“We still have freedom of religion in Canada—we can worship with our families, attend church, and hold whichever views we choose to hold. But what the cultural Marxists are attempting to do is to give people a choice in the West: You can be a Christian, or you can be successful.”
I always find it fascinating to travel in formerly Communist countries—the combination of decaying Soviet architecture and Western modernity, the resilience of the people, and above all, how in so many cases it was Christianity that helped the oppressed peoples hold onto their families, their cultural heritage, and hope. There are so many lessons Westerners should learn from how Communism took hold, and how its leaders tried to oppress, disenfranchise, and homogenize the peoples under their rule.
Indeed, there are striking similarities between how the totalitarian Communists of the Eastern Bloc and the cultural Marxists here in the West attempt to enforce their secular and anti-Christian ideology.
One similarity struck me in Budapest last week, when our tour guide stopped on the steps of the St. Stephan Cathedral to explain how the Hungarian Communists “dealt with” the Christians. It wasn’t that you couldn’t be a Christian, she said. You could pray at home, worship at home with your family, even get baptized and go to church. However, you had a choice. “You could either be a Christian,” she told us, “or you could be successful.” Case in point: Because her family was Christian and she was baptized, her sister was the first member of their family to be able to attend university, after the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
This tactic is very much being utilized by cultural Marxists (or “secularists” to use the more familiar term) here in the West as well. We still have freedom of religion in Canada—we can worship with our families, attend church, and hold whichever views we choose to hold. But what the cultural Marxists are attempting to do is to give people a choice in the West: You can be a Christian, or you can be successful.
One of the easiest ways to push Christians to the margins of society is to slowly but surely implement policies that force them out of traditionally elite professions, such as law and medicine. And that is precisely what the cultural enforcers of secularism have been doing—and they’re picking up speed. It’s not full-out war on Christianity, yet—rather, it is death by a thousand cuts.
For example, Ontario’s College of Physicians and Surgeons recently tabled a proposal that would force doctors to provide abortions and contraceptives in certain circumstances, and coerce them to refer for them in virtually all. According to LifeSiteNews:
The proposed policy would compel a physician who refuses a procedure for reasons of conscience to assist the patient in finding a doctor who would provide the procedure. If a referral is not possible, it says, the doctor “must provide care that is urgent or otherwise necessary to prevent imminent harm, suffering, and/or deterioration, even where that care conflicts with their religious or moral beliefs.” Released in December, the College’s governing council will vote on the policy in June.
In other words, if these proposals were passed, Christians would have to consider the fact that the medical establishment would attempt to force them into unethical behaviors, possibly including the destruction of human life. Thanks to this policy many Christians considering medical school could well decide to opt for a field that does not force them into ethical dilemmas. And the ultimate goal of keeping Christians out of the medical establishment is furthered.
In other words: “You can be a Christian, or you can be a successful doctor.”
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