Letter: St. John’s — inclusive and diverse

The unofficial Christian flag raised in March 2016 at Confederation Building by the St. Stephen the Martyr church group.

Mayor Danny Breen has, in the media, promoted St. John’s as an inclusive and diverse city. This is evident in the events that have been hosted by the city this past year.

For example, a display of works by sex workers in the city, the flying of the pride flag during pride week, the painting of a pride crosswalk in front of City Hall, a Remembrance Day for murdered Muslims in Quebec and the flying of an Earth Day flag, which is derived from the pagan worship of the Greek God Gaia, Mother Earth.
However, there is one major group in St. John’s that city hall voted to exclude from this diversity and inclusion and that is Christians. City hall voted to remove a Christian flag from the flag pole during Holy Week in 2016.
The Christian flag is a symbol of God’s love for all humanity regardless of one’s colour, race, religion or sexual orientation.

Christian flag taken down at Confederation Building

He loves humanity so much that he became human in the person of Jesus Christ, who was crucified and took all the sins of humanity upon Himself, so that whoever believed in him and repented of their sins would be guaranteed eternal life.
By refusing to fly the Christian flag at City Hall, yet permit other flags to fly and host special events for other groups, the City of St. John’s has breached its duty of neutrality and has acted arbitrarily, unreasonably and with bias towards Christians.
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms requires that the City of St. John’s neither “favour nor hinder any particular belief, and the same holds true for non-belief.” Therefore, the City of St. John’s discrimination against Christians and the Christian flag is unlawful and against the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
A request will be made again during Holy Week 2019 to bring awareness of the persecution of Christians in St. John’s, Canada and worldwide and I pray that St. John’s city council will uphold the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Tolson Chapman
St. John’s