Chapter Thirty-Two: Creating a Theocracy

A CULTURE OF DEFIANCE: History of the Reform-Conservative Party of Canada

"The will of the people is bound to come into conflict with the will of God" Ernest Manning

Ernest Manning's parents belonged to the United Church and were never particularly pious. (1) But as a young man, he began listening to William Aberhart's radio Bible program, and convinced his parents to allow him to register at the Calgary Prophetic Bible Institute, becoming their first graduate.

Aberhart's brand of Christianity was of the most radical fundamentalism, bordering on the occult. Manning himself, ascribed to much of this, but when he took over the radio broadcasts, he had moderated somewhat, though was still clearly a fundamentalist. He told his audiences that every aspect of their lives could be found in the scriptures and as such they should allow themselves to be directed by the "word of God".

But he also found a new and powerful enemy that he alone could protect good Albertans from: Communism. And that enemy, whether real or imagined, has survived through the generations.

Manning continued Aberhart's tradition with his own weekly National Back to the Bible Hour broadcasts, but the flashy occultism and Bible prophecy were forsaken for stolid anti-communism and godly materialism.
"Godless Materialism Condemned: Convention Speakers Urge Return to God as Necessary to Survival," announced the lead story in the December 1950 Canadian Social Creditor. Essentially, Social Credit had transmutated from a messianic movement dedicated to changing the laws of economics to a moralistic government with a middle-management vision. (2)

Time magazine felt that Alberta was the closest thing to a theocracy in the Western Hemisphere, and indeed it was. Manning was rarely seen but he sold his government's policies on his weekly Bible program, that included his wife and children. Citizens were to accept him on blind faith, just as they did Christianity.

Manning's government is the nearest approach to a theocracy in the Western Hemisphere. The slight (5 ft. 9 in., 135 Ibs.) premier, who practices his own brand of Baptist-fundamentalist evangelism, has been blending religion and politics throughout his public career. Says Manning: "Religion isn't to be kept on a shelf and only taken down on Sundays." A well-thumbed Bible is always open on his desk in Edmonton's Parliament Building. In every public speech, religion, not politics, is the dominant theme. "I abhor the word politician," Manning has repeatedly told Albertans. "I am not here by choice. I would much rather concentrate on my Bible work." (3)

Alf Hooke also speaks of Manning in divine tones:

Like thousands of other people throughout the length and breadth of Western Canada, I looked upon him as a man sent by God to better the conditions of mankind in those dreary depression days. I still believe this to be true. In the same way, I'd come to recognize Premier Manning and believed him to be so saintly and so God-guided that anything he did or anything he recommended to be done had to be right. Time out of number, entirely unknown to him, I had come to his aid in no uncertain way when I heard unscrupulous people criticize him, especially if they stated or even implied that he was a religious bigot concerned only with his own aggrandizement.

My Wesleyan Methodist background always came to the fore, as it did with my immediate family whenever a critical word concerning Mr. Manning was mentioned in their presence. Until her dying day in 1964 my dear mother would listen faithfully to his Sunday broadcasts and thanked God that such a man as Ernest Manning had been chosen to spread Christ's message of brotherly love in our time. He and his family were always included in her nightly prayers.

... All the ministers of his first cabinet had remarked one time or another on this ability and in my zeal to serve him, I had, in my own mind, compared this trait with that of Jesus who, though only twelve years old, had astounded the wise men in the temple in Jerusalem by this same characteristic and the depth of his knowledge .... The old British adage that the king can do no wrong was certainly carried into the realm of Alberta politics to such a degree that the Premier can do no wrong was sincerely believed by thousands. (4)

But not everyone viewed his as the Messiah, something that no one should have done.

