CANADA: CATHOLIC BISHOPS WARN HOMOSEXUAL HATE CRIME BILL COULD SILENCE CHURCH

Canadian Catholic Bishops Warn Homosexual Hate Crime Bill Could Silence Church

OTTAWA, March 26, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) — As the homosexual hate crime bill C-250, proposed by homosexual-activist Svend Robinson, readies for final debate and vote in the Senate, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) has issued another warning over the legislation.

In a letter sent yesterday, CCCB General Secretary Msgr. Mario Paquette warned the Senate that: “Participation in the current public debate on marriage has demonstrated there are individuals who believe that Catholic Church teaching on homosexual behaviour is hatred. We remain concerned that this Bill as presently drafted could be used in an attempt to silence Church teaching in this regard.”

The letter explained that the Catholic Church “teaches that hatred is a sin” but also teaches “that sexual conduct between people of the same sex is morally wrong.” The CCCB proposed an amendment to the bill. “We suggest that one way of doing this could be to add a section that clearly exempts, from the hate propaganda provisions, the communicating of statements about the morality of sexual conduct,” said the letter.

“The Bill could also be used to preclude comment on homosexual behaviour by people who do not profess any particular religious faith,” but find homosexual conduct to be morally wrong.

Recalling the failed governmental promise over previous legislation that homosexual benefits would not lead to a redefinition of marriage, the CCCB said, “It would be very helpful for Senators to take the time to make sure that the guaranteed rights of freedom of religion and freedom of expression are not overridden.”

Janet Epp Buckingham, the director of law and public policy for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, said senators have told her they are “getting a ton of phone calls and e-mails opposing the bill,” but said there is also “quite a bit of momentum for the bill to pass.”

The evangelical fellowship said that if C-250 is passed, it will endanger faith groups’ freedom to read, preach and distribute sacred texts, and to publicly discuss and comment on sexual morality.

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