It is not very often that you see a candidate for public office in Alberta reference the Book of Revelation.
In a tirade against gays and lesbians on his website last summer, Edmonton-South West Wildrose Party candidate Allan Hunsperger evoked references from the Old Testament about ‘lakes of fire’ while he criticized a policy created by the elected trustees of the Edmonton Public School Board that would help fight bullying and ensure safe spaces for all students, especially those who are or are perceived to be sexual minorities.
What should bother Albertans most about these comments are that they are not a case of run of the mill redneck homophobia. Mr. Hunsperger’s comments were partially directed toward children in Edmonton’s Public School system.
Are you wondering how this could possibly be worse?
Wildrose Party leader Danielle Smith refuses to condemn Mr. Hunsperger’s comments. Ms. Smith told reporters that “when a person is making personal statements in their capacity as a pastor, which he was, I don’t think anybody should be surprised that they’re expressing certain viewpoints.”
There is such thing as personal viewpoints and there is such thing as prejudice and intolerance.
There are well-meaning candidates running under the Wildrose Party banner in this election, but the controversial views of some of Ms. Smith’s potential cabinet ministers should be of concern to Albertans.
Read Mr. Hunsperger’s comments for yourself:
Sunday, 05 June 2011 09:55
Born this Way
Written by Allan & Cindy HunspergerI have decided to do a sequel to Lady Gaga’s CD, “Born this Way.” My CD will be entitled, “Born this Way – And that’s why Jesus came.”The world is believing the lie that because you were “born this way” you now have a right to live this way – the way you were born. Sounds great at first except nobody is mentioning what the results will be of living the way you were born!If you were “born this way,” are you going to “die this way?” Well if that is true, and it is, then you have fallen right into the trap that is as old as time. That trap is what satan wants for you – but is that what you want?You see, you can live the way you were born, and if you die the way you were born then you will suffer the rest of eternity in the lake of fire, hell, a place of eternal suffering. Now at this point I am not judging, I am just stating a fact! You may not believe me and you have that choice, but I would challenge you to seriously check it out because once you cross over, there is no turning back. It is not only Lady Gaga that doesn’t understand this, it is also our educators with the Edmonton Public school board. The following is right from the public school board’s website: “PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATION STATEMENT The Board is committed to establishing and maintaining a safe, inclusive, equitable, and welcoming learning and teaching environment for all members of the school community. This includes those students, staff, and families who identify or are perceived as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, two- spirit, queer or questioning their sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. The Board expects all members of our diverse community to be welcomed, respected, accepted, and supported in every school.” Why this from our public educators? Because they believe people were “born this way” and have a right to die this way. The blind leading the blind! Now every Christian school that has come under the Edmonton Public School board will have to adopt this as well. Trapped! For years I have warned Christian educators that you can’t partner with public education because public education is godless. As far as public education is concerned, there is no God. The dictionary defines godless as profane or wicked. Psalm 1:1 “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel (teachings) of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.”There is so much I could teach on from this point but I will stick to the subject and then all the other subjects that come out of this, I can speak to later. Back in the eighties Holy Spirit revealed to me a truth that I have never forgotten. Our family was flying from California back to Calgary and we had to make a change over in San Francisco. As we were waiting for our plane to leave, two men who were homosexuals were also waiting and we began to share in conversation. Once they found out that I was a pastor the conversation went to their lifestyle and they began to expand how we as Christians have judged them wrongly. Then one of the men said to me, “You will never understand what it is like to be born one way and have society expect to you live another.” Immediately Holy Spirit dropped this in my mouth and I said, “You know, I do understand, because I was born the same way. I was born living one way and God expects me to live another way. I can’t do that on my own and that’s why Jesus Christ came so I could be changed.”Warning people to not live the way they were born is not judgment or condemnation – it is love! Accepting people the way they are is cruel and not loving!
April 19, 2012 at 2:31 pm
I think that the problem (aside from the fact that in this day and age we are still having to deal with homophobes and racism) is that (a) he made comments related to public school board policy, (b) his party leader did not chastise him or refute those views, and (c) he is a potential cabinet minister should the Wildrose party win the election.
So this is NOT a freedom of speech issue, people are responding to the fact that a man who is willing to create an intolerant environment in the public school system is running for office – and every Albertan should be standing up and telling him no. If we are not advocating for our children to have a safe, tolerant educational system, who will?
April 19, 2012 at 11:57 pm
Can’t believe the attack on religion…….if you attack homosexuals then OMG the world is ending cause some boy lover had his feelings hurt. So freedom and personal rights end if you are a Jew Muslim or Christian. Get off your pedestals. Homos hate religious people cause of their beliefs and religious people don’t condone your beliefs. Can’t please everyone. Oh! These so called modern albertans will decide on Monday. Stay tuned.
April 24, 2012 at 8:57 am
I think that the liberals and the Social Democrats should get off their high horses Mr. Hunsperger is a bible believing Christian and what he said is the truth whether his Party’s Leader or the left wingers out there like it or not.
December 21, 2012 at 5:42 am
right on brother. you are becoming my party of choice. i was a bred and born Alberta Conservative. sadly they’ve learned to feed at the trough like all the rest. my heart breaks.
April 10, 2015 at 1:29 am
I’m 26 from Barrhead, and I hope that we can have candidates like Allan Hunsperger all across this nation. He has an old-fashioned biblically based viewpoint, it’s true, but it’s not one of homophobia, it’s one of brotherhood and love. Understanding that human nature is wicked and that we have not come all this way by ourselves is something we all need to come to grips with.