Skip to main content

Freedom of Religion under attack

From The Globe and Mail via The Last Amazon:
The Knights [of Columbus], adhering to church teaching, which is against homosexual marriage, cancelled a rental contract that had been signed, returned the couple's deposit and paid for both the rental of a new hall and the reprinting of wedding invitations after Ms. Chymyshyn and Ms. Smith complained that invitations listing the hall's address for their reception had been mailed. That was in September, 2003. In October, the couple complained to the Human Rights Tribunal, which heard the case last week.
Something's rotten in Denmark (or Port Coquitlam). The Conservative party's justice critic, Vic Toews, made an interesting point on TV last night. He asked why the courts seem to consistently hold equality rights to trump rights to freedom of religion. It's a good question. I have a question too. Why do so many people hold the view that minorites must support one another? That rights for one group strengthen the rights of all minorities? Doesn't that mean Jewish people ought to support the rights of Nazis in Canada? My point is that support for something ought to be based on its mertis and its truth, and on no other criteria. Interestingly, Global TV is reporting that something like 67% of Canadians want to keep the traditional definition of marriage, and a similar percentage want the issue to go to a referendum. So why do the pointy heads keep telling Stephen Harper that his dissention from the Liberals on this issue is hurting him? If the poll is right, he is the only party leader defending the people of Canada. Jack Layton, for heaven's sake, is insiting that all his NDP members must support the Liberal bill or face consequences. So much for their freedom of religion, which is a Charter Right. Jack says human rights of minorities should never be subject to a majority vote. But Mr. Layton - that is the very question! Is it a human rights issue or not? Are there any limits at all to what the government can rule on and alter?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Mirror of the just man

Ecce Homo I haven't done a quote from Pope Ratzinger's Introduction to Chistianty in a while and even though I have finished the book there are still one or two passages I want to share, including - perhaps even especially - this one. When I first began to look over what Christianity teaches, to look at the gospel story and to try penetrate why it has been so compelling to so many for so long, this was one of the things that leapt out at me. I was happy to see our Pope confirm it. Expanding on the Apostles Creed where it says "... suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried," Ratzinger writes: The fact that when the perfectly just man appeared he was crucified, delivered up by justice to death, tells us pitilessly who man is: Thou art such, man, that thou canst not bear the just man - that he who simply loves becomes a fool, a scourged criminal, an outcast. Thou art such because, unjust thyself, thou dost always need the injustice of the n...

Last minute christmas suggestions

Suggestions fror the coming Christmas season: Loreena McKennit , Songs for the Season . Even though McKennit has not released an album in something like a decade, I've only just discovered her and she's amazing. This little EP has only five songs on it and Canadians can pick it up on iTunes for about $4 and change. Amazon wants ten US bucks... Richard Proulx and the Cathedral Singers, Catholic Latin Classics . It's not a Christmas album per se, but it'll sound terrific. Magnificat . This is a really nice daily missal. Fourteen issues a year include two special editions for Holy week and Christmas. Each issue has all of the masses for each day of the month, and a couple of features about historical artworks, poems, and faith issues. These are really nice and I'm glad my wife has deemed me worthy of one.

Redemptionis Sacramentum

Thank you to Rick and Kristina and others who commented on my post about our parish's liturgical meeting this past weekend, and to Tony , who sent a very supportive e-mail. Rick and Kristina pointed me towards a document called Redemptionis Sacramentum , which will be quite helpful, I think. Looking back at the Easter mime incident, for example, I can see issues with Chapter 3, sections 58 to 63. A summary of the document can be found here .