The ECP Centre's Ignite Our Culture conference in Langley, BC took place on March 28-29. Its focus was on freedom of speech and human rights. The speakers were Tristan Emmanuel and Al Siebring from NoApologies.ca; historian Michael Wagner, author of Standing on Guard for Thee; Ron Gray, national leader of the Christian Heritage Party; Connie Fournier, creator and moderator of FreeDominion.ca; and Stephen Pidgeon, an attorney and expert on human rights and religious freedom.
Wagner began Friday's Townhall session with a survey of the history of the involvement of Canadian Christians in media. He noted that Christians have had to struggle to get access to radio and TV stations. This struggle was most often against the CRTC. The CRTC stated that proposals for religious stations had to have "balanced programming", i.e. they had to include programs for other religions. Other questionable organizations and programming were given the green light, with no such requirements. One of the more telling examples was the success of Playboy TV's application, while applications for Christian-only stations were being denied. Wagner concluded by noting that the struggle has shown the achievement of Christian activism. In this light, the unregulated new media - internet news, blogs, etc. - are an exciting development and opportunity for our cause.
Emmanuel asked the question: Does God desire our freedom? He proceeded to argue from Scripture that, indeed, He does. He challenged the audience to have that same desire and to be active in the struggle that is upon us.
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