Attack on Religious Freedom Begins in Earnest in Canada – Battleground Homosexuality

Excerpted from Attack on Religious Freedom Begins in Earnest in Canada – Battleground Homosexuality, by John Henry-Westen, published Oct 6, 2006, by LifeSite News:

The gloves have come off, the Parliamentary debate in Canada has moved beyond homosexual ‘marriage’ and on to refusing freedoms for those with religious beliefs opposed to homosexuality and those with conscientious reasons for opposing it. The mere suggestion of a ‘Defence of Religions Act’, to be put forward should the attempt to restore traditional marriage fail, has created a firestorm in the overwhelmingly pro-gay media and in Parliament with the Liberals, NDP and Bloc arguing ferociously against such a proposal.

The Regina Leader Post newspaper, has joined the fray demonstrating the lack of tolerance for opposition to homosexuality. While the paper would allow for priests to oppose homosexuality publicly, it suggests that opposition by non-clergy should be illegal. “There is an argument to be made for allowing religious leaders leeway in criticizing homosexuality. Many religions have prescriptions against the practice and religious leaders should be permitted to publicly defend their religion’s tenets. But extending that right to rank-and-file members of a religion goes too far,” says the editorial in the paper today.

In today’s Globe and Mail in his column, “Sex, religion, politics, boom“, Rick Salutin, described in Wikepia as “a strong advocate of left wing causes”, castigates those who advocate the religious protection law as “yearning for authoritarian leadership”. He adds that such religious, conservative moral movements have historically given “rise to fascist movements which weren’t necessarily rascist. God, of course, would be the strongest leader.” However, contrary to Salutin’s charges, the Nazis and Italians fascists mercilessly persecuted and murdered those who held traditional Chistian beliefs and especially murdered thousands of clergy who preached faithful Christian doctrine.

The current Prime Minister, while Leader of the Opposition during the introduction of the homosexual ‘marriage’ legislation warned that if passed the legislation would hamper the free speech rights of Canadians opposed to homosexual ‘marriage’ and the freedoms of religious groups in Canada. He promised to protect religious and free speech rights.

However, when the Globe and Mail claimed that a source has revealed a legal proposal to protect religious and free speech freedoms vis a vis homosexual ‘marriage’, the Conservatives denied knowledge of any such measure…

“Given the current climate, DORA would be of value in making clear that expressions of moral and religious opinions about sexual orientation do not amount to hate speech. Already we have seen unfortunate examples in Canada whereby religious Christians who simply have been articulating Church doctrine in regard to homosexuality and gay unions have been censured and punished by human rights tribunals. It is not fanciful to imagine that these same individuals might, in future years, be thrown behind bars for expressing their religious beliefs.”

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