Harper leans on faith in wake of Newtown

There came a point when the Prime Minister of Canada had to turn the television off, when the sights and sounds out of Newtown, Conn. became too much.

“I got to the stage where I really couldn’t watch it any longer,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper said, speaking for the first time of how last week’s massacre affected him as a dad.

“I think once you’ve been a father, you’re affected by the deaths of children in a much more profound way than other people. It’s hard for me to talk about it,” he said in a one-on-one interview with Global National anchor Dawna Friesen. “It’s hard for me to imagine how anybody can be so deranged, so angry, so troubled that they would do such a thing. It’s really beyond our comprehension.”

In the wake of the slaughter that left 20 children and six adults dead, many parents, including Harper, found themselves confronted with the question of how to talk about it with their children.

“We talked a little bit,” he said.

But discussions on current events can be a little different in the Harper household, with son Ben, 16, and daughter Rachel, 13, than they are, perhaps, in other homes, the prime minister said.

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“We try to bring them up as normally as we can,” he said. “But obviously, given the life that I lead, they are just more – and have been from an early age – more attuned to current affairs.”

From a young age, his children have followed the news, including many of the more horrific stories like last week’s slaughter, Harper said.

“I don’t think they’re desensitized, because I don’t think anyone gets desensitized to that kind of thing, but I think they’re … they follow the news, they follow the shocking things, they see the shocking things that occur in the world,” he said. “But obviously, you always try to talk to your kids at times like these and remind them that you love them.”

In the days following the tragedy in Newtown, U.S. President Barack Obama turned to faith in his address to the nation, delivering a largely theological speech, frequently quoting scripture.

His speech indicated to some that faith informs a great deal of how he shapes his opinions, especially in times of emotional crises.

Asked how faith informs his own decisions and worldview, Harper said he treads carefully.

“Like most religious people, I pray regularly and ask for strength and wisdom,” he said. “But at the same time, as a political leader in a multi-faith country, I try to be very careful not to look like I’m trying to impose my particular theological views on our country.”

Instead of imposing his own beliefs on Canadians, Harper said he tries to focus on the values many faiths share.

“Those are the things upon which we as Conservatives try to build,” he said. “But there are times like this, where you see the deaths of children in this way, there are times like this where we’re all reassured by the fact that there is a benevolent power ultimately looking over all of us.”

Tune in on Sunday morning for Dawna Friesen’s full interview “In Conversation with the Prime Minister.”