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This makes it increasingly difficult for anyone who is genuinely devout to find a footing in mainstream politics.

Faron Ellis, a political science professor at Lethbridge College who is seeking nomination as a Wildrose candidate, said parties on both the left and the right have to hew to the middle to obtain any kind of mass appeal. That means silencing anyone seen as holding views outside the norm.

“People who are more committed to their personal beliefs … than to the compromises they have to make to be part of a political party need to give their ambitions a second thought.”

Currently, the federal Conservatives and the Alberta Wildrose are playing to the mainstream, expunging or quieting their more strident members. The federal NDP has also made a play for the centre in recent years.

However, Kris Wells, director for the Institute for Sexual Minority Studies at the University of Alberta, was not at all sympathetic to cries of anti-Christian bigotry.

“I have no problem with people of faith running for public office. It’s about how one exercises that faith. In this case, [Mr. Dirks] is no longer a pastor, he’s the minister of education and he must be held accountable to those requirements, which means he not harbour bias or prejudice toward any group,” he said.

“Welcome to the realities of 21st-century Canada and the Charter of Rights &Freedoms and the equality provisions that exist.”

This week, Mr. Wells met Mr. Dirks and Mr. Prentice to talk about lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and questioning (LGBTQ) issues in the the Alberta education system.

He said he was willing to give Mr Dirks a chance to prove he could separate his religious beliefs from his new role as education minister.

However, he warned, “We’ve seen in Alberta that LGBTQ issues swing an entire election … I said to the premier and minister Dirks, that can happen again.”

National Post