex PM Harper ??

Really? You thought that?

You were wrong....again.

[Glacier]

Anecdotally speaking, I think that the Conservatives lost a lot of their traditional Christian support. A conservative evangelical pastor for 30 years hinted on Facebook that he was going to vote Liberal for the first time. The comments on his Facebook page by other Christians were similar. They had had enough of Harper's mean spirited politics.

Certainly, there are those on the left who are extremely vocal about their disdain for religion in general and Christianity in particular, but they don't represent all leftists by any stretch of the imagination. Perhaps most of those people voted NDP...

"No religious affiliation" population in ridings won by:

NDP = 28%
Conservative = 26%
Liberal = 21%

[bob vernon]

We need a good fundamentalist Christian with family values. Like Steve, a real Christian. Or Vic Toews.

What are family values, anyway?

[KL3-Something]

I don't care what religion a politician follows, so long as it doesn't interfere with their governance.

[flamingfingers]

^^10/10

Naheed Nenshi, mayor of Calgary and a Muslim tends to prove the fact.

[FreeRights]

I thought that that was one of the reasons that a percentage of Liberals and NDP were adamantly opposed to Ex PM Harper ??

Really?

As long as it doesn't impact your leading and policies, I could care less if you're religious or not.

[Gone_Fishin]

^^10/10

Naheed Nenshi, mayor of Calgary and a Muslim tends to prove the fact.

How's that working out for Calgary?

The unemployment rate for the Calgary region hit its highest level in nearly four years in June as 3,200 jobs were shed, according to information released Friday by Statistics Canada.

The federal agency reported the rate rose to 5.9 per cent last month, from 5.5 per cent in May. That’s the Calgary area’s highest rate since September 2011, when the rate was six per cent.

[LiamHaddock]

For someone as rational and scientific and logical and rigorous as I am to accept the unknowable and to re-anchor myself in faith was really, really important to me. And ended up being of solace at a very difficult time. Since that moment, I still consider myself and have re-found myself of a deep faith and belief in God. But obviously very aware of the separation of church and state in my political thinking,”

This quote from Justin, is exactly the way it should be. U can have your beliefs but realize lots don't share those beliefs and don't try and shove them down others throats. Keep church and state seperate. I also like how he mentions that for him to re anchor himself in his faith as he is logical and scientific person was important. It shows that he questions his faith and doesn't just blindly believe and lead by it.it takes a leap of faith to believe and many arent going to just jump on your imgaginary sky god band wagon. I was raised Christian and have no problem with marority of Christians, Muslims or any religion. I still even believe in higher power. I realize it's illogical though and don't go around preaching or telling others to believe the same.

[I Think]

It is not likely that an atheist can get elected in North America, I suspect that Obama, and Trudeau, both being quite intelligent, pay lip service to being Christians rather than falling for the various scams religion foists upon many.

[Glacier]

I don't care what religion a politician follows, so long as it doesn't interfere with their governance.

It's impossible to separate one's faith from their politics. John Kerry is a devote Catholic, and says that his faith is why he's so passionate about protecting the earth and fighting climate change. David Suzuki is an atheist and a humanist, and it is belief in humanism that drives him to passionately seek to protect the earth. Surely both men's reasons for championing climate change are equally valid.

It makes no sense to have someone like Kerry say, "yes, I believe in fighting climate change, but because my faith informs my passion for fighting it, I will not do so in the real world because I must separate my faith from my politics."

[Donald G]

It is my understanding that the Trudeau family have long been members of the Jesuits;

The following is the Jesuit Extreme Oath of Induction given to high ranking Jesuits only. This oath is taken from the book Subterranean Rome by Carlos Didier, translated from the French, and published in New York in 1843.

"When a Jesuit of the minor rank is to be elevated to command, he is conducted into the Chapel of the Convent of the Order, where there are only three others present, the principal or Superior standing in front of the altar. On either side stands a monk, one of whom holds a banner of yellow and white, which are the Papal colors, and the other a black banner with a dagger and red cross above a skull and crossbones, with the word INRI, and below them the words IUSTUM, NECAR, REGES, IMPIOUS. The meaning of which is: It is just to exterminate or annihilate impious or heretical Kings, Governments, or Rulers. Upon the floor is a red cross at which the postulant or candidate kneels. The Superior hands him a small black crucifix, which he takes in his left hand and presses to his heart, and the Superior at the same time presents to him a dagger, which he grasps by the blade and holds the point against his heart, the Superior still holding it by the hilt, and thus addresses the postulant:"

