Canadian Gov’t To Begin Imprisoning Christians Who Quote ‘Hateful’ Bible Passages

The Canadian government has warned that Christians who quote bible passages will be imprisoned under the country’s strict new “hate speech laws”.

Canada’s Liberal Party has renewed its vow to push through new laws that would outlaw quoting the Holy Bible in public settings, including on social media.

Lifesitenews.com reports: Conservative MP Andrew Lawton, one of the bill’s most prominent critics, tabled a petition signed by thousands of Canadians opposing it earlier this month.

“I am proud to rise on behalf of Canadians, including in my own constituency, who are alarmed by what the government is doing through Bill C-9 – a bill that they claim will protect communities from hate, but in actuality exposes faith communities to harm from the government for daring to express their faith and quote religious texts,” Lawton told the House of Commons.

“The petitioners are very concerned by this infringement on religious liberty, which were aggravated of course by comments from the minister for Canadian Identity and Culture, arguing that there should be prosecution for citing certain religious texts,” Lawton continued. “So petitioners are calling on the government to withdraw Bill C-9 and focus on upholding freedom of expression and freedom of religion.”

Lawton was referring to comments made by Liberal minister Marc Miller, who last October said that “good faith” defenses of “hate speech” were indefensible under Canadian law during discussions at the Justice Committee. It was revealing that his go-to example was passages from Scripture.

“In Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Romans – there’s other passages – there’s clear hatred towards, for example, homosexuals,” Miller claimed. “I don’t understand how the concept of good faith can be invoked if someone were literally invoking a passage from, in this case, the Bible – there are other religious texts that say the same thing – and somehow say that this is good faith.”

“Clearly there are situations in these texts where these statements are hateful,” Miller added. “They should not be used to invoke, be a defense, and there should perhaps be discretion for prosecutors to press charges. I just want to understand what your notion of good faith is in this context where there are clearly passages in religious texts that are clearly hateful.”

Miller has denied that he wishes to prohibit certain religious texts, but the government’s track record makes it clear that the Liberals cannot be trusted on this file.

Lawton noted on Tuesday at the Justice Committee meeting that the Liberals had done nothing to address the concerns of Canadians, and that their proposed amendment – as per the government’s own lawyers – in fact “maintains the status quo”:

The amendment was moved by Liberal MP Patricia Lattanzio, which would, in theory, clarify that Bill C-9 would not apply to or criminalize worship, prayer, sermons, religious education, peaceful debate, good-faith reading and discussion of religious texts, or statements on matters of public interest, if individuals do not “willfully promote hatred.”

Lawton is correct, however, that the government’s lawyer admitted that the amendment would not appropriately address concerns. It is an indication of how much pushback the Liberals have received from faith communities across Canada that they have felt it necessary to put forward an amendment; many faith leaders expressed concerns to them directly:

In a synopsis at The Gospel Coalition recently, Paul Carter highlighted one of the primary likely effects of Bill C-9 and how it will impact religious freedom in Canada:

The … danger in Bill C-9 is the proposed plan to eliminate the need for a provincial attorney general to sign off before any charges could be brought involving a purported hate crime. This may allow local law enforcement to take action against citizens even where there is no reasonable prospect of conviction. The bill would also allow for complaints from private individuals, which could draw churches and pastors into costly and distracting legal action, however unlikely it would be to result in significant fines or jail time.

In a country where a school board trustee was just fined three quarters of a million dollars because he refused to affirm the premises of gender ideology, this is a grim prospect indeed.