The Voice of the Martyrs was disappointed but not surprised by the passing of Bill C-250 last Wednesday, which adds "sexual orientation" to the prohibited groups in the hate propaganda section of the Criminal Code of Canada.
"By all reports," said Glenn Penner, VOM spokesman, "Members of Parliament received thousands of letters and emails of concern from Canadians. Many, like myself, were assured by our politicians that provision had been made in the Bill to protect 'good faith statements on a religious statement.' Frankly, I knew better when my MP called me one Saturday afternoon, and it was apparent that he was not really interested in discussing the matter. He was just anxious to pacify his constituency so that he could vote in favour of the Bill to show how open-minded and supportive he was of the homosexual community."
The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada pointed out in their September 18 press release that in the two legal cases where the accused persons tried to use the 'good faith statement' defense (R. v. Keegstra and R. v. Harding [4]), the courts ruled that if a statement incites hatred, it cannot be considered a good faith statement on a religious subject. "This makes the defenses totally inadequate to protect religious freedom," said the EFC. "It will be interesting to see if this threat of legal prosecution will dampen discussion and teaching on homosexuality from a biblical perspective," said Penner. " If someone were to quote Moses or Paul when they state in the biblical record that homosexuality is sinful depravity, morally wrong, unnatural and contrary to the laws of God, would he or she be taken to court? Only time will tell. But I am almost certain of it. In my opinion, the church's ability to teach and publicly proclaim and practice a biblically based position on homosexuality is where the battle lines are being drawn in regards to religious freedom in Canada."
The Bill will now go to the Senate for approval. (Go to http://www.realwomenca.com/alerts.htm for a possible way that you can get involved.)
