One of the things I value most about writing for the Christian press is the opportunity to uncover stories of God’s people at work.

It is encouraging, faith-building stuff. His people can often be found in unexpected places, quietly accomplishing the tasks He has called them to do.

Allow me to share a recent example.

When the Ontario government passed formal legislation in February prohibiting the use of religious tribunals to settle family law disputes, one of the first to express her delight was Homa Arjomand, the Iranian-born coordinator of the International Campaign Against Shari’a Court in Canada.

“I’m so happy,” Arjomand said when asked for her response to the news the government had passed the Family Statute Law Amendment Act. The act amends the Arbitration Act of 1991, which permitted the use of religious tribunals (including Muslim shariah law) to settle family law disputes such as divorce or custody matters.

Arjomand spearheaded a campaign in Ontario to pressure the government to outlaw religious arbitration, saying it discriminates against women and children.

In a February 15 news release, one day after the legislation passed, Arjomand thanks the many activists and volunteers who supported the campaign. “This victory was the result of the hard work of thousands of activists across Ontario, Canada and Europe who volunteered their time and skills to help bring an end to faith-based arbitration and shariah courts in Canada,” she says.

“We started with a handful of supporters and grew to a coalition of over a thousand volunteers and activists…together we defeated the forces of ‘political islam’ in Ontario, but this is just the first step,” she adds.

Many of the campaign’s original volunteers were Muslim immigrant women who fled shariah in their homelands. But one of Arjomand’s “most trusted” supporters (by her own definition) is also one of the most unlikely; a white, middle-aged Christian named Robert Simpson.

A natural strategist, Simpson worked behind the scenes as communications adviser to Arjomand, broadening the campaign from an anti-shariah to an anti-faith-based arbitration focus. He guided and assisted in the research and writing of speeches, reports and news releases and communicated with the media.

Simpson got involved after attending one of the campaign’s organizational meetings in June 2004. He’d gone out of curiosity and concern after hearing a news report indicating an Ottawa lawyer planned to establish the first official Sharia Court in Ontario.

When Arjomand contacted him following the meeting to ask for his help, Simpson felt compelled to give it. He cites Exodus 12:49 as evidence of the Judeo-Christian tradition of one law for native and sojourner alike, then refers to Proverbs 31:7-9.

“There’s a Proverb that says, speak up for the powerless. [Homa and the other Muslim women] felt somewhat powerless, being new Canadians, and not being masters of the English language or knowing their way around the media.”

A freelance communications consultant and self-described “news junkie,” Simpson knows his way around the media. He has helped build internet news sites for various organizations, and is comfortable operating in the political realm. From 1979 to1982, he co-authored (with Al Reimers) the Crossroads’ submission to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission concerning changes in the broadcasting act, which opened the door to religious organizations owning and operating broadcast undertakings in Canada.

He is delighted with the outcome of the efforts of the anti-shariah campaign. “We’ve improved the condition of the laws of this land rather than seeing them deteriorate,” he says simply.

“It’s better to shape the world than to be shaped by it.”