Issues@Hand

AFA initiatives, Christian activism, news briefs

August 2021 – In mid-May two Canadian pastors were stopped on a major freeway and arrested by Calgary police and charged with “organizing an illegal in-person gathering, inciting or inviting others to attend an illegal gathering as well as promoting and attending the gathering.”

Their crime? Holding worship services. Brothers Artur and Dawid Pawlowski had previously been served an order from Alberta Health Services to ensure they were abiding by public health orders.

Calgary police issued a release after the arrest stating the Pawlowskis “acknowledged the injunction, but chose to ignore requirements for social distancing, mask wearing, and reduced capacity limits for attendees.”

Brian Rushfeldt, former executive director of Canada Family Action, a Canadian pro-family organization, said the scene reminded him of Nazi Germany.

“What I was instantly reminded of and moved by was seeing the video [from] probably in the late 1930s maybe 1940s ... of SS troops rounding up people to put in trains or in prisons,” Rushfeldt said. “And that is exactly what I was reminded of when I saw the way these so-called ‘police’ treated the pastors.”

The brothers have since been released on bail.

cbc.ca, 5/8/21; onenewsnow.com, 5/10/21;
cbn.com, 5/17/21