Superior:

My son, heretofore you have been taught to act the dissembler: among Roman Catholics to be a Roman Catholic, and to be a spy even among your own brethren; to believe no man, to trust no man. Among the Reformers, to be a reformer; among the Huguenots, to be a Huguenot; among the Calvinists, to be a Calvinist; among other Protestants, generally to be a Protestant, and obtaining their confidence, to seek even to preach from their pulpits, and to denounce with all the vehemence in your nature our Holy Religion and the Pope; and even to descend so low as to become a Jew among Jews, that you might be enabled to gather together all information for the benefit of your Order as a faithful soldier of the Pope.

You have been taught to insidiously plant the seeds of jealousy and hatred between communities, provinces, states that were at peace, and incite them to deeds of blood, involving them in war with each other, and to create revolutions and civil wars in countries that were independent and prosperous, cultivating the arts and the sciences and enjoying the blessings of peace. To take sides with the combatants and to act secretly with your brother Jesuit, who might be engaged on the other side, but openly opposed to that with which you might be connected, only that the Church might be the gainer in the end, in the conditions fixed in the treaties for peace and that the end justifies the means.

You have been taught your duty as a spy, to gather all statistics, facts and information in your power from every source; to ingratiate yourself into the confidence of the family circle of Protestants and heretics of every class and character, as well as that of the merchant, the banker, the lawyer, among the schools and universities, in parliaments and legislatures, and the judiciaries and councils of state, and to be all things to all men, for the Pope's sake, whose servants we are unto death.

You have received all your instructions heretofore as a novice, a neophyte, and have served as co-adjurer, confessor and priest, but you have not yet been invested with all that is necessary to command in the Army of Loyola in the service of the Pope. You must serve the proper time as the instrument and executioner as directed by your superiors; for none can command here who has not consecrated his labors with the blood of the heretic; for "without the shedding of blood no man can be saved." Therefore, to fit yourself for your work and make your own salvation sure, you will, in addition to your former oath of obedience to your order and allegiance to the Pope, repeat after me---

The Extreme Oath of the Jesuits:

"1, _ now, in the presence of Almighty God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the blessed Michael the Archangel, the blessed St. John the Baptist, the holy Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul and all the saints and sacred hosts of heaven, and to you, my ghostly father, the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, founded by St. Ignatius Loyola in the Pontificate of Paul the Third, and continued to the present, do by the womb of the virgin, the matrix of God, and the rod of Jesus Christ, declare and swear, that his holiness the Pope is Christ's Vice-regent and is the true and only head of the Catholic or Universal Church throughout the earth; and that by virtue of the keys of binding and loosing, given to his Holiness by my Savior, Jesus Christ, he hath power to depose heretical kings, princes, states, commonwealths and governments, all being illegal without his sacred confirmation and that they may safely be destroyed. Therefore, to the utmost of my power I shall and will defend this doctrine of his Holiness' right and custom against all usurpers of the heretical or Protestant authority whatever, especially the Lutheran of Germany, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and the now pretended authority and churches of England and Scotland, and branches of the same now established in Ireland and on the Continent of America and elsewhere; and all adherents in regard that they be usurped and heretical, opposing the sacred Mother Church of Rome. I do now renounce and disown any allegiance as due to any heretical king, prince or state named Protestants or Liberals, or obedience to any of the laws, magistrates or officers.

I do further declare that the doctrine of the churches of England and Scotland, of the Calvinists, Huguenots and others of the name Protestants or Liberals to be damnable and they themselves damned who will not forsake the same.

I do further declare, that I will help, assist, and advise all or any of his Holiness' agents in any place wherever I shall be, in Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, England, Ireland or America, or in any other Kingdom or territory I shall come to, and do my uttermost to extirpate the heretical Protestants or Liberals' doctrines and to destroy all their pretended powers, regal or otherwise.

I do further promise and declare, that notwithstanding I am dispensed with, to assume my religion heretical, for the propaganda of the Mother Church's interest, to keep secret and private all her agents' counsels from time to time, as they may entrust me and not to divulge, directly or indirectly, by word, writing or circumstance whatever; but to execute all that shall be proposed, given in charge or discovered unto me, by you, my ghostly father, or any of this sacred covenant.

