Rotary Centre for the Arts

(ROB MUNRO / iNFOnews.ca)

On Sunday mornings, hundreds of people file into Kelowna’s Rotary Centre for the Arts with their bibles in hand to sing and pray in a church service.

They’re members of Praxis Church and the city’s largest arts building is currently their house of worship, but if a Kelowna advocacy group gets their way, it won’t be much longer.

Advocacy Canada fights for the rights of the LGBT community, which it says are clearly not welcome in Praxis’ services in a public building. They accuse the arts centre of not living up to its stated goals of inclusion.

That’s met with a similar argument from the church which says Advocacy Canada is not practicing what it preaches; it can’t be inclusive if it means Christians cannot attend the building.

And that’s how the arts centre has become the latest battleground for the culture wars.

The pastor of Praxis claims it has been in the crosshairs of LGBT advocates for several years, since the church put its doctrines on the internet for all to see.

“We believe that divorce, adultery, and homosexuality constitute a violation of God’s intention for marriage and sexuality as laid out in the Holy Bible,” it says. “We do not condone same sex marriage or homosexual lifestyles. Additionally, we believe that God has created men and women as two distinct sexual beings. Any discrepancy between ones biological sex and gender identity is due to the effects of sin in the world.”

To advocate Wilbur Turner, those are exclusionary statements that mean he is not welcome.

“This is really problematic in terms of the doctrine that's taught and incongruent with what we believe is the values of the Rotary Center for the Arts, where they talk about inclusivity and being a cultural space for the community,” he says.

He’s well aware that plenty of churches have similar beliefs, but if they’re in their own space, he can live with it. It’s the use of a public building that makes this different.

Joshua Dool, pastor of the church, could not contain his irritation at having to deal with this, nor with reporter questions.. He says they’ve been targeted by the LGBT community. He said his personal information was put online, exposing him to harassment, he believes they are responsible for vandalism and a lost opportunity to acquire their own church — and a bomb threat called in to one of their services.

“I hope the Rotary continues to be a place for everyone in the community. That's part of their values. Advocacy Canada is accusing the Rotary (Centre) of not being true to their mission statement, which is a place to be inclusive for all. And Advocacy Canada's mission statement is that they want to create a more welcoming and inclusive community for all.

“And I just find that ironic that an organization with that mandate is trying to have other people kicked out. It seems like you can be inclusive as long as you hold to what they believe you should believe. And if you don't, then they wanna cancel you.”

He insisted that everyone is welcome in the church. He wouldn’t entertain questions or discussion about the qualifications for that inclusion, but still defended it.

"We hold to the 2,000-year-old Orthodox teachings of the Church. The same thing that the Christian Church has believed for the last 2,000 years," he said. 

It almost sounds like they are using the same arguments against each other, but there’s a clear distinction that Dool refuses to acknowledge. Advocacy Canada is talking about safe access to a public building, not the right to damn people who do.

“I respect people's beliefs and their right to practice their religion,” Turner says. “But where it becomes a problem is where these kind of beliefs are being promoted that implies that there's something wrong with you that needs to be fixed, which has caused so much trauma in the 2SLGBTQI-plus community over the years because of these beliefs and the idea that there's guilt associated with your identity, with your sexual orientation, that you're going to go to hell, like you're gonna burn in fire, all these kinds of things that is part of that teaching, it really messes with people.”

In the uncomfortable middle is the Rotary Centre for the Arts. Since January, the church has had a contract to rent out several rooms including the Mary Irwin Theatre for two separate services. Dool was guarded about how long that contract lasts, and how much it pays.

Turner says he has met with staff at the rotary centre, but says it’s largely been a one-sided conversation. He was given assurances that the centre would reflect on inclusivity, but isn’t forthcoming.

He says they want two things. Be transparent about inclusivity so Turner’s community knows what they are walking into. If there’s a church service that denies their right to exist, they should know that.

He danced around his second ask — that the centre “ensure that the organizations and entities that are using the space in there are respecting the values of diversity, inclusion, and belonging such that it would be a safe space for everyone” — but admitted it’s much simpler than that.

When the contract with Praxis is done, they don’t want it renewed.

While Advocacy Canada has a petition on the subject, the only one who can adjudicate this battle in the culture wars is the rotary centre itself and it doesn’t appear eager to weigh the paradoxical and polarizing arguments for inclusivity from either side.

Colleen Fitzpatrick, executive director for the Rotary Centre for the Arts, didn’t return phone calls.

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