The Bible is 'hate speech'?

It's all over but the funeral. Free speech and religious liberty are now effectively dead in Canada.

These developments should awaken all Christians in the West to the peril of political correctness and its restrictions on freedom.

In April, the Canadian Senate passed bill C-250 by a vote of 59 to 11. In passing this legislation, the Canadian Parliament added 'sexual orientation' to the nation's laws criminalising 'hate speech'. The end result is that the Bible may now be considered a form of criminalised hate literature and Christians who teach that homosexuality is sinful may face criminal charges.

Following on from this in June, the Anglican church in Canada elected as its new primate a liberal who backs gay blessings. Archbishop Andrew Hutchison of Montreal, who was victorious in a series of votes at the general synod in St. Catherine's, Ontario, said he 'had no problem' with the church blessing same-sex couples.

Free speech restricted

Even before the passage of C-250, Canadian legislators had been moving to restrict free speech and religious liberty. The concept of 'hate speech' implies that certain forms of speech are to be criminalised for being out of step with the government's ideological positions. Canada's extensive hate speech laws already criminalised any statements considered to be disparaging to ethnic and minority groups. By adding sexual orientation to the list of protected classes, the Canadian Parliament has not only shut down free speech, it has opened a legal can of worms that will be most difficult to handle. Since 'sexual orientation' is undefined in the law, lesbians and homosexual men are unlikely to be the only persons demanding coverage under the law. As the statute now stands, criticism of paedophilia or polygamy - or any sexual act or relationship for that matter - could well be cause for criminal action.

'You people are sick'

The law was promoted by Svend Robinson, the Member of Parliament for Burnaby-Douglas. Robinson is a notoriously liberal and flamboyant legislator, who also promotes himself as something of a symbolic leader for Canada's gay community. Robinson's animus toward Christianity has been evident for some time, and he has described Christian leaders as 'ecclesiastical dictators'. Responding to one critic, Robinson showed his true colours: 'You people are sick. God should strike you dead'.

Robinson aside, the Senate's passage of this bill represents an immediate threat to free speech and Christian conviction in the nation of Canada.

What the papers say

Editorial opinion in Canadian newspapers has been mixed, but the threat to religious liberty is immediately clear when one listens to the arguments made by C-250's proponents. Writing in The Toronto Star, Carol Lowes explained that C-250 is necessary because, 'Some Christian charities, priests and pastors attempt to convince people of their wrongs and cultivate guilt or shame about perceived sins in their target audiences'. Really? The obvious implication of Ms. Lowes's argument is that pastors must never tell anyone that they are sinners. How convenient.

Marianne Meed Ward, writing in The Toronto Sun, warned preachers that they will have to be careful in addressing any issue of sexuality. 'Expressing views on alternative expressions of sex is not a crime', she said.

Nevertheless, she presented a blatant warning about 'expressing' such views: 'But preachers (and everybody else) will have to exercise caution in how they express their views. And that's not a bad thing. We don't need ads showing a slash through a gay couple. We don't need placards saying, "God hates fags". We don't need people quoting Leviticus out of context...'. So, preachers in Canada have now been warned that their interpretation of Leviticus could now become a matter of hate speech. Ms. Ward gets to decide what Leviticus means in its context? Hermeneutics is now translated into a potential crime.

When preachers are told that they will 'have to exercise caution in how they express their views', religious liberty is effectively dead. This is especially clear when comments made by the bill's proponents identify any criticism of homosexuality - whatever its motivation and form - as criminalised hate speech.

Christian response

Christian groups in Canada have responded with understandable alarm. Brian Rushfeldt, executive director of the Canada Family Action Coalition, described C-250 as 'a draconian piece of legislation that will criminalise people who express an opinion contrary to homosexual behaviour, including views based on religion, conscience, morality, and even medical or humanitarian concerns'. He continued: 'Given the undefined, ambiguous wording in this severely flawed piece of legislation, Christians and other faith groups are worried that expressing their religious or moral views, or even quoting from the Bible or another religious text, may become a criminal act'. Indeed, some Canadian legal experts argue that adding 'sexual behaviour' to the hate speech legislation now makes it a crime to teach that sex outside of marriage - whatever its form - is wrong.

University of Western Ontario Professor Robert Martin has described Canada as 'ruled today by what I would describe as a secular state religion (of political correctness). Anything that is regarded as heresy or blasphemy is not tolerated'.

Double-speak

Svend Robinson and other promoters of C-250 played a crude game of doublespeak in arguing for the legislation. Their explanations are reducible to the claim that C-250 will never be used to criminalise Christian speech - except when such speech needs to be criminalised. Some have described Christians as 'paranoid' in responding to the bill. That's not the way Jason Kenney, a Roman Catholic MP from Calgary, sees the situation. 'This isn't at all a hysterical reaction. It's a completely reasonable fear, given the trends in the courts and human rights commissions. In Owens, a Saskatchewan judge ruled that parts of the Bible can constitute hate speech against gays. In the Surrey School Board case, they were ordered to put gay material into a Grade 1 class.'

Columnist John Leo of US News and World Report explains: 'Since Canada has no First Amendment, anti-bias laws generally trump free speech and freedom of religion. A recent flurry of cases has mostly gone against free expression'. Leo went on to suggest that parents might be held legally liable for a child who says something irritating about homosexuals to a classmate in school. Religious groups could quickly get into trouble for teaching certain biblical passages or defending historic church doctrines.

The pattern of criminalising speech about homosexuals is spreading across liberal societies. In Sweden, pastors are explicitly warned that any sermons critical of homosexuality can lead to criminal charges. The same logic is spreading through the courts and legislatures of many European countries - and now has jumped the Atlantic to Canada.

The truly threatening character of the Canadian legislation is further demonstrated in the fact that police do not have to charge persons with breaking a law. Any Canadian citizen can file a complaint against any other citizen, resulting in charges. At that point, the defendant is simply left to the dangerous whims of the liberal judiciary and governmental human rights commissions. The potential legal costs alone would intimidate some persons from talking about homosexuality.

The most important part of the newly-revised criminal code reads: 'Everyone who, by communicating statements, other than in private conversation, wilfully promotes hatred against any identifiable group is guilty of . . . an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years'.

During a recent debate, the Canadian Attorney General refused to comment on whether or not the Bible is, in itself, hate speech. That matter, we are now warned, will be left for the courts to determine.

We are fooling ourselves if we believe this threat to religious liberty will stay in Canada. This same logic is already accepted by many law professors and judges in the United States. The passage of C-250 is a warning to us all.

Albert Mohler,
President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Canada's recent parliamentary election left the Liberal party in power, but as a minority government. At one stage of the election campaign, it looked as if the New Conservatives, led by Stephen Harper, were going to win. Harper, a Mormon who espouses strong family values, traded on corruption scandals and the injustice of the C-250 bill, among other things, in his campaign. Analysts think that the balanced Parliament will make it much more difficult to pass controversial laws.
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The Bible is 'hate speech'?

Free speech and religious liberty effectively dead in Canada

Free speech restricted

'You people are sick'

What the papers say

Christian response

Double-speak

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