I do further promise and declare, that I will have no opinion or will of my own, or any mental reservation whatever, even as a corpse or cadaver (perinde ac cadaver), but will unhesitatingly obey each and every command that I may receive from my superiors in the Militia of the Pope and of Jesus Christ.

That I may go to any part of the world withersoever I may be sent, to the frozen regions of the North, the burning sands of the desert of Africa, or the jungles of India, to the centers of civilization of Europe, or to the wild haunts of the barbarous savages of America, without murmuring or repining, and will be submissive in all things whatsoever communicated to me.

I furthermore promise and declare that I will, when opportunity present, make and wage relentless war, secretly or openly, against all heretics, Protestants and Liberals, as I am directed to do, to extirpate and exterminate them from the face of the whole earth; and that I will spare neither age, sex or condition; and that I will hang, waste, boil, flay, strangle and bury alive these infamous heretics, rip up the stomachs and wombs of their women and crush their infants' heads against the walls, in order to annihilate forever their execrable race. That when the same cannot be done openly, I will secretly use the poisoned cup, the strangulating cord, the steel of the poniard or the leaden bullet, regardless of the honor, rank, dignity, or authority of the person or persons, whatever may be their condition in life, either public or private, as I at any time may be directed so to do by any agent of the Pope or Superior of the Brotherhood of the Holy Faith, of the Society of Jesus.

In confirmation of which, I hereby dedicate my life, my soul and all my corporal powers, and with this dagger which I now receive, I will subscribe my name written in my own blood, in testimony thereof; and should I prove false or weaken in my determination, may my brethren and fellow soldiers of the Militia of the Pope cut off my hands and my feet, and my throat from ear to ear, my belly opened and sulphur burned therein, with all the punishment that can be inflicted upon me on earth and my soul be tortured by demons in an eternal hell forever!

All of which, I, _, do swear by the Blessed Trinity and blessed Sacraments, which I am now to receive, to perform and on my part to keep inviolable; and do call all the heavenly and glorious host of heaven to witness the blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist, and witness the same further with my name written and with the point of this dagger dipped in my own blood and sealed in the face of this holy covenant."

(He receives the wafer from the Superior and writes his name with the point of his dagger dipped in his own blood taken from over his heart.)

Superior:

"You will now rise to your feet and I will instruct you in the Catechism necessary to make yourself known to any member of the Society of Jesus belonging to this rank.

In the first place, you, as a Brother Jesuit, will with another mutually make the ordinary sign of the cross as any ordinary Roman Catholic would; then one cross his wrists, the palms of his hands open, and the other in answer crosses his feet, one above the other; the first points with forefinger of the right hand to the center of the palm of the left, the other with the forefinger of the left hand points to the center of the palm of the right; the first then with his right hand makes a circle around his head, touching it; the other then with the forefinger of his left hand touches the left side of his body just below his heart; the first then with his right hand draws it across the throat of the other, and the latter then with a dagger down the stomach and abdomen of the first. The first then says Iustum; and the other answers Necar; the first Reges. The other answers Impious." (The meaning of which has already been explained.) "The first will then present a small piece of paper folded in a peculiar manner, four times, which the other will cut longitudinally and on opening the name Jesu will be found written upon the head and arms of a cross three times. You will then give and receive with him the following questions and answers:

Question —From whither do you come? Answer — The Holy faith.

Q. —Whom do you serve?

A. —The Holy Father at Rome, the Pope, and the Roman Catholic Church Universal throughout the world.

Q. —Who commands you?

A. —The Successor of St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus or the Soldiers of Jesus Christ.

Q. —Who received you? A. —A venerable man in white hair.

Q. —How?

A. —With a naked dagger, I kneeling upon the cross beneath the banners of the Pope and of our sacred order.

Q. —Did you take an oath?

A. —I did, to destroy heretics and their governments and rulers, and to spare neither age, sex nor condition. To be as a corpse without any opinion or will of my own, but to implicitly obey my Superiors in all things without hesitation of murmuring.

Q. —Will you do that? A. —I will.

Q. —How do you travel? A. —In the bark of Peter the fisherman.

Q. —Whither do you travel? A. —To the four quarters of the globe. Q. —For what purpose?

A. —To obey the orders of my general and Superiors and execute the will of the Pope and faithfully fulfill the conditions of my oaths.

Q. —Go ye, then, into all the world and take possession of all lands in the name of the Pope. He who will not accept him as the Vicar of Jesus and his Vice-regent on earth, let him be accursed and exterminated."