Canadian pastor rankles Alberta's silversmiths

Christians are under attack around the world and a Canadian pastor is challenging the Body of Christ to fight back.

Art Pawlowski, pastor of the Street Church in Calgary, has had a booth at the Medieval Faire in Brooks, Alberta, for several years where he sells merchandise to support his ministry.

Street Church takes the gospel to the streets and ministers to the homeless.

He tells OneNewsNow the annual event is quite popular but there is a dark side.

“You have Japanese Buddhists, you have tarot card readers, you have witches, you've got spirituality,” he says. “They can actually tell you about what kind of angels are following you or all kinds of stuff.”

The church's booth was highly popular so Pawlowski traveled to Europe to spend $56,000 out of his own pocket for merchandise to sell this year.

“And then I applied for the booth, only to find out that we are not welcome, that the decision is final and there's not even a negotiation of ‘Okay, please don't bring the name of Jesus or we don't allow that’ - nothing,” he says. “Just ‘Get out, we don't want you.’” 

A story about the disagreement noted that organizers told the pastor that religious displays weren't welcome despite a "Celtic Witch Psychic," among many others, manning a booth. 

The decision was made because the Faire organizers objected to the name of Jesus displayed on the booth's banner. Such a response at the Faire is akin to the story told in the Books of Acts of the silversmith Demetrius, who was angry at Paul for threatening his pagan business and caused a riot. 

Pawlowski, known in the community for his street preaching, has lodged a discrimination claim with the human rights agency and is also filing a lawsuit.

He says the point is to send a strong message to the enemies of Christianity and democracy that Christians will stand up and fight.

The pastor adds that democracy is very fragile right now, and if we lose that, Christianity will suffer immeasurably.