Should Christians be arrested for quoting portions of the Bible in public? Should pastors be charged with a “hate crime” when they preach against certain sins? Should churches be closed if the government does not approve of their beliefs?
You might think these are ridiculous questions. After all, this is Canada – the “true north strong and free”! Our national motto is “a mari usque ad mare,” quoted from Psalm 72:8, which says that Christ shall have dominion “from sea to sea.” This is not communist China!
However, with the introduction of Bill C-367, all these questions are on the table. I call this bill the “Closet the Christians Bill,” because that is exactly what it intends to do – put Christians in the closet. Under threat of jail-time, it will silence believers who oppose the woke ideology that is overrunning our country.
This repressive, Christophobic proposal from Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet is currently before Parliament and may be voted on shortly. If the Trudeau Liberals support this bill, it will most certainly pass, striking a fatal blow against freedom of religion and freedom of expression in this Dominion.
Christians know the Bible is a powerful book. As someone once said, “When you open your Bible, God opens His mouth.” It is a book full of hope, wisdom, peace, and God’s message of salvation. However, the Bible is also a book of warning and correction for those who wander astray. It’s a book that tells us: “Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways!’” (Ezekiel 33:11).
For some people in Canada, the Bible’s message is an affront to their lifestyle and pride. They don’t want to hear it, their consciences can’t tolerate it, and they will try to silence those who proclaim it.
For example, LGBT activists have gone after one courageous Christian named Bill Whatcott for many years, whom they accuse of “hate crimes” against homosexuals. When he handed out leaflets that warned about the medical and spiritual dangers of LGBT practices at the Toronto “pride parade” in 2016, those LGBT activists were furious. They clamoured for his arrest in 2018 under the government of Kathleen Wynne, who was then-premier of Ontario and an open lesbian.
Mr. Whatcott went to trial two years later and was finally found not guilty in December of 2021. However, the government of Doug Ford has appealed his acquittal and is continuing to prosecute Mr. Whatcott for sharing what the Bible says about sexual sin.
A number of Canadian pastors have also faced “hate crime” charges for their public witness against sexual immorality and child sexualization. Pastor Derek Reimer and Pastor David Lynn are just two examples, both of whom were vindicated from the accusation of “hate.”
So far, “hate crime” charges against Christians have been very difficult to prove because of an important protection in our Canadian Criminal Code. There is a “religious exemption” in Section 319 that states: “No person shall be convicted of a [hate crime] offense… if, in good faith, the person expressed or attempted to establish by an argument an opinion on a religious subject or an opinion based on a belief in a religious text.”
In other words, if you are saying what the Bible says about sexuality, gender, marriage, family, or anything – no matter how unpopular, offensive, or “hateful” it might sound to someone else, you have the freedom to express yourself under Canadian law. Christians have the right to quote the Bible in Canada.
But if Bill C-367 passes, that protection will be removed from the Criminal Code. We will then expect to see a flurry of charges against pastors, churches, Christian organizations, and ordinary believers who dare to speak the truth in love in the public square. This will, in turn, create a chilling effect that will diminish everyone’s freedom of speech.
No longer will we be allowed to share God’s design for human sexuality and marriage in public. No longer will we be able to speak out in the name of God against drag shows for kids, child drag, or child “sex changes.” All this could be misconstrued as “hate speech” against the LGBT community. Even our pro-life message could be spun as a “hate crime” against women.
Christians may possibly be charged for claiming that Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), because it discriminates against other religions. In fact, to criticize the teachings and practices of other religions may be tantamount to a “hate crime!” Will pastors who refuse to comply be hauled off to prison from their pulpits?
The ostensible reason for Bill C-367 is the recent rise in antisemitic demonstrations in Canada. Some politicians would claim extremists are being allowed to call for the annihilation of the Jews because our Criminal Code protects religious speech, so religious speech must be silenced. But, really, this is just an excuse for an opportunistic attack on the religious freedom of Christians (and other faiths too).
But is the answer to antisemitic rhetoric in Canada the elimination of everyone’s religious freedom? Rather, if the government truly believes that someone is advocating or promoting the annihilation of Jews, should it not enforce existing laws which already make that illegal? It is already illegal to advocate genocide according to Section 318 of the Criminal Code! Clearly, this proposal is just a cynical attack on people of faith by the anti-religious Bloc Québécois leader.
In fact, if Bill C-367 were to pass, I can almost guarantee you that antisemitic demonstrations would still be permitted to continue as “political” protests, while the changes to the Criminal Code would be used to prosecute Christian pastors and laypeople for proclaiming Bible-based truths about sexual morality. In time, Jewish rabbis and Muslim imams would not be exempt, and they would also come under the hammer of the state.
No, Bill C-367 is a dangerous threat to every citizen’s freedom of expression and religion. It will only serve the nefarious agenda of pro-LGBT activists and Christophobic politicians who want to impose their woke ideology on our country and silence all opposition.
Bill C-367 must be stopped, and we need your help to stop it! Take a moment to send an Action Alert Email to your Member of Parliament today and ask him or her to stand up for our right to share our Christian values and beliefs in the public square.
If we want to keep Canada free – both for ourselves and our children – we need to speak up now.