Christian singer and speaker Sean Feucht has been attempting to have a Canadian tour. It is not going well for him as venue after venue is cancelling.
Read: Permit revoked for MAGA musician’s concert at Parks Canada site, but show will go on
Here is his official statement on X:
Not surprisingly, Feucht is trying to create a narrative of persecution. “Officials are trying to stop the message of Jesus.”
Except that is not what is going on.
Feucht is not coming to Canada to simply tell us that Jesus loves us and that we can be in relationship with him. There are plenty of pastors here in Canada doing that all the time.
He adds a very strong element of hate to the message. He is against same-sex relationships. That itself is not the issue as there are many pastors in Canada who feel the same way.
It is the way that Feucht expresses his contempt for 2SLGBTQI+ people. He refers to them as “demonic” and calls them some very disgusting things. He is creating an atmosphere of hate towards a group of people and he wants to do that in public places that are meant to be safe for all.
This is not Christian persecution. If Feucht cannot figure out how to preach the gospel without calling people vile names, then perhaps he needs to find a new career.
Of course the other issue is that Feucht is not just an evangelist for Jesus, he is an evangelist for MAGA. He probably struggles to understand why Canadians do not like what Trump says about Canada.
When I talk to the people in my community, both liberal and conservative, they are all hostile to the message of Trump. I do not know any Canadians who approve of the MAGA message.
I am not suggesting that pro-2SLGBTQI+ people or anti-MAGA people would be justified to use force against Feucht’s message but tensions do run high on both sides.
The people who manage these venues do need to consider people’s safety. If a church wants to invite Feucht to a service or a concert in their building, that is one thing. I do believe that freedom of speech is important.
However, allowing someone to present some volatile views in a public place is another thing entirely. It is not helpful or safe.
One last thing. As a pastor in Nova Scotia, not far from where Feucht is doing one of his events, his activity makes my job harder. There are people who see his message as the Christian message.
He is creating a narrative which argues that loving Jesus means hating certain groups of people. He will have his big events and leave pastors like myself and my colleagues to pick up the pieces.
