As We Celebrate Canada 150, A Look at Religious Freedom Here

A few months ago we suggested stores consider doing a display feature of Canadian authors to tie in with Canada 150 celebrations. A recent comment alerted us to a book written specifically for the occasion. A follow up with the author resulted us receiving the press release below which we’re passing on as submitted with a few adjustments for times and dates.

CANADA 150 BOOK TACKLES RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND THE CHURCH IN CANADA

Word Alive Press recently announced the release of its newest title in the Great Canadian Author series, Under Siege: Religious Freedom and the Church in Canada at 150 (1867-2017).

In his first book, author Don Hutchinson draws on over three decades of church leadership, constitutional law and public policy experience to offer valuable insight into the Christian Church and into today’s Canada.

Hutchinson’s storyteller style delivers a book designed for everyone interested in the challenges and opportunities of religious freedom in Canada.

Hutchinson studied history and politics at Queen’s University and law at the University of British Columbia. Following fifteen years in leadership with The Salvation Army, he consulted with World Vision Canada and others before serving seven and a half years with The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, including as Vice-President, General Legal Counsel and Director of the Centre for Faith and Public Life in Ottawa, where he made several appearances before parliamentary committees and the Supreme Court of Canada.

This book informs and inspires. Canadians who embrace Christianity as a personal faith, a community faith and a faith not to be kept to ourselves will appreciate Hutchinson’s perspective that, “we need to be prepared in our relationship with Christ, and the nation in which we live, to stand publicly in our faith as witnesses to Him whom we live for. One key to that preparation is engaging fully our commitment to Christ, His Church, and His Word (the Bible). Another is being accurately aware of how Canadian courts are defining what the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms refers to as the ‘fundamental freedom’ of freedom of religion.” (Under Siege, page 45)

Many Christians sense that an advancing secularism is trying to force upon Canadians a culture in which faith is meant to be private. Under Siege presents historic, legal and theological grounds for faith not to be hidden away in private stained-glass closets but instead, for the benefit of Canadian society, shared with confidence in an increasingly contested public square.

National Post columnist and editor-in-chief of Convivium.ca, Father Raymond J. de Souza writes, “Religious freedom has returned to the global agenda in the 21st century, ‘under siege’ from both religious and secular extremists. Don Hutchinson is uniquely situated to tell the story, and it’s a story that urgently needs to be told.”

Brian C. Stiller, global ambassador for the World Evangelical Alliance, adds, “Don Hutchinson in Under Siege walks us through the critical issues of freedom of religion in a country where one might naively assume its record is stellar. His message is that there is always the need for vigilance. In a time when the secular assumption that faith will soon ebb away carries with it a belief there is no need to protect its freedom, this book advises the opposite. A timely and wise warning.”

A public book launch took place on May 3rd at Cardus in Ottawa…

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304 page paperback – ISBN 9781486614523 – $22.99 in Canada
Distribution for retailers by Word Alive/Anchor Distributors

For more information visit: www.donhutchinson.ca