Related articles and links |  1 of 6

Christian groups in Canada are concerned over the passage of a bill that includes "sexual orientation" among groups specially protected from hate crimes. Christians have protested the bill for months saying that the Bible's condemnation of homosexual acts could be considered hate literature, but yesterday the Canadian Senate passed the bill 59-11 following a decade-long effort by a gay MP.

"While opposing the promotion of hatred against anyone, we are deeply concerned about the chilling effect this legislation may have on the legitimate expression of religious belief," said Bruce Clemenger, president of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada.

The existing hate crimes law makes it illegal to incite hatred against an identifiable group based on color, race, religion, and ethnicity, but by adding sexual orientation, Christians fear that the freedom to oppose homosexual activity either from the pulpit or in the home is in danger. "Christians have seen their rights to dissent restricted by case after case in the courts," said Janet Epp Buckingham, director of Law and Public Policy for the EFC. "We no longer trust that the guarantee of religious freedom in the Charter is necessarily going to apply to protect religious free speech."

Lorna Dueck, a Christian broadcaster and author, wrote in the Globe and Mail, "Bill C-250 says that moral views, motivated by religious text, can be equated with hatred. Thus, if church teaching refers to homosexuality as brokenness or sin (as in, missing the ideal), it could be charged as being hate propaganda."

The main complaint Christians have is that the bill does not adequately define hate or sexual orientation. At a rally Francois Beyrouti, a Catholic priest in Ottawa, asked "Will pedophilia be considered a sexual orientation?" Others ask if expressing moral views regarding homosexuality would qualify as hate.

Interestingly, several stories mention Fred Phelps, who runs a web site saying God hates gays. Phelps has organized rallies in Canada, and police say they have been powerless to stop it. Mainstream Christian groups in Canada have denounced such actions, Canadian Christianity says.

Dueck says the bill's sponsor, Svend Robinson, had said he would not oppose a carefully worded statement to protect religious freedom. However, such a statement was not included. Without such consideration for the possible effects of the law, Canadian politicians trivialize the religious and moral beliefs of their citizens. California's Supreme Court showed a similar trivialization when it told Catholic Charities it was not a religious organization and therefore not exempt from a law requiring employers' health policies to pay for contraception.

These rulings display the secularist ideology of government leaders who don't mind people who believe in a religion, as long as they don't act on it or teach it. Likewise, the broader cultural value of self-expression blurs the distinction between disapproval of behavior and animus toward the person. Christians cansay "Then neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin."

More on Canada's c-250 bill:

• Canadian parliament passes homosexual hate crime bill threatening freedom of speech | the Canadian Senate voted 59-11 for final passage of homosexual hate crime Bill C-250 which places the undefined term "sexual orientation" into Canada's already contentious hate crime legislation. (LifeSiteNews.com)
  
  
• Senate passes bill to protect gays from hate crimes | The Senate has passed legislation extending hate-crime protection to homosexuals. (CBC)
  
  

next page... |  1 of 6

share this page

April (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48