Religious Liberty Is Eroding in Canada. Here’s What Americans Should Learn.
Outside
of watching the occasional hockey game or purchase of maple syrup,
most Americans pay little attention to Canada.
We may know of Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau’s colorful socks, but little of how
unpopular he is among
his constituency. We
may discuss the single-payer health care system, but are unfamiliar
with the government’s disrespect for religious liberty of our
neighbors to the north.
Faithful patriots in
this country who are concerned by the attacks on free exercise of
religion in America should also be concerned by the similar attacks
on liberty echoing within Canada, a
country with strong protections
for religious liberty in
its Charter for Rights and Freedom.
In light of the
immense trade between our two countries, we must determine
if religious intolerance is an intangible export that has escaped our
notice.
Last
month, Alberta’s Child and Family Services barred a Christian
couple from adopting a child because their religious views about
sexuality—views
shared by orthodox Jews and Muslims—were incompatible with “the
official position of the Alberta government.”
The
Ministry of Children’s Services stated that the couple’s belief
that sexuality should not be experienced or explored until a person
is married, would not create a “safe, healthy, loving, and
inclusive home.”
And
in June, Ontario
passed a law that
gave state agencies the power to prevent families from adopting or
fostering children if the parents would not affirm the child
transitioning their “gender identity” from male to female or
vice-versa, calling such a denial “child abuse.”
Similarly, the
American Civil Liberties Union is suing the state
of Michigan over
legislation that allows faith-based adoption agencies to only place
children into homes with mothers and fathers while under government
contract.
And much like
Ontario, Illinois is requiring foster parents to affirm the gender
identity of any child in their care and aid in any medical
procedures the child wishes to undergo.
The Canadian
government has unilaterally taken positions on sexuality without the
consent of its citizenry, much
like the Obama
administration’s unilateral decision to
reinterpret the definition of “sex” to include sexual orientation
and gender identity in Title IX.
But
if Americans and Canadians can’t adopt or foster children because
they don’t affirm a child undergoing potentially
harmful hormone therapies and sex-reassignment surgeries or
sexual activity outside of marriage, will the government also begin
using this criteria for “good parenting” of biological children?
Will
they treat the parenting practices of Orthodox Christians, Jews, and
Muslims as suspect if they simply refuse to adopt the latest sexual
trends?
Also
in Canada, the Supreme Court will soon determine if attorneys who
hold orthodox religious beliefs on sexuality are eligible to practice
law.
Before Trinity
Western University could even open its law school, the
accrediting legal societies within Nova Scotia, Ontario, and British
Columbia voted not to accredit graduates from the university’s
school of law, because the Christian university has Orthodox
Christian beliefs about marriage and sexuality.
Trinity Western
University is the only Canadian university to have received an A+
grade in quality of education over the
past seven years, yet
in 2014, the Law Society of Upper Canada labeled the students’
views as “abhorrent”
and “not welcome in the public marketplace.”
Without
a degree from an accredited law school, students cannot practice law
in the province.
Similarly, in
2015, the mayor of Salem, Massachusetts, lambasted Gordon
College, a Christian university, for its beliefs about marriage after
the university president wrote to President Barack Obama asking for a
religious exemption from a forthcoming executive order on hiring
practices related to sexual orientation and gender identity.
The mayor decided to
prohibit Gordon College and its students from using a local meeting
hall they had used for years. Lynn Public Schools then
banned Gordon College students who were majoring in education from
training as student teachers at local public schools.
The
New England Association of Schools and Colleges even held a special
meeting to consider revoking Gordon’s accreditation.
In both the United
States and Canada, governments and accreditors are
threatening the ability of graduates of Christian universities to
work in the professions for which they have been trained.
Canadian
members of parliament also denied member Rachael
Harder the chance to chair the Status of Women Committee led
by the Liberal Party solely because of her pro-life views. Despite
the chair position being procedural, not political in nature, the
Trudeau government refused to allow Harder’s “outrageous”
views into any kind of position of authority.
Much like a scene
from “Mean Girls,” politicians staged a walkout to protest
Harder’s appointment because of her viewpoint on abortion.
Ultimately, they gave the position to a member of parliament who did
not want it.
In the United States,
senators, including Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; Bernie Sanders,
I-Vt.; and Al Franken, D-Minn., and leftist organizations like the
American Bar Association have
smeared judicial nominees like Judges Amy
Barrett and Steve
Grasz and
public officials like Kelvin
Cochran and Russell
Vought as
“unqualified” and “hateful,” simply because of their
Christian beliefs.
Their
ability to serve as judges, work in government, or lead a
fire department is being questioned solely because of their religious
views.
In
both the United States and Canada, the
ability to work in government and pursue
your dreams is becoming increasingly dependent on one’s
beliefs about sexuality, biology, and the beginning of human life.
These
developments should concern all those who believe in the
right to not only hold religious beliefs in private, but to exercise
them in public.
Canada was founded on
the idea of religious pluralism, allowing Catholics living
in Quebec to freely practice their faith. The United States was
founded as a refuge for religious dissenters, as the Puritans fled
persecution from the Church of England.
It is this commitment
to religious liberty for all that has led America to defend
religious minorities around the world, including Jews, Muslims,
Baha’is, Buddhists, and Zoroastrians.
The U.S. and Canada
were the only two countries that had ambassadors for international
religious freedom. But Trudeau opted to dissolve Canada’s
office of ambassador of religious freedom.
If
America and Canada, who are traditionally the foremost defenders of
religious freedom around the world, are now forsaking that
value, what
will happen to the Rohingya
Muslims in Burma, the
Christians and Yazidis facing genocide by ISIS, and the Jews
who are facing renewed anti-Semitism in Europe, all of whom
the U.S. has fervently advocated for?
Right now, Canadians
and Americans of faith have the opportunity to form strategic
alliances, especially as they relate to marriage, family,
and the free exercise of religion. But the growing threats to
religious liberty and freedom of conscience make it especially urgent
that these partnerships develop quickly.
Many
of the world’s most dire and violent religious conflicts are rooted
in lack of respect for religious freedom and religious diversity.
There is no time to waste.
http://dailysignal.com/2017/12/28/religious-liberty-eroding-canada-heres-americans-learn/?
My
comments: The RELIGION of godless, Socialist, Secular Humanism is
taking over the West. It is making itself the Exclusive Religion of
Government. Unless this is stopped there will be a complete Take Over
and all other Religions will be Suppressed and Oppressed.
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