Canadian pastor in solitary confinement.

[NorrinRadd]

Daily Wire story.

"A pastor from Alberta, Canada, awaits a May trial in solitary confinement after refusing a bail agreement that would have forbidden him from preaching.

James Coates, who pastors GraceLife Church in the Edmonton area, was first arrested in February after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) repeatedly flagged his church for refusing to abide by public health orders that capped attendance at 15 percent capacity. While their pastor remains behind bars, the RCMP have since slapped the church with even more charges, according to the Western Standard. ..."

[kiwimac]

Good

[seanD]

"Brother will betray brother..."

[NorrinRadd]

"Brother will betray brother..."

Flesh and blood. The brothers and sisters who matter, the real brothers and sisters who are children of the Father, would not betray each other that way, and would not rejoice in it.

[mossrose]

Daily Wire story.

"A pastor from Alberta, Canada, awaits a May trial in solitary confinement after refusing a bail agreement that would have forbidden him from preaching.

James Coates, who pastors GraceLife Church in the Edmonton area, was first arrested in February after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) repeatedly flagged his church for refusing to abide by public health orders that capped attendance at 15 percent capacity. While their pastor remains behind bars, the RCMP have since slapped the church with even more charges, according to the Western Standard. ..."

I've posted about this in the Persecution in California thread.

[oxmixmudd]

Daily Wire story.

"A pastor from Alberta, Canada, awaits a May trial in solitary confinement after refusing a bail agreement that would have forbidden him from preaching.

James Coates, who pastors GraceLife Church in the Edmonton area, was first arrested in February after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) repeatedly flagged his church for refusing to abide by public health orders that capped attendance at 15 percent capacity. While their pastor remains behind bars, the RCMP have since slapped the church with even more charges, according to the Western Standard. ..."

This one is a bit of a mixed bag. He violated the law and by doing so put peoples lives in danger, and not just the lives of those in his congregation. On the other hand is the issue of the free exercise of religion (not sure the Canadian provisions thereof)

To me, aside from issues of the law and freedom of religion, there is the blatant disregard for his fellow man in forcing the issue. There are a myriad ways to maintain church fellowship and the assembling together of the saints in this day and age w/o violating the capacity limit. By showing respect for the health of others while maintaining in person services at the state mandated capacity, he could have both continued in obedience to the Lord and in accordance with the law of the land and the command to love others as ourselves.

In the early Catholic Church, there arose the issue of those seeking out martyrdom for themselves. Eventually it was decreed sinful to explicitly seek out such martyrdom. It is in conflict with the teachings of Christ. I see this in much the same light. we have the capacity to be obedient to both God and man in this instance, and so we are obligated by the law of love to do so.

[Mountain Man]

Good

Another instance when I am forced to do a double take at your faith designation and wonder if you selected "Christian" by mistake.

[Diogenes]

Another instance when I am forced to do a double take at your faith designation and wonder if you selected "Christian" by mistake.

Because obeying a building capacity reduction in order to mitigate the spread of an airborne respiratory virus that's been designated a pandemic is clearly a shibboleth and all TRU™ Christians would not heed such a precaution.

[Mountain Man]

Because obeying a building capacity reduction in order to mitigate the spread of an airborne respiratory virus that's been designated a pandemic is clearly a shibboleth and all TRU™ Christians would not heed such a precaution.

It's more about kiwimac's apparent delight in seeing a fellow Christian be harshly punished far in excess of what is warranted for the infraction. We're talking about a pastor who is being held in solitary confinement awaiting a trial that won't happen until May, and kiwimac's comment is "Good". Really? He thinks this is a good thing?

[Diogenes]

It's more about kiwimac's apparent delight in seeing a fellow Christian be harshly punished far in excess of what is warranted for the infraction. We're talking about a pastor who is being held in solitary confinement awaiting a trial that won't happen until May, and kiwimac's comment is "Good". Really? He thinks this is a good thing?

The use of solitary confinement by the Canadian government seems more a means to deal with the spread of COVID in prisons as opposed to being a means for harsh punishment for the pastors refusal of bail condition and the a pattern of noncompliance with the reduced occupancy. We don't know what kiwimac was saying "good" to, but, I'd rather be charitable and interpret they would saying the arrest was "good" in light of the current overall public health situation and that churches have been known vectors since the church-related outbreak that happened in Feb 2020 in South Korea.

[mossrose]

It's more about kiwimac's apparent delight in seeing a fellow Christian be harshly punished far in excess of what is warranted for the infraction. We're talking about a pastor who is being held in solitary confinement awaiting a trial that won't happen until May, and kiwimac's comment is "Good". Really? He thinks this is a good thing?

And he's being held in a maximum security prison. And in the next week after he was arrested, Alberta released a known pedophile, with a warning to the public that he was likely to offend again. This is the third time they have released the sex offender, every time with the same warning, but they keep the pastor locked up.

The world has gone insane.

[Mountain Man]

The use of solitary confinement by the Canadian government seems more a means to deal with the spread of COVID in prisons as opposed to being a means for harsh punishment for the pastors refusal of bail condition and the a pattern of noncompliance with the reduced occupancy. We don't know what kiwimac was saying "good" to, but, I'd rather be charitable and interpret they would saying the arrest was "good" in light of the current overall public health situation and that churches have been known vectors since the church-related outbreak that happened in Feb 2020 in South Korea.

I don't buy that for a second. Canada, like the US, has been releasing violent criminals from prison in order to "protect" them from the China flu. There is no excuse for keeping the pastor in solitary confinement for weeks.

[seanD]

It's more about kiwimac's apparent delight in seeing a fellow Christian be harshly punished far in excess of what is warranted for the infraction. We're talking about a pastor who is being held in solitary confinement awaiting a trial that won't happen until May, and kiwimac's comment is "Good". Really? He thinks this is a good thing?

I've seen a very disturbing trend with the more liberal Christians on this board of late. One thing this pandemic has done for me personally is brought stark clarity to some scripture that was ambiguous to me in the past.

[Cow Poke]

I don't buy that for a second. Canada, like the US, has been releasing violent criminals from prison in order to "protect" them from the China flu. There is no excuse for keeping the pastor in solitary confinement for weeks.

They are using "the hammer of justice" to try to make an example of him to scare other pastors into obedience.

[mossrose]

They are using "the hammer of justice" to try to make an example of him to scare other pastors into obedience.

Apparently his congregation has doubled since he's been arrested because so many churches have closed their doors and people want to worship together.