“The majority of hate crimes targeting a religion reported by police in 2023 were directed at the Jewish (70%) and Muslim (16%) populations. Some Canadian police services (including those in Montréal, Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver) suggested that ongoing conflict in the Middle East may have impacted hate crimes motivated by religion in 2023, particularly those targeting the Jewish and Muslim populations.”
(Retrieved from: Statistics Canada, March 25, 2025)

“So then, putting away falsehood, let each of you speak the truth with your neighbor, for we are members of one another.”
(Ephesians 4:25)

“Then Jesus said to the people who had believed in him, ‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’”
(John 8:31–32)

This week, the leader of the Conservative Party—and therefore the Leader of the Opposition—was quoted as saying that Christians are the most persecuted people in the country.

I’ll be honest: I was stunned. I went straight to the StatsCan data to see if it was true.

It isn’t.

The 2023 data on police-reported hate crimes in Canada shows that the only Christian denomination listed—Catholicism—experienced 49 reported hate crimes, while our Jewish siblings endured 900.

I hardly know what to say. I don’t know where the idea of widespread Christian persecution in Canada came from, or why it would be said aloud in our political forums as though it were true. But I do know this: such statements deepen the divisions already tearing at our social fabric. They stir up anger and resentment. They echo rhetoric we’ve seen grow louder in our neighbour to the south.

In the fourth chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, we hear one of the most profound stories of Jesus—the temptation in the wilderness.

Led by the Spirit into the desert, Jesus is confronted by ha-Satan—the Challenger, the Adversary. (It’s worth noting that in this passage “Satan” is not a proper name but a Greek term for “the one who opposes.”)

And what are the temptations? You probably remember:

• To turn stones into bread to satisfy hunger—indulgence.

• To throw himself from the pinnacle of the Temple to force God’s hand—testing God.

• To bow down for the promise of ruling all the kingdoms of the world—grasping for power and control.

Jesus resists every one. His ministry is launched by his refusal to be seduced by comfort, spectacle, or power.

And yet… two thousand years later, even as we profess to follow Jesus, we still struggle with the same temptations.

We are not a persecuted people—not in Canada. We never have been. In truth, we carry a history of persecuting others in the name of Jesus since colonization began.

And yet here we are, hearing leaders in our own government use words that foster division and suspicion—words built on falsehood.

Jesus tells us that to follow him, to be his disciples, is to know the truth.
And it is that truth that will set us free:

• Free to endure our own wilderness times without selling out to indulgence or power.

• Free to stop treating God like a vending machine, as if our prayers were coins that would dispense the treats we crave.

• Free to remember that God came to us out of Love, and that this Love is eternal.

Blessings to you today, dear Bethel friends.

Speak truth.
You are loved.
And you are not persecuted.

—Rev. Lynne