Dr. Steven Hotze slams Canadian authorities who arrested a pastor and his brother for holding a service recently in Calgary, the most populous city in Alberta, Canada.
"This should infuriate every Christian in the world, particularly those of us living in the United States and living in Canada where we're supposed to have religious freedom," says Hotze during his program "The Dr. Hotze Report" Monday, Sept. 13, on Brighteon.TV.
Pastor Artur Pawlowski and his brother David have been dragged on the streets "for inciting people to come to church and for opening the church and preaching to the people."
Appearing on "The Dr. Hotze Report" on Brighteon.TV, Pawlowski related that another pastor has been arrested recently just because he opened his church. Another one has spent six weeks in Edmonton prison for opening his church.
'We are the most liberal communistic government in this country right now under the leadership of Premier Jason Kenney, who is cracking on Christianity left and right," says Pawlowski.
While many churches have shut down their services, a handful of pastors are standing up against the government.
"More are joining a spiritual revolution, an uprising, a solidarity movement. More and more people are realizing that this is not going away, that those people are not stopping," says Pawlowski. "We have thousands of people joining our rallies, protests, marches and different other things that we’re trying to do to awaken the population."
Pawlowski says they feed thousands of people on the streets of Calgary under the umbrella of a ministry that he started in 2005.
"It's called Street Church. We have 40 churches like this in different countries, different continents," he says. "When we go on a gospel, we also go with food and music. We are the church for the poor and the homeless."
US senator pushes to place Canada on religious freedoms watch list
The series of arrests catches the attention of Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley. He asks the Commission on International Religious Freedom to place Canada on its religious freedoms watch list due to the arrests of Alberta pastors accused of breaking the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) public health restrictions.
Hawley writes a letter to the chair of the commission, asking them to consider adding Canada to the watch list after the arrests of Alberta pastors for holding worship services.
"One of the most fundamental human rights is the freedom to practice one's faith," writes Hawley. "I am writing to express my deep concern that this freedom is in peril across our nation's northern border."
Pastor Tim Stephens of Fairview Baptist Church in Calgary has been arrested twice by police for organizing a church service violating public health orders, and for allegedly violating a court order and hosting an outdoor church service.
Pastor James Coates of GraceLife Church, which is located west of Edmonton, has been arrested and spent a more than a month in jail at the Edmonton Remand Center after getting charged with violating COVID-19 restrictions as church services without masks or physical distancing continued to be organized.
Hawley mentions Stephens and Coates in his letter and says that there are "numerous" other instances when Canadian pastors have been jailed for not complying with restrictions in place during the pandemic.
"Canadian authorities' arrest of faith leaders and seizure of church property, among other enforcement actions, appear to constitute systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedoms," says Hawley.
The senator compares the enforcement actions taken by law enforcement and Canadian public health authorities to actions officials in China would undertake. "I would expect this sort of religious crackdown in Communist China, not in a prominent Western nation like Canada," he says.
Hawley sends a copy of the letter to Kirsten Hillman, the Canadian ambassador to the U.S.
The U.S. commission has three requirements to declare that a country oppresses religious freedom. It says the oppression must be systematic, ongoing and egregious. Any two of those factors is enough to be placed on the special watch list. Countries already on the list include Afghanistan, Egypt, Cuba and Turkey.
A commission spokesperson says the agency is aware of Hawley's letter and is "looking into it."
Christians targeted by hate crimes in Canada
Hate crimes targeting Christians have also become normal in Canada. There have been several attacks on Christian congregations in the country since June, including a number of cases in which churches are completely burned down.
The fires and vandalism span six provinces and the Northwest Territories, some of which have been in the heartland of First Nations' territory. Christians are being forced to defend themselves or hire private security just to protect their places of worship.
The anti-Christian assault in Canada has started soon after the unveiling of a residential school burial site in Kamloops, British Columbia which is then followed by more unmarked grave discoveries at a former residential school site in Saskatchewan.
The Tk'emlups te Secwepemc First Nation has discovered the remains of 215 children at a school in British Columbia while the Cowessess First Nation has found 751 unmarked graves on the grounds of the former Marieval Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan.
Watch the Sept. 13 episode of "The Dr. Hotze Report" here.
You can catch "The Dr. Hotze Report" live every Monday at 5-6 p.m. on Brighteon.TV.
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