Inside Alberta’s Christian Leadership Summit

I knew I wasn’t the target audience for the Premier’s Annual Christian Summit, featuring Alberta Premier Danielle Smith as the main speaker. Still, the May 4 event, which was at some point quietly rebranded as the Alberta Christian Leadership Summit, claimed to be “designed for Christian leaders interested in engaging issues shaping our province,” and I thought: “Well, that’s me!” The summit promised to bring together politicians and Christians to have conversations on framing policies in Alberta.

I was hesitant about going. Not because, as a progressive Christian, I feared being a potential sheep among wolves, but because I wondered whether attending would lend legitimacy to an ultra-conservative Christian political gathering. I prayed and thought about it for a while. When my application to register was approved, I decided that my version of Christianity needed to be in that room.

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I was a visible outsider among the 700+ attendees. I wore my rainbow-cross shirt and manually added pronouns to my name tag. I was not mistreated or maligned. If anything, I was ignored, which may have been worse: I wanted to engage. I was, however, able to share my differing views on many of the day’s topics with people at my table, in the meal line and by the display tables.

When the guest of honour took the stage, I (and others at my table) noticed that, unlike the three Alberta cabinet ministers with her, Premier Smith did not invoke faith as a motivating factor in her political views. Regardless, the audience seemed confident that she would develop and implement the gathering’s desired policies. People in the room praised her government for restricting library books, limiting gender-affirming care for youth, banning “ideology” in schools and standing up to “woke” liberal policies federally.

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Throughout the conference, I noted four areas of concern: banning abortion; restricting or eliminating medical assistance in dying; promoting anti-transgender views; and opposing changes to federal legislation, including Bill C-9’s religious exemption in anti-hate laws.

What struck me most was what I came to think of as Assumed Solidarity. There was a clear sense among participants that this gathering represented the authoritative Christian voice in Alberta — that real Christians shared the same conservative priorities and opinions on societal issues and ethical values, and that aligning with the provincial government would translate those beliefs into policy.

This solidarity, in my view, included a palpable shared fear and worry that this summit’s version of Christianity was losing the battle for the soul of the nation. Alberta, from this perspective, is doing a bit better, but just barely. Nationally, the outlook appears more dire.

Speaker after speaker issued a call for people to become more active in the public square to counter the loud and organized voices of what one speaker described as “cultural Marxism.” Ironically, this call to public action took place within a tightly controlled environment. As attendees entered the building, they encountered security guards with metal detector wands and were told not to bring a bag bigger than a purse or a laptop. Photography and recording were not permitted. There appeared to be few news reporters in attendance.

I don’t think the organizers realized that their exclusionary guest list and style meant that this event would probably have little impact beyond the churches represented in the room.

At times, it felt like a pastor preaching to the choir — 10 hours of affirmation to the already converted.

Except, perhaps, for one.

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Rev. Blaine Gregg is the minister of Spirit of Hope United Church in Edmonton.