CANADIAN JUDGES AFFIRM DISCRIMINATION AGAINST
CHRISTIANS, Abandon 'promise of freedom that led to the
creation of the Canadian Charter of Rights', by Bob Unruh, 6/15/18, WND
Canada’s highest court has affirmed a legal right for a secular organization to deny entry to a Christian institution on the basis of its moral requirements.
The British Columbia and Ontario law societies claimed the covenant was discriminatory, particularly against gay and lesbian students, and refused to accredit the school. The law societies of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, the Yukon and Nova Scotia agreed to recognize the school’s graduates.
“Legislatively accommodated and Charter-protected religious practices, once exercised, cannot be cited by a state-actor as a reason justifying the exclusion of a religious community from public recognition,” they wrote.
The Supreme Court of
Canada, in a pair of 7-2 rulings, found Friday that the law societies of
British Columbia and Ontario can refuse accreditation to Trinity Western
University’s proposed law school because of its so-called community
covenant.
As
a Christian institution, Trinity Western requires students and
faculty to abide by biblical boundaries on sexual behavior. The covenant also
requires students to abstain from, among other things, obscene language,
harassment, lying, stealing, pornography and drunkenness.
Gerald Chipeur of the
Canadian firm Miller Thompson LLP, which represented the university, said
Canada’s high court “has abandoned the promise of freedom that led to the
creation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms 36 years ago.”
“Individuals will need
to turn to their legislators to protect freedom of
religion,” said Chipeur, who is one of thousands of lawyers
allied with Alliance Defending Freedom International.
ADF International said
the Supreme Court “dealt a major blow to
religious freedom and freedom of association.”
Paul Coleman, the
organization’s executive director,
contended religious
universities and schools “should be free to operate according to the faith they
teach and to which they adhere.”
“We are deeply disappointed
with the Supreme Court’s decision,” he said. “Freedom of religion and
association is not only essential for faith-based organizations, but for the
functioning of democracy itself. Following this ruling, that vital freedom is
now in jeopardy.”
In the minority on the court
were Justices Russell Brown and Suzanne Côté, who argued the university
can’t be excluded on the basis of practices that are protected by law.
They argued that approval of
Trinity Western’s proposed law school “would not represent a state preference
for evangelical Christianity, but rather a recognition of the state’s duty –
which [the Law Society of British Columbia] failed to observe – to accommodate
diverse religious beliefs without scrutinizing their content.”
Lower courts, including the
British Columbia Court of Appeal, ruled in favor of Trinity Western. The B.C.
court said the case shows how “a well-intentioned majority acting in the name
of tolerance and liberalism, can, if unchecked, impose its views on the minority in a manner that is in
itself intolerant and illiberal.”
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody
GA Tea Party Leader
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