All political leaders who survive long enough become the subject of jokes as well as editorial cartoons. Ernest Manning was no exception. According to Barr, two of the popular jokes of the time help reveal Manning's public image: "St. Peter searching through new arrivals for a psychiatrist, then asking him: 'Come in and help us out with the Supreme Being; he thinks he's Manning.' Another, Manning looking for a burial plot. He finds a nice one but protests its high cost. The owner says, 'But sir, it has a lovely view ...' Manning replies, 'You don't seem to understand. I'll only be needing it for three days.' " (5)

Continued: The Mark of the Beast

Sources:

1. Like Father, Like Son: Ernest Manning and Preston Manning, By Lloyd Mackey, ECW Press, 1997, ISBN: 1-55022-299-6

2. Slumming it at the Rodeo: The Cultural Roots of Canada's Right-Wing Revolution, Gordon Laird, 1998, Douglas & McIntyre, ISBN: 1-55054 627-9, Pg. 47-48

3. Texas of the North, Time Magazine, September 24, 1951

4. 30+5 I know, I was There, A first-hand account of the workings and history of the Social Credit Government in Alberta, Canada 1935-68, by Alfred J Hooke, Douglas Social Credit Secretariat

5. Preston Manning and the Reform Party, by Murray Dobbin, Goodread Biographies/Formac Publishing, 1992, ISBN: 0-88780-161-7, pg. 3

Chapter Six Continued: Classrooms and Battlegrounds

A CULTURE OF DEFIANCE: History of the Reform-Conservative Party of Canada

After finishing his model school training, William Aberhart returned to academia to upgrade, eventually acquiring a professional certification, and in 1901 accepted a teaching position in Brantford, Ontario, at Central Public School.

Central was the pride of the city, first built in 1850, and officially opened by Egerton Ryerson. Over the next two decades, the school was enlarged, until a fired destroyed much of it 1890.

A new school was erected on the site*, with a central tower and modern facilities. Since William had taken a business course, it was here that he would begin his teaching career.

Or his religious career? His military career? Maybe all three.

The 'New' Model Army

Keep your faith in God, but keep your powder dry. Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658)

If Aberhart's teaching methods could be defined with one word it would be 'discipline'. Every report stressed that he was a strong disciplinarian who kept a tight control over his students. However, he didn't learn those skills in school, but rather from studying Oliver Cromwell. (1)

Cromwell is a well known historical figure, probably best noted for making England a republican Commonwealth; but he has also become an inspiration to many evangelicals, because of his New Model Army that combined military skills with religious fervour*.

Rather than choosing his military leaders from among the gentry, Cromwell instead chose them on their merits. Their religious merits. Strong believers like himself "... who knew that God was on their side;" the men would often sing psalms just before going into battle. Discipline was also strict and the training thorough, making them professional soldiers for Christ.

Aberhart's classroom operated much like an army camp. He assigned each of his students a three-digit number by which he addressed them rather than by name, and stamped their assignments with a rubber stamp that read "Checked by Wm. Aberhart." ... With recalcitrant students he had no patience; for slight misdemeanors he is said to have doled out strappings on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and for more serious offences he recom­mended suspension or expulsion. One former student claimed that Aberhart did everything he could to break the spirit of a child. (1)

In an essay he wrote himself he claimed that he viewed his classroom as a battlefield, and in choosing between individual creativity or group order, he chose order. The essay was riddled with military terminology. Students were not individuals but numbers, members of a group that needed to be controlled.

In 1905, the principal of Central School passed away, and William was named the interim principal, where he could put his 'military' training to better use. The following year he was given the job.

However, his religious calling took priority in his life, and would shape his future in ways that he could never have imagined.

Chapter Six Continued: A Question of Faith

Footnotes:

*The school burned down again in 1982, but when they were removing the rubble, they discovered that it had been built on a burial ground. Looking back at records, clearly showed that this was known, since it appeared on an 1830 survey, but apparently ignored.

** A US firm was inscribing Biblical passages into gun sights which were also being used by the Canadian military. When discovered, it created a storm of protest, and they had to be removed.Sources:

1. Bible Bill: A Biography of William Aberhart, By: David R. Elliot and Iris Miller, Edmonton: Reidmore Books, 1987, Pg. 15

Chapter Five: Spiritual Awakenings

A CULTURE OF DEFIANCE: History of the Reform-Conservative Party of Canada

In October of 1841, a British lawyer and geologist, Charles Lyall, visited Niagara Falls in Canada to study rock erosion, and determined that the Niagara Gorge was about 35,000 years old, much older than the Young Earth Creationists had estimated, or at least had made fit Biblical history.

