Seeing the signs

>> Cops arrest religious visionary

By GEORGE MADDUX

A long-running dispute between the Unitarian Church of Montreal and a former member who has picketed the institution for two and a half years further intensified last Sunday, when the protester was arrested for causing a public nuisance.

As is his custom prior to every Sunday service, Robin Edgar was greeting worshippers outside the church with signs such as "A Church that endorses abusive clergy misconduct," "A Church where justice is perverted," "Church of the Apathetic Throng," "Solar Temple Cult," and "Church of the Bad News."

Edgar, a photographer from Verdun, is protesting his continuing exclusion from the church since an incident when Minister Ray Drennan allegedly questioned his sanity and suggested he was involved in a cult. Edgar had wanted to share what he calls a revelation he experienced in 1992, involving an eclipse and its relationship to God. Though Edgar received permission in 1995 to hold an "Interfaith Creation Day" at the church and express his religious views, he's unhappy that he has been denied use of the space since then.

Recently, church officials have objected to the messages on his signs, which Minister Emeritus Charles Eddis describes as "injurious and untrue." Last week the church informed Edgar that he might face a possible injunction if the messages on his pickets were not changed.

"He's a smart guy. He could do much better with his talents," says Eddis. "If he wants to rejoin the church, he's got to stop what he's doing. Too many people are alienated by him. He was able to bring his revelation in but nobody accepted his revelation."

In his 55 years in the ministry, Eddis says that Edgar is the only Unitarian Church member he's ever heard of being suspended. "A lot of people are concerned about him as a human being," says Eddis.

Edge of acceptability

"It's not a religious issue," says John Inder, who chairs the executive committee of the Church. "If he wants to believe that the moon and the sun are the eye of God, he can. But he insists on talking about it, wanting the Unitarians to 'investigate' it, and holding a day to celebrate it on the church premises. He's asking for things that aren't reasonable. He doesn't want to be a member like everybody else, he wants to have special consideration."

Edgar says he wasn't expecting to be arrested but admits that his signs are "on the edge of acceptability, but there's a good reason for that. I'm protesting [Drennan] calling my revelation 'a cult,'" he says.

"They claim to be the most open-minded, liberal, accepting Church in the world but when I say I've had a religious experience and see if we can share what I had, then suddenly I'm a pariah.

"I believe I am a Unitarian in the traditional and modern senses of the word," says the even-tempered, erudite 41 year old. "Why should I leave? If a Roman Catholic's kid is molested by a priest, he's still a Catholic. Deal with the molestation."

Edgar admits that his religious vision has been a cross to carry. "The last time my father spoke to me, he told me to stop kicking people in the balls." But even if a judge eventually bans him from picketing, Edgar hasn't ruled out flaunting any legal prohibition of his protest. "Unitarians," he explains, "are famous for civil disobedience."

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