Oh Canada! Supreme Court rules Biblical speech condemning homosexual behavior is hate speech.

“The ruling and the reasoning [of the court] is terrible, they actually used the concept that truth is not a defense.”

Ottawa, Ontario – The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that Biblical speech opposing homosexual behavior, including in written form, is essentially a hate crime.
On Wednesday, the court upheld the conviction of activist William Whatcott, who found himself in hot water after distributing flyers regarding the Bible’s prohibitions against homosexuality throughout the Saskatoon and Regina neighborhoods in 2001 and 2002. 

 [...]  

The Supreme Court of Canada declared Wednesday that oftentimes, it is impossible to say that one loves the sinner and hates the sin. It asserted that the hatred of the act was inseparable from hating the person or person group.  (There is the catch.)  

[...] 

While speech opposing homosexuality remains legal in the United States, some note that the nation is heading in the same direction as Canada, as discrimination laws are being enforced by state Human Rights Commissions across the country.

A number of incidents have made headlines in recent years where American businesses have been punished for their refusal to accommodate the homosexual