This study was only one of many done by Lyall, in his determination that the earth had been shaped by ‘slow and gradual’ processes over countless millions of years.

Lyall's studies were also brought to the attention of another scientist, by the name of Charles Darwin, and he carried with him a text by the geologist, which he read on his famous voyage of the HMS Beagle.

In 1859, Darwin's On the Origin of Species was published, complementing Lyell’s arguments, but further alarming others who still supported the infallibility of the Old Testament. Not only was the chronology of the ancient script now being questioned, but the story of Adam and Eve, and the lineages that had been created from the first coupling.

Meanwhile, a liberal Christian movement had emerged, that attempted to accommodate the new scientific discoveries. They did not question that God existed, but instead of simply memorizing text, they sought to understand the message that the text was trying to convey, and how they could relate that to a modern world. As such, students of liberal Christianity were encouraged to challenge the scriptures, and seek meaning. (1)

Naturally this upset many Protestant evangelicals, who were not prepared to challenge a single word of what was written centuries ago. So instead they challenged the scientists.

And the fact that Lyall would later alter his findings at the Niagara Gorge, was all the proof they needed that everything he wrote was a fraud, and by association, Charles Darwin as well.

Of course, these evangelicals had the advantage, because they didn't have to prove their assertions. The fact that they were written was all the proof they needed.

So in 1876, a well-known Bible teacher and Christian author, James H. Brookes, organized the "Believers' Meeting for Bible Study", where they discussed the best way to deal with the new threats imposed by science and the "liberal morality", which was even being adopted by many forward thinking evangelicals.

In 1878, they produced a document that came to be known as the "Niagara Creed" and from that, Christian fundamentalism was born.

The main points of the creed were:

1. We believe "that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God," by which we understand the whole of the book called the Bible ...

2. We believe that the Godhead eternally exists in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit ...

3. We believe that man, originally created in the image and after the likeness of God, fell from his high and holy estate by eating the forbidden fruit ...

4. We believe that his spiritual death, or total corruption of human nature, has been transmitted to the entire race of man, the man Christ Jesus alone excepted; and hence that every child of Adam is born into the world with a nature which not only possesses no spark of Divine life, but is essentially and unchangeably bad ...

5. We believe that owing to this universal depravity and death in sin, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless born again ...

6. We believe that our redemption has been accomplished solely by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was made to be sin, and made a curse, for us, dying in our room and stead ...

7. We believe that Christ, in the fullness of the blessings He has secured by His obedience unto death, is received by faith alone, and that the moment we trust in Him as our Savior we pass out of death into everlasting life ...

8. We believe that it is the privilege, not only of some, but of all who are born again by the Spirit through faith in Christ as revealed in the Scriptures, to be assured of their salvation ...

9. We believe that all the Scriptures from first to last center about our Lord Jesus Christ, in His person and work, in His first and second coming; and hence that no chapter even of the Old Testament is properly read or understood until it leads to Him ...

10. We believe that the Church is composed of all who are united by the Holy Spirit to the risen and ascended Son of God ...

11. We believe that the Holy Spirit, not as an influence, but as a Divine Person, the
source and power of all acceptable worship and service ...

12. We believe that we are called with a holy calling to walk, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, and so to live in the Spirit that we should not fulfill the lusts of the flesh ...

13. We believe that the souls of those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation do at death immediately pass into His presence, and there remain in conscious bless until the resurrection of the body at His coming ...

14. We believe that the world will not be converted during the present dispensation, but is fast ripening for judgment ... (2)

These 14 points were absolute and there would be no debate, though there would be a little tweaking.

From 1883, their meetings were held at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, in the Queen's Royal Hotel, and would continue being held there, with the exception of 1884, until the conferences were discontinued in 1897.

Chapter Five Continued: Irvingites and Dispensationalism

Sources:

1. The Christocentric Liberal Tradition, The Roots of the Christocentric Liberal Tradition, By: Terry Matthews, Lesson 7

2. In Pursuit of Purity: American Fundamentalism Since 1850, by David O. Beale ISBN 0-89084-351-1