Many Americans are familiar with the term Jesusland, and it’s connotation that (the Democratic-voting) half of America is so ideologically different than the (Republican-voting) other half, that it should secede and join with the more liberal Canada. There would than be two redrawn nations in North America – the United States of Canada and Jesusland.

However, most of the Jesusland maps arrogantly assume all of Canada is a bastion of social democracy and progressive liberal policies. I’m here to make the case that Alberta deserves a place with the big boys of evangelism and right-wing politics.

For those who don’t know, Alberta is a province (it’s like really big state, like Texas) in Western Canada, which has about 3.5 million people (about 10% of Canada’s population), two major cities (Calgary and Edmonton – both roughly a million people) and the second busiest highway in Canada (ref) connecting the two cities. There are several universities (U of Calgary, Lethbridge, Alberta, and Athabasca U), and a bunch of tech schools and colleges. Being still in Canada, we have public healthcare and gun laws. Also, Alberta (surprisingly) reported the second highest non-religious rate (after very liberal British Columbia) in the last census (ref).

Southern and rural Alberta however, features some of the largest Mormon concentrations in Canada, as well as large Baptist and Evangelical seminaries. Many of the conservative religions are growing fast in Alberta, while the traditionally liberal churches are dropping steadily. Those who reported “Apostolic”, “Born-again Christian” and “Evangelical” as their brand of Christian increased in number by 1.5 times since the past census.

In Cochrane, a small town outside of Calgary, there are 19 (active) churches for just over 14,000 residents. Cochrane also features one of Canada’s largest Baptist Seminaries. And to top it off at least one public school science teacher in Cochrane hangs posters in his class with slogans like “Be a somebody, God doesn’t make nobodies”, and answers questions on the creation of the asteroid belt with “some people believe God did it.”

This is a good point to let you know in grade six in this province, you learn “Sky Science” instead of astronomy. Reading this outline you think it may as well be astrology:

In science, our grade six class will be studying Sky Science. In the grade six curriculum for Sky Science students are expected to observe, describe, and interpret the movement of objects in the sky; and identify pattern and order in these movements. Students will explore a web page with previewed sites listed. It is with these sites students will create a database for each of The Planets. Students will also complete research on The Explorers – Space Travel and Celestial Bodies.

I realize that this isn’t enough to warrant Jesusland inclusion, so let me tell you more.

Our province didn’t vote for our current (super-)majority conservative government. 40% of people voted, and of them 53% actually voted conservative (note that’s about 21% of the population who voted for the government), yet the Conservatives now have 72 of 83 seats here. See George W. Bush and his Republican team are amateurs at stealing an election compared to our “Progressive” Conservatives. Oh, and in the last federal election we voted 60% Conservative, yet they swept every riding in the province. Now the media doesn’t even think a seat change is possible here.

But wait, there’s more. This is a government with the power to pass anything without worrying about debate, yet they still go behind closed doors and pass things like a raise in private school funding from 60% to 70%. I should also note, that many of our private charter schools funded by this are religious schools that discriminate against students and staff who won’t sign statements of faith. Further, we also retain a (publicly-funded) Catholic school board.

And if you’re worried about prayer in school, we’ve actually legislated that it’s allowed! Our provincial laws allow for “religious and patriotic instruction” and if you don’t want to participate you have to bring in a note (from your parents, because young’uns in this province can’t think for themselves) and then sit in the hall. And this isn’t just a wacky law that no one follows, it’s used to allow for the Lord’s Prayer to be said in a public school in Stettler (Eastern rural Alberta).

But even better, is if you take a short drive from Stettler you can find Canada’s first permanent creation museum. Quite the affront to one of the greatest excavations of dinosaur bones and most impressive museums in the world.

Luckily, a new Centre for Inquiry community (yes, we do spell Centre with an RE in Canada) in Calgary and is part of a larger movement to help combat this lunacy, but it’s only a start. So until the rationalists win, or I get run out of this province.