Context: The Confederation Report
Host: Steven R. Martins
Language: English
This is The Confederation Report, a weekly analysis of Canadian news and culture from a Biblical worldview.
Excerpt: Canada’s pagan resurgence cannot be dismissed as mere immigration, for beneath the surface lies the deeper task before the church—to proclaim Christ’s lordship over all of life, remain faithful in our small corners, and recover a distinctly Scriptural vision of reality against every form of Oneism.
Opening Words (00:00-00:36)
Part I: Let’s Set the Matter Straight (00:36–06:29)
Some argue that Canada is not experiencing a pagan resurgence, but simply the inevitable consequence of mass immigration; yet even if that were true, it does not refute the reality that paganism is on the rise, nor does it excuse the church from its mission to proclaim Christ’s lordship over all of life.
Part II: Be Encouraged (06:29–09:07)
Do not be discouraged, for though we sow in hard soil, Christ—our Dominion King—has already secured the victory, and our task is simply to be faithful in our little corner of the world.
Part III: Revisiting Paganism (09:07–13:00)
Every worldview apart from biblical Christianity is Oneist—collapsing the Creator–creation distinction into sameness—whereas Christianity alone is Twoist, upholding that fundamental truth without which meaning, truth, and life cannot exist.
Did You Know? (13:00–13:53)
In August 1814, British troops set Washington ablaze in retaliation for the burning of York and Niagara, sending President Madison fleeing, Dolley rescuing a portrait of Washington, and leaving the young republic humiliated in one of the War of 1812’s most dramatic moments.
Recommended Resource (13:53–15:38)
This week’s recommended resource is Discovering Dooyeweerd, edited by Danie F. M. Strauss and published by Paideia Press.
Closing Words (15:38–16:19)
Transcript:
It’s Week 35, and this is The Confederation Report—the flagship weekly podcast of the Cántaro Institute. My name is Steven Martins, and I’ll be your host, bringing you incisive analysis, cultural commentary, and thought-provoking interviews on the issues shaping Canadian life and beyond—all through the lens of a biblical worldview. Because Christ is Lord—over Canada, over culture, over all of life.
Part I: Let’s Set the Matter Straight (00:36-06:29)
In a recent installment of The Confederation Report, which covered the inauguration of the vast statue of Lord Ram, one of the many Hindu gods, in Mississauga, some listeners and readers pushed back, insisting that Canada is not experiencing a pagan resurgence. The problem, they argued, is mass immigration: as new people come to Canada, so do their religious worldviews.
I appreciate this insight, since immigration is certainly one of the contributing factors behind the resurgence of paganism. It does not, however, refute the fact that paganism is on the rise. This kind of denialism—this ostrich-like burying of the head in the sand—leads the church to grow apathetic in its mission and distracted by a single political issue. Immigration is a matter worth visiting on another occasion, and there is a Scriptural response to it. But whether or not we are experiencing mass immigration, can we pause for a moment to recognize the opportunity we have to share the gospel with those newly arrived in our country?
Yes, our immigration system is broken, unchecked, and its cultural impacts are inevitable. Yet in the short term, there is little we can do to change it. Canadians already voted in the last federal election, and the majority chose a Liberal minority government. What we have, then, is what the people wanted—even if it is massively detrimental to our nation’s future.
I am in no way endorsing current policy, justifying it, or dismissing its consequences. My point is simply this: it is what it is, and we should see in it a growing opportunity to win the nations to Christ. If you’ve been given lemons, make lemonade!
And even if we set aside the problem of mass immigration, let’s not deceive ourselves into thinking that Canada is somehow a Christian nation. It certainly has a Christian heritage, though one that has been silenced and suppressed in the public square. Some may regard Canada as post-Christian, given that there was once a predominantly Christian consensus. But I would argue that if our eschatology is rightly rooted in God’s Word, then Canada is not post-Christian—it is pre-Christian. That means our task as Christ’s body is not finished.
How, then, does a nation like ours come to embrace the truth of the gospel? Not by coercion. Not by totalitarian measures. Not by the church absorbing the state or violating the sovereign boundaries God has ordained. Rather, it comes through evangelism—through proclaiming the gospel, not a privatized spirituality preoccupied only with “going to heaven,” but the holistic gospel of the kingdom of God on earth. And it comes through discipleship—shaping lives that are cultivated in worship, that confess Christ as Lord, and that live out a worldview which testifies to His reign in every sphere of life.
