President Obama, in his book The Audacity of Hope, wrote (or had written for him):

"Almost by definition, faith and reason operate in different domains, and involve different paths to discerning truth. Reason—and science—involves the accumulation of knowledge based on realities we can all apprehend. Religion, by contrast, is based on truths that are not provable through ordinary human understanding—the belief in "things not seen."

Ontario CHP candidate Micheal Janssens, in an article for Reformed Perspective magazine, challenges the President's reasoning:

"…while I agree that a separation of the authority of church and state is necessary for good order," he writes, "I strongly oppose any notion that the two are entirely unrelated and cannot influence each other. In fact, they certainly must.

"Faith and reason do not, as President Obama indicates, operate in different domains. On the contrary, the former is a prerequisite to the latter. Whatever faith we embrace will have an insurmountable impact on the way we think, reason, and perceive the world around us. It affects our perception of everything we call 'truth'."

Secular materialists have no trouble understanding that religionists' perception of reality is conditioned by their faith; but they usually fail to see that their own "faith"—the conviction that only what can be seen, felt and measure is "real"—conditions their perceptions, too. They are usually dismissive of people of faith in a knee-jerk reaction, without attempting to understand the believers' perspective.

Janssens gives an example:

"…let's look at the Grand Canyon… An atheist, in his faith, will see the Grand Canyon and imagine a small amount of water and millions of years. We see the same canyon and picture a global flood and 13 months! We simply cannot both be right… Yet both 'truths' will be based in the very scientific [principle] of erosion.

If faith affects scientific 'truth', then certainly this also spills over into moral truth.

"Is it wrong to murder a child? We say, 'Yes, it is.' The atheist says, 'Only if it has been born.' The radical Islamic terrorist says, 'Only if it believes in Allah.'

"Each of these responses reflects a moral position derived quite logically from faith—based presuppositions… morality is firmly entrenched in faith-making it impossible to debate any issue of morality without talking about faith as well.

"So when I am challenged by my opponents that there should be a separation of church and state, I usually agree with them. However, insisting that faith stays out of politics means insisting that morality stays out of politics.

"Isn't that exactly the problem with our governments today?" asks Janssens.

Micheal Janssens' faith-based reasoning—not necessarily based in "religion", but rather in his conviction that there is a Creator, and it is possible to have a personal relationship with Him—is much more perceptive than the American President's facile dismissal of faith as essentially "irrational". That mistake—very common among atheists, and also among religionists who are, in fact, practical atheists (claiming faith for political purposes, but acting like atheists in everyday life) overlooks the fact that the vast majority of the greatest intellects of human history have been men and women of faith—and mostly from the Judeo-Christian stream of faith rooted in the Bible. Without their belief, by faith, that the universe is orderly because its Creator is orderly, we wouldn't have science.

CHP Canada is the only party that understands that faith-based, reasoned morality is and must remain part of the public policy dialogue of this nation.