Liberals to Bring Religious Freedom to Canada?

Since many Christian Churches, especially the Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Churches count homosexual behavior as sinful and will not ordain practicing homosexuals, and since they (we) will not ordain women, obviously an adjustment must be made to drag these Churches into alignment with the practices of the times. This is the opinion of Bob Ferguson writing for the CBC.

According to him, if they (we) will not ordain practicing homosexuals, or should be so bold as to say that our beliefs are true (with the implication that those who believe differently are in error), as we do, then there should be laws that would prevent us from practicing that religion, and under that pressure, perhaps we would begin to believe as required! Requiring these beliefs will, of course, make religion more free!

If you think that I am overstating this even a little bit, listen to the CBC's Radio Commentary for 18/7/05. A transcript is provided, copied in full below.

Listen to today's Commentary

Introduction:

Men and women within the Roman Catholic faith are still hoping that the church can change to more accurately reflect the World in which we live. This week-end, for example, an international conference will be held in Ottawa to support women's equality in religions. WOW, or Women's Ordination Worldwide, is fighting for the ordination of women in all Christian Churches. It says it wants to open a global debate on the issue.

And some were hoping for reform during the period when the old pope was dying and the new pope was being anticipated.

Bob Ferguson is a retired professor from the Royal Military College. He believes that Catholics are unlikely ever to see changes in policy on birth control or on the question of married or female priests. In fact, he says change won't come until the churches are forced to comply with the same human rights legislation that affects the rest of society.

Bob Ferguson:

Given the inertia of the Catholic Church, perhaps we could encourage reform by changing the environment in which all religions operate.

Couldn't we insist that human rights, employment and consumer legislation apply to them as it does other organizations? Then it would be illegal to require a particular marital status as a condition of employment or to exclude women from the priesthood.

Of course the Vatican wouldn't like the changes, but they would come to accept them in time as a fact of life in Canada. Indeed I suspect many clergy would welcome the external pressure.

We could also help the general cause of religious freedom by introducing a code of moral practice for religions. They will never achieve unity so why not try for compatibility? Can't religious leaders agree to adjust doctrine so all religions can operate within the code?

I am an engineer so the model I am thinking about is rather like the provincial acts regulating the practice of engineering. For example, engineers must have an engineering degree from a recognized university or pass qualification exams. They must have a number of years of practical experience and pass an ethics exam. The different branches: mechanical, electrical, civil and the like have a code of practice that applies to everyone. Why can't religious groups do the same?

I envisage a congress meeting to hammer out a code that would form the basis of legislation to regulate the practice of religion. Like the professional engineers' P.Eng designation, there would then be RRPs (or registered religious practitioners). To carry the analogy to its conclusion, no one could be a religious practitioner without this qualification.

I won't try to propose what might be in the new code except for a few obvious things: A key item would have to be a ban on claims of exclusivity. It should be unethical for any RRP to claim that theirs was the one true religion and believers in anything else or nothing were doomed to fire and brimstone. One might also expect prohibition of ritual circumcisions, bans on preaching hate or violence, the regulation of faith healers, protocols for missionary work, etc.

Now what is the point of proposing this? I do it because I am worried that the separation between church and state is under threat. Religion is important in our lives, but it can become a danger to society when people claim that the unalterable will of God is the basis for their opinions and actions. [guilty as charged - how can one believe in God and not believe and live as God and his agents teach us? - ed.] Yes religion can be a comfort and a guide, but we cannot take rules from our holy books and apply them to the modern world without democratic debate and due regard for the law.

For Commentary, I'm Bob Ferguson in Marysville, Ontario. [all emphasis above is mine - ed.]

Make no mistake, liberal political beliefs are geared towards taking away YOUR freedoms, with the right to believe as you will being the first. They think that, being better educated than you, and wealthier than you, and being generally better people than you are gives them the moral obligation to look out for your well-being by thinking for you and telling you how to live and in what to believe - all for your own good, of course.

This is just one guy's commentary now, but this is the direction that liberalism has been traveling. With the passage of gay marriage legislation and ongoing efforts to silence the expression of Christian ideas in public (and what good is free speech if it is not public?) it is not inconceivable that legislation such as this could be proposed, and one day passed.

Liberals in the United States see Canada as the model and would love nothing better than to take us down the same tyrannical path that the liberal Canadians are traveling.

This is simply evil - and Orthodox and Roman Catholic Christians will lose their property and go to jail before submitting to such laws, as we have done under the Romans, the Turks, and the Soviets.

We must remain vigilant.