Posted on 07/24/2023 10:25:42 AM PDT by DFG
A Canadian pastor has “exiled” his family to Kenya after his government invoked emergency war measures to punish citizens who attended a protest where he prayed and sang the national anthem.
Harold Ristau, a decorated veteran and seminary professor, participated in the “trucker convoy” against lockdowns last February, when The Federalist interviewed him last. He is now party to a lawsuit arguing the government’s response to Covid that included treating dissent as terrorism violated Canadians’ fundamental rights.
“The fight is far from over,” said Marty Moore, a lawyer for the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF), which is litigating Ristau’s case. More than 14 months after the protest, police arrested another convoy leader this May. Lockdown litigation will likely continue for several more years, Moore said. The same is true across the West.
For peaceably assembling to petition his government for one day last year, Ristau says, he was threatened with the removal of his security clearance and government confiscation of his retirement nest egg, kids’ college funds, and other life savings. Ristau says he’s also experienced serious damage to his reputation, career, and friendships after the government used anti-terrorism measures against peaceful protesters.
“There’s no protection, if a pandemic started tomorrow, from future mandates. So that’s why I was really open to coming here,” his wife, Elise Ristau, said, sitting beside her husband in a recent video interview from Kenya.
Besides dealing with overbearing health restrictions, their children were mocked at school for their family’s religious and political views, Elise Ristau told The Federalist. After enduring more than two years of severe social and government repression, the Ristaus moved outside Nairobi with their five children last August.
(Excerpt) Read more at thefederalist.com ...
Kenya would not have been my first choice for family to exile, but the pastor is being very wise here, I think. It reminds me of when Sir Thomas More tried to get his family smuggled out of England so they wouldn’t suffer his trials and martyrdom.
I didn’t like the use of the word “exiles” in the article title. I read the article and no where does it say he’s “exiled.” The websites that use this type of sensationalism in their article titles need to either get a better grasp on what the news is, or stop trying to sensationalize everything. It doesn’t help the conservative/Christian to see this happening. The Liberty Daily is another website that does that on a constant basis and I’m getting tired of it. I even emailed the website manager and asked him to consider what he’s doing.
Ain’t Communism wonderful.
Am I missing something here? There was no reference to an occupation where he would need a security clearance.
That part of the story could be or become problematic as I see it.
People self-exile all the time. It isn’t sensationalism.
Canada is a dictatorship currently run by the bastard son of Fidel Castro.
Exile can be self-imposed and also imposed by defacto circumstances such as with Edward Snowden.
Maj. Dr. Rev. Harold Ristau, born in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, has served as a chaplain with the Canadian Armed Forces for the last 11 years. He holds the BA in Political Science and Economics from the University of Waterloo (1995) followed by an MA in Political Science from the same institution (1996), the MDiv from Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary and Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario (2000) and the PhD in Religious Studies (McGill University, 2006).. Ristau now serves as a professor at Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary as well as a military reserve unit.https://www.doxology.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Dr.-Ristau-bios.pdfRistau’s published works include “Understanding Martin Luther’s Demonological Rhetoric in His Treatise Against the Heavenly Prophets (1525): How Luther Speaks is Essential to What Luther Says” (Mellen, 2010); “At Peace with War: A Chaplain’s Meditations from Afghanistan” (Wipf & Stock, 2012); and “My First Exorcism: What the Devil Taught a Lutheran Pastor about Countercultural Spirituality” (Wipf & Stock, 2016). He is married to his lovely wife, Elise, and has five young children.
Keep up the good fight on all fronts, mate.
But the headline doesn’t say “self exile,” just “exile.” That’s what I’m talking about.
he was threatened with the removal of his security clearance and government confiscation of his retirement nest egg, kids’ college funds, and other life savings.
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That’ll be coming to the USA very soon.
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