An interfaith group is asking a Canadian appeals court to block a 1986 world’s fair pavilion that will feature a multimedia evangelistic presentation.
Pacific Interfaith Citizenship Association took its case to the British Columbia Appeal Court after the province’s supreme court ruled in favor of the “Pavilion of Promise.” The $3.2 million pavilion is being constructed as part of Expo ’86, a world’s fair that will begin in April in Vancouver, British Columbia. The pavilion is sponsored by Crossroads Christian Communications, producer of Canada’s “100 Huntley Street” television program.
Pacific Interfaith Citizenship Association, made up of members from several major world religions, had argued before the supreme court that Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms prohibits “coercion and the limiting of the freedom [of religion] of others.”
Interfaith spokesman Charles Paris said many non-Christians feel that evangelicals tend to “make other religions seem second-class.” He said the Pavilion of Promise would deepen those feelings.
Crossroads Christian Communications has argued that making a statement of faith in a pavilion is not coercive, and thus does not violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The process of creating a pavilion with a religious theme at the world’s fair has been convoluted. When a group of evangelical Christians first showed an interest, Expo ’86 officials said space was available only for an interfaith pavilion. The evangelical group then joined an interfaith committee that was working with the fair’s religious activities coordinator.
After nearly a year of work, several faith groups dropped out of the committee. By that time, Pacific Interfaith Citizenship Association had entered the discussions. The interfaith group proposed a single-theme pavilion rather than a time-sharing arrangement among evangelicals and other groups.
Two months after the talks broke down, Crossroads Christian Communications applied for a corporate pavilion. Expo ’86 officials, impressed with the potential for television exposure, accepted the application.