It can be surprising just how many people are triggered by the truth of Christ’s Lordship. The Cántaro Institute will be hosting its annual conference later this year under the theme “All Hail the King: Christ and Government.” Those outside the church are outraged that Christians would dare to believe Christ is head not only of the church, but also over the state. They feign disbelief, yet their hearts are firmly set against Him. We should expect that kind of hostility from the world—the same hostility that confronted Jesus when He declared Himself to be the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). It was mankind’s sinful hostility that crucified Him.
What is far more surprising, however, is the hostility from many who call themselves Christians but recoil at the idea that Jesus is Lord over more than spiritual matters. They want to serve Christ privately while reserving the public sphere for themselves, as if the spiritual and the earthly were somehow mutually exclusive. But they are not. Christ is either Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all—and the latter is an impossibility.
This misunderstanding has left the church walking in circles—unsure of its mission, unclear about its trajectory. The church certainly has the Word of God and the testimony of history to guide it, but the vision becomes hazy when false interpretations of the gospel compete for dominance. Pietism has only deepened this confusion. I do not suggest that the church in North America—especially in Canada—is destined to remain in such a state. There is a way forward. But first, we must acknowledge reality.
What is needed is a decisive break with anything that is not grounded in Scripture. This is why I value the work of Cornelius Van Til and Herman Dooyeweerd. Both sought to cut through the Greek and Rationalist baggage that has long burdened the church, striving instead to see all of reality through the lens of God’s Word. We must abandon the worldly, autonomous spirit that clings so stubbornly to Christian thinking, and recover a distinctly Christian perspective of reality.
Part II: Be Encouraged (06:29-09:07)
It may be tempting to despair when we consider the spiritual health of our nation—especially when it feels like we’re toiling away in our small corner of the world and seeing no lasting effect on the greater landscape. That is where discouragement grips tightly, leaving us in a state of apathy. But let me say this: do not be discouraged.
We are not the ones who bring salvation and transformation. That is the Lord’s work. This truth should lift a burden from our shoulders. Yet it does not mean we are to sit idle. As a wise pastor once said, “It’s not let go and let God—it’s let God and get busy.” Our calling is to faithfulness, beginning with ourselves, then our homes, and extending outward into the world. God calls His people to be faithful, and those who are faithful will see His hand at work in their lives.
The prophets of the Old Testament knew seasons of discouragement. Again and again, they proclaimed the Word of the Lord, and time after time the people refused to repent. Yet they remained faithful. The apostles and the early church likewise met with rejection, hostility, and resistance to the gospel. Yet they remained faithful. And so must we. We may be sowing seed in hard soil, but the Lord Himself will bring in His harvest. He will gather His people. He will accomplish the triumph of His gospel. Our task is simply to be faithful in our little corner of the world.
And what does that faithfulness look like? It looks like proclaiming the gospel and discipling the nations—teaching them everything Jesus commanded, the whole counsel of God. Has He not already bound the strong man? Is He not reclaiming the world as His own? Does not everything belong to Him—from the hairs on our heads to the nations themselves? Christ is the Dominion Man. Let us live in light of that reality.
It is fitting that Canada was given the name The Dominion of Canada. Whether knowingly or not, its founders drew from Psalm 72:8: “He shall have dominion from sea to sea.” That name testifies to a deeper truth: Christ is Lord. So be encouraged, dear Christian. Press on. Do not tire. Do not flounder. Be of good cheer—for our Lord has secured the victory.
Part III: Revisiting Paganism (09:07-13:00)
Now, let’s return to the matter of paganism. When I last addressed the subject of Lord Ram and Hinduism, I briefly touched on the categories of Oneism and Twoism. Yet because this distinction is novel to many—though thoroughly Scriptural (Rom. 1)—it deserves further clarity.
At the most basic level, there are only two worldviews. The first is the Oneist worldview, which denies the Creator–creation distinction and collapses everything into a single, undifferentiated whole. The second is the Twoist worldview, which upholds that fundamental distinction: God is the Creator, and everything else is creation.
Every religious worldview outside of biblical Christianity is, at root, Oneist. Why? Because they blur the line between Creator and creation, making both one and the same. And when reality is viewed without distinction, it cannot generate distinctions within itself. Such a position is a philosophical impossibility.
