The Alberta Prosperity Project (APP) commences each public event it hosts with prayer. We are often asked why we do so. The question is welcome, but in order to answer, we must first discuss why we have enshrined “The Supremacy of God” in our proposed policy and governance documents.
The APP recommends an independence-focused government adopt a secular model of governance. We do not advocate for a theocracy; we believe that government must be locked out from interfering with religion. However, that does not mean we believe the principles of religion, such as the Judaeo-Christian values that western civilization was founded upon, should be eradicated from government.
At present, ideologues have captured Thomas Jefferson’s famous “separation between church and state” clause and distorted it to mean that religion should be abolished by government entirely. However, that’s not what Jefferson’s statement declares. His motivation for writing such a phrase was that politics (the government/state) should excuse itself from religion, and not the other way round. To properly quote Jefferson on this matter, they must cite his entire paragraph.
“Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.”*
More than that, the APP recognizes that the post-modernist, progressivist worldview dominating our bureaucracy is a source of many oppressions that Albertans have worked so hard to navigate over these last years. The problem with such worldviews is the same problem with abolishing the Supremacy of God—man becomes God. Such evolution would be one thing if we actually were divine, but we're not. Therefore, the justification for including the Supremacy of God in the APP’s proposed policy and governance document is logical and is three-fold.
1. Objective Morality
Encoding the Supremacy of God in constitutional documents acknowledges that there is a Being who is morality itself. Without an objective standard of morality (i.e., God), it’s impossible to absolutely declare “this action is right, and this other action is wrong.” Ruler(s) may attempt to make themselves the standard of morality, but that doesn’t mean they are any more than the strongest child on the playground is justified to dictate the rules of play.
Without an objective standard of value, our struggle for freedom would be pointless precisely because there would be nothing telling us that freedom is a meaningful (or even desirable) objective to pursue. Similarly, there would be nothing telling us that tyranny is contemptible, or that things like theft are wrong. Without an objective standard of right and wrong, terms like “progress, regress, forward, backward, legal, and illegal” are meaningless words. Instead, we could only float in “moral-space” like objects without a reference point. We could never act “better or worse,” only “different” than we did the day before. No one could be held accountable for their actions because there would be nothing to hold them account to.
2. Law
It’s no secret that ancient (and present) kings and queens believed they transcended the rule of law. Of course, the terror that was often inflicted as a consequence of this belief was unfathomable. However, under the supremacy of God, all of us as human beings are equal. If one commits a crime, they are guilty whether they are a storekeeper, truck driver, philanthropist, or politician. This rule of law is codified in the Judaeo-Christian scripture. Recognizing the Supremacy of God and Law also means that no present human is God, and therefore, none of us are the law; whether Prime Minister or bellhop, none of us are above it.
3. Restriction
As previously mentioned, the Supremacy of God means rulers are governed by a law that is greater than them. For that reason, it enables the citizenry to require the rulers to treat their fellow men and women as exactly that—men and women. Leaders who elevate themselves to the thrones of unjustified and authoritarian power find themselves condemned by the Supremacy of God and therefore challenged by a watchful population. Because the leader is accountable to the law, their otherwise unchallenged authority to exercise their appetite for uncontrolled power is restricted and restrained.
Therefore, the APP advocates separating church and state to dilute the government’s authority in the religious arena rather than abolishing the influence of religious principles in the government. The APP does not advocate that the Judaeo-Christian worldview be forbidden in government, but rather, that politicians be motivated by its commands and laws. Indeed, such values are vital to Alberta’s flourishing.
Prayer
Now, we can answer the first question—why pray before meetings?
The APP conducts its meetings with prayer because it is a recognition of the Supremacy of God. It is an acknowledgement of Christ’s sovereign splendor and authority that transcends all Earthly power. Prayer is our submission to humility and our declaration that we are not the law, justice, or morality, but rather, are governed by such things.
Not only so, but prayer is our announcement that politicians, bureaucrats, and other powerful men and women are governed by the Supremacy of God as well. Each and every time we begin our meetings with it, we are reminded that we are not seeking Alberta’s independence for the purpose of power or veneration, but rather, we’re doing so because as men and women who serve justice, truth, and freedom, we’re commanded to do what’s right.
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*Thomas Jefferson, Letter to the Danbury Baptists, US Library of Congress