Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada Calgary pastor arrested yesterday

Looks like Canadian police have arrested the pastor who has been refusing to submit to an unnecessary and unfair law. Good for him.

Let's be clear.

Calgary, Alberta, RCMP officers finally arrested Arthur Pawlowski for holding services where nobody was wearing masks and where nobody was making the slightest effort to practice physical distancing, in accordance with provincial Covid19 laws.

This finally happened after this pastor flagrantly and repeatedly violated Provincial Covid19 laws.

The laws apply equally to all Albertans, businesses, social organizations, and all public places where people gather indoors.

Churches are not being targeted.
The freedom to pray is not being infringed.

In the midst of a global pandemic nobody has a right to endanger human lives by spreading the disease because of a "sovereign citizen" belief that they can do whatever they damn well please.

And right across the border no masks and no social distancing for almost a year and Canada's numbers are higher at least according to their stats. Probably because of Trudeau's incompetent govt again. How many Indians and Chinese flew into Canada this year and did not social distance in the planes? One again Canda's liberal govt is showing its stupidity and incompetence

You seem to be confusing the fundamental right to worship with the "freedom to pray". Worshiping is not synonymous with praying, though prayer can be a form of worship. Worshiping takes difference forms for different people, including gathering in congregations, and here the definition of "worship" matters.

Your last sentence leads me to believe that you are also missing the point of the debate, which is whether the right to be safe is more important than the right to worship. Your opinion is noted, but that position is certainly not unanimously shared by all reasonable, rational citizens.

Further, there is a more fundamental argument about whether the restrictions being imposed due to COVID represent a justified infringement on ANY fundamental rights, given the low morbidity and minor severity of the symptoms caused by the virus in the vast majority of cases.

super T;
Good morning to you sir, I hope the day's looking to be a nice one in your part of the world.

Thanks for bringing this up here, I saw it last night on some news feeds and am attempting to get more background information before making too much comment.

I will say this about that right now however.

When Pastor James Coates was arrested in Edmonton, they had a whole bunch of Edmonton Police Service officers show up to do it. They were asked by some news source as to why it took that many LEO and subsequent cost/time/effort to arrest a pastor with no record whatsoever of violent behavior, they admitted they "wanted to make a statement" with their show of force.

To that I say, not cool EPS, City of Edmonton and Jason Kenny/Government of Alberta.

By the way, the Crown has dropped all charges against Rev. Coates except one. His lawyers requested that as they want him to have his day in court. As far as I know the church remains under lock and key from EPS, City of Edmonton and whomever else has a hand in such things, but Pastor Coates is free now after spending 30 plus days in jail for what the Crown has said were non-jailable offenses.

The video of the Calgary pastor and his brother being arrested showed at least 4 cars and 8 LEO involved and they chose to do it on a busy stretch of highway.

Once again the number of LEO involved, the resources taken up and the place they chose to effect the arrest has me with more questions than answers for sure.

There are those who feel that it's just religious extremists endangering public health and they're still entitled to express that opinion at present. I'd only suggest one needs to be very careful of what we wish for and espouse as sometimes the tables get turned really, REALLY quickly and they won't like similar restrictions placed upon an activity or action they currently enjoy.

If that sounds obtuse, it's meant to encourage the gentle reader to crack a book or three and become educated on human history - nothing more and nothing less.

That's where I am now on that however sir. Thanks again and stay well.

Dwayne

Jordan;
Good morning to you my friend, I hope that all things considered you're all well.

Once again I must say thanks and send sincere kudos for that post. Well done sir.

Very well articulated and thought out.

All the best to you all.

Dwayne

saddlegun:
Good morning sir, I hope the weather's nice in your part of the world, wherever this finds you.

In the video I watched, it was Calgary City Police, not RCMP doing the arrest. It might or might not matter, but they weren't RCMP.

The issue many of us have with this entire beer flu mess is that emphatically the law is not applied equally to all. For the life of me, I can't see that Walmart, Costco, the local casino or any of the local pot sales or BCLDB stores have been affected in any way.

Small shops, bars, cafes and pretty much anything tourism related is toast now here in the south Okanagan.

The churches here are closed, no services - but we can gamble and purchase pot.

I could go on, but my hunch at present is we'll not see anywhere near eye to eye on this subject.

All the best regardless.'

Dwayne

Libs everywhere drink the koolaid and hide. The Scandinavians last fall pushed their study which showed masks are worse for you than no mask. Several other studies including Sanford University just released one showing the same. Just relax and enjoy yourselves and it will be ok. Ed

If we are to follow "the science" then it is puzzling why there is no school in the USA...and in Canada the schools never missed a step. Its clearly not following any science whatsoever.
In Canada, I believe we are simply trying to protect our fragile healthcare infrastructure with over stepping rules.

Thanks, Dwayne. I hope you're also doing well!

I'm honestly shocked and disappointed by how readily Canadians are willing to accept infringements on their rights and freedoms. The old quote by Benjamin Franklin comes to mind, "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety," and I would add, "and will end up with neither."

