"That New Time Religion"

The sense of unlimited possibilities that followed creation of the United States expressed in a number of new religious teachings. Many of these became movements that crossed the border into Canada and have spread worldwide.

The Mormons, formally The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, began with Joseph Smith in New York in 1830. The community moved to Ohio, Missouri, then Illinois. Under Brigham Young it transplanted to Utah where it built a state, a university and an impressive headquarters including a Temple and Tabernacle, home of the "Mormon Tabernacle Choir."

Jehovah's Witnesses began as "Bible students" in Pittsburg under Charles Taze Russel in 1872. Originally a loose network of local assemblies, they adopted a corporate structure with standardized doctrine and centralized management and appointments under Russel's successor Joseph Rutherford.

Christian Science, or The Church of Christ, Scientist, was founded by Mary Baker Eddy in Boston in 1879. It is best known for its Pulitzer Price-winning journal, The Christian Science Monitor. Smallest of the 19th century new movements, Christian Science became an antecedent to later New Thought churches.

Religious Science, also known as Science of Mind" was founded by Ernest Holmes in 1927. It had no direct link to Christian Science, but has a similar system of courses and "licensed practitioners," as well as some key beliefs in common.

All of these movements spread into Canada early in their history. The Cardston Temple, dedicated in 1913 in Cardston Alberta (not far from the Montana border), was the first Mormon temple built outside the US. It served a growing body of Latter Day Saints who emigrated from the US, beginning with the family of Orest Card, founder and namesake of the town, in 1888.

Although the LDS community was initially controversial, due to its then practice of plural marriage, the presence of the Jehovah's Witnesses in Canada was even more so.

The Witnesses appeared in Canada about 1882 in Ontario and spread throughout the Dominion. In the two world wars they came to public attention for their objection to military service, and their refusal to take part in patriotic exercises. In this respect they were not unlike early Christians who were persecuted for refusing to burn incense before the bust of the Roman Emperor.

From 1940-43 membership in the Witnesses was illegal under the War Measures Act. Persecution continued after the War in Quebec where lawyers F. R. Scott and Pierre Trudeau defended their rights before the courts.

A legacy of the Witnesses' struggles was a realization that Parliamentary institutions were insufficient to protect minority rights from tyranny of the majority. John Diefenbaker, who had defended Witnesses in court, legislated protection of their rights in the Canadian Bill of Rights adopted while he was Prime Minister.

PM Pierre Trudeau included similar safeguards in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms which was entrenched as part of the Canadian Constitution in 1982.

Although intially subject to ridicule, Christian Science and later New Thought churches have been less controversial in Canada.

Tomorrow we'll look at where these new movements fitted on the political/social spectrum in contrast with mainstream churches.