And let us be clear: it is not only overtly pantheistic systems like Hinduism that are Oneist. Any worldview that substitutes some aspect of creation for the Creator falls into the same error. That includes scientism. That includes Darwinism. That includes atheism. All are forms of Oneism.
The late Christian apologist Greg L. Bahnsen often repeated that the proof of the Christian worldview is “the impossibility of the contrary.” This is so because Christianity is the only worldview that truly recognizes the Creator–creation distinction. It alone is Twoist.
To illustrate: in a Oneist worldview, where Creator and creation are conflated or some finite aspect of reality is absolutized, distinctions themselves become meaningless. Numbers such as 1, 2, 3, and 4 should dissolve into sameness. “Up” and “down,” “light” and “darkness”—all lose their contrast. Distinction itself cannot exist.
Friedrich Nietzsche, in The Madman, captured the consequence of this collapse with haunting accuracy:
“Where has God gone?” he cried. “I shall tell you. We have killed him – you and I. We are his murderers. But how have we done this? How were we able to drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What did we do when we unchained the earth from its sun? Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving now? Away from all suns? Are we not perpetually falling? Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there any up or down left? Are we not straying as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has it not become colder? Is it not more and more night coming on all the time?….
Can we truly live according to a Oneist reality? Not at all. No one can—and no one does. People become walking, talking contradictions: denying the truth of biblical Christianity outwardly, yet presupposing it inwardly in the very root of their being.
As the Psalmist declares in Psalm 14:1 (repeated in Psalm 53:1), “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” Even in their denial, they reveal their dependence on Him, for apart from the Creator–creation distinction, there is no foundation for meaning, truth, or life itself.
Did You Know? (13:00-13:53)
In August 1814, during the War of 1812, British troops marched almost unopposed into Washington, D.C., and set fire to the city. The American forces scattered so quickly at the Battle of Bladensburg that their retreat was nicknamed the “Bladensburg Races.” President James Madison fled, while his wife Dolley famously saved state papers and a portrait of George Washington before the White House burned. The attack was payback for the American burning of York (Toronto) and Niagara, and while many Americans saw it as a humiliation, many in Britain viewed it as just revenge. The burning of Washington nearly led to moving the U.S. capital to the North, but the plan failed—leaving this event as one of the most dramatic and shocking moments in the War of 1812.
Recommended Resource (13:53-15:38)
This week’s recommended resource is Discovering Dooyeweerd, edited by Daniel F. M. Strauss and published by Paideia Press.
Herman Dooyeweerd has been described as “the most original philosopher Holland has produced—even Spinoza not excepted” (Langemeijer), and “the most profound, innovative, and penetrating philosopher since Kant” (Delvecchio). For many, he stands as the most formidable Dutch philosopher of the 20th century, a thinker whose legacy continues to shape Christian scholarship around the world.
In the footsteps of Abraham Kuyper, Dooyeweerd recognized that the gospel touches the very heart of mankind, the religious root of our being, and therefore cannot be confined to the inner life of the church. Its renewing power must extend to every sphere of existence—family, culture, politics, science, and education. From this conviction, he developed a Christian philosophy that exposed the inadequacy of reductionist worldviews and offered a comprehensive Twoist vision of reality, rooted in the Creator–creation distinction.
Discovering Dooyeweerd is a 638-page volume that opens up these insights with clarity and depth. Edited by Daniel F. M. Strauss, it provides an accessible introduction to Dooyeweerd’s reformational philosophy, highlighting its power to illuminate not only the foundations of the sciences but also the practices of everyday life. Readers will encounter distinctions and analyses not often found elsewhere, gaining fresh perspective on how faith shapes thought and action in every sphere.
If you are looking for a resource that challenges the secular assumptions of modern culture and offers a biblical framework for engaging the world, this book is an invaluable guide. It is not just an academic text, but a tool for equipping Christians to think and live faithfully in every domain of life.
Closing Words (15:38-16:19)
Thanks for listening to The Confederation Report, this podcast is brought to you by the Cántaro Institute. Visit our website at cantaroinstitute.org for more information. For books to read on worldview, philosophy, and theology, visit our store at cantaroinstitute.store
We’ll meet again next week.