Founded in 1964, the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada is a national association of 32 Protestant denominations, churches, church-related organizations and educational institutions committed to bringing Christians together. There are an estimated 3 million Protestant evangelical Christians in Canada, of which approximately 1.2 million are members or adherents of EFC member denominations. The following joint statement was issued November 24, 2000. In our pluralistic Canadian society there should be room for faith diversity. There are people of deep faith in all political parties and at all levels of government.
Individuals ought to be able to come to public life with their faith and their beliefs intact.
Every faith tradition has fundamental statements of belief that espouse the truth of its faith. If politicians or media deem such statements about deity and the world to be inappropriate, the result will be to exclude all people of faith from public life. Therefore, we the undersigned religious representatives call upon politicians and media representatives to be respectful of the faith beliefs of all political candidates and to be committed to treating them with dignity and sensitivity. Canadian Jewish Congress Ms. Janet Somerville General Secretary Canadian Council of Churches Msgr. Next Last modified January 11, 2001.