Springs’ decision puts us all at risk

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/05/2021 (1571 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Does a church have a responsibility to the community that goes beyond its congregation? This question is at the heart of the matter as it pertains to Winnipeg-based Springs Church, a mega-facility located in St. Boniface.

This past weekend, Springs hosted an in-person graduation that included posting photos of students on stage, maskless and certainly not socially distancing. This church was previously at the centre of several COVID-related issues, including drive-in services in violation of public health orders, so its name in the media is nothing new.

The idea to host a graduation and post photos is either an ill-considered decision made by someone excited about graduation, or deliberately meant to provoke a negative response.

An ecumenical band of religious leaders in our province subsequently issued a letter castigating Springs for this event, stating it was incongruent with “Christian” teachings.

Moving beyond Scripture, can we agree that hosting such a graduation and posting these photos is tone-deaf, designed to provoke, un-neighbourly, and remarkably asinine?

Let’s consider each point. It’s tone-deaf because thousands of young Manitobans are doing their part — staying home from school, obeying public health orders, missing another graduation. For Springs to put out such pictures is to thumb its nose at teachers, students and their families.

The posting of pictures is especially egregious and childlike — did you have to make sure everyone knew of your event? Was it not enough to host the graduation in contravention of the current state of COVID-19? Did you have to rub our noses in your decision to defy the common good?

Churches are an important element of our broader community. A church is more than a building — it provides a vital piece of the social fabric that binds us together. The decision to host this graduation while all others are cancelled at this time was to put yourself apart from the broader community — as if to say: “the rules don’t apply to us.”

We look to churches and clergy for leadership. For Springs to push ahead with this graduation was to abrogate their position of leadership in our community. Full stop.

Finally, the event was asinine for the most obvious reason — it was completely at contretemps with the rest of our lives during the pandemic. In proceeding with this event, Springs’ leadership had to know there would be a negative reaction.

Understand that, by and large, religious organizations do not pay property taxes and that contributions to these establishments are tax-benefited. This means all taxpayers subsidize Springs — if the church doesn’t pay taxes, the rest of us must pay more. So, and with the greatest of respect, it may be time to push back.

The broader community may consider the end of financial benefits to such a religious organization, or the revocation of its charitable status. Churches do have power, but so do we. If Manitobans en masse decide that they are fed up with subsidizing such a group, then Springs would face a costly uphill legal and lobbying effort to retain this beneficial status.

There are both laws and rules. To illustrate, consider this analogy I borrowed: You are standing in line behind 10 people at the bank. There is no written law that says you can’t push ahead to the front, but you don’t do it because we live in a civilized society.

Springs may or may not have broken the laws. However, it most certainly defied the rules.

This is a unique time. COVID-19 has forced each of us to change in ways both large and small. Springs’ decision to act in a manner so contradictory to the public good puts us all at risk. This is not the fault of graduates — it is the fault of church leaders who view themselves and their congregation as being more important than the rest of us.