We all know our own risk factors, and as reasonable, rational citizens we can decide how many, how often, and which risks we are willing to take. Just as we do with every other bacteria, virus, illness, etc. If you know that you are in a high risk category of getting very sick if you catch COVID (or the flu, or any other illness), you are free to stay away from people as much as possible, wear a mask if you're convinced that they are effective, sanitize your hands every 10 seconds, or to take whatever other measures to protect yourself that you feel necessary. The same goes for everyone else. I suppose you could say that I'm fundamentally libertarian at heart. Of course, maximum individual liberty works best with maximum individual accountability, which implies the requirement for a largely privatized healthcare system where individuals pay the price of the consequences resulting from the risks that they take (whether you are Evel Knievel or just somebody who goes to the grocery store without wearing a mask).

Jordan;
Thanks for the reply and further thoughts.

Again there's nothing you've written that I can disagree with.

I will say that I now hear some of the "talking points" lumping libertarians in with other extremist elements, so we're in the same boat there now as well.

Good company perhaps, no?

I'm with you though all the way sir, accountability has always been a big deal in my personal life and I know in yours as well.

All the best again.

Dwayne

I will never understand how not taking Covid seriously, and endangering the lives of those around you by not following the basics like mask wearing and distancing is even remotely the sort of witness to the broader world Jesus calls his people to... color me simple - I believe His words about stumbling blocks and doing unto others.

Yes churches are being targeted. Its absolutely astounding to me what is going on and so few either dont realize whats going on, or dont care.

A very good friend just returned from a trip to Ont. where she visited her mother. The flight from Vancouver to Toronto was packed solid. Now this lady isnt political at all, but even she mentioned the fact that it makes zero sense to allow so many people into the confines of an airplane but not allow them to go to church. Our Walmart store is packed to the rafters every single weekend. I have no idea how many people fit inside the building but it is a lot. They have been allowed to stay open since the beginning, but the small mom and pop shop down the street were forced to close. We've all seen many of these small business owners on the news. Its almost like a large portion of the population has lost the ability to think rationally. No one with a shred of common sense would buy into some of this nonsense. I've never been to that church but there is no way there would be as many people inside that building as there is in any big box store on any given weekend.

And yet zero arrests last summer during the height of the pandemic in Canada. Look at the social distancing being practiced and the last of masks. Shame! absurdity Of course they are targeting Churches and not hiding it. A large arresting force was used to send a message to Christians in Canada that they will be crushed for practicing their religious freedoms.

Been attending schools here since last August right across the BC border

You miss the point entirely... Christ's Kingdom is not of this world and we're called to a higher standard regardless of the hypocrisy around us...

No you missed it - Nothing to due with religion and Christ. It's an individual rights issue. Just like the violent protests all last summer that were allowed to violate every covid rule and there was no enforcement.NONE. In fact it was encouraged by many politicians on both sides of the border to violate covid health measures and spread the virus during the violent protests.

Selective prosecution.

Wow, just wow...

wonderful response- not surprised you can justify selective outrage and hypocrisy through this entire covid deal, Photos above were taken in Toronto and the Trudeau Govt praised the thousands of protestors for exercising their rights. . No social distancing , very few masks. Non essential activity. Mass spreading event.

20 people go into a building and exercise their individual freedom and the leader is arrested by a large govt police force.


This entire response has been purely political and anti science from the very beginning

Brad;
Good afternoon to you sir, it's been a good long while since we've had an exchange and I hope that you and yours have been more than less okay in the interim.

While you and I might agree on the importance of some aspects of how we'll chose to worship what we've chosen to believe is our God, there's just as many others who will make different choices - and they might not be wrong, you know?

I've seen this in my own family, so can comment on a very personal basis on this topic.

If I choose to wear a mask or not however is moot up here as the churches are closed - and the casinos are not.

In Ontario, when one church tried to have in car services in the parking lot, they were stopped by the local LEO. When the news reporter asked the LEO if the cars could legally be parked in the adjoining parking lot of a grocery store - that was confirmed as fine - but they could not do so 20' over in the church parking lot.

There's lots of examples like this were "the rules" have emphatically not been equally enforced and the governing bodies are really pretty open about the discrepancy.

What you and even I consider a stumbling block for our brother might be seen as not following our calling as servants by another. I get that sir - it's complicated.

For instance I'm not a teatotaller - believing that I can imbibe the occasional alcoholic drink without causing my spiritual brothers and sisters to stumble - but - my flesh and blood brother will not imbibe because of his belief that it might. He has his reasons for that and honestly I respect them and they're as valid as mine. Again this belief thing is complicated.

As I said in my initial post on the subject, I'm trying to read and educate myself on the circumstances of the Calgary church as I do not know if they were distancing or not. In this instance - as in many instances up here - it's damnably difficult to obtain the truth of the situation from any mainstream media source.

Regardless of what we'll chose to agree or disagree on Brad, I do wish you and your family the best.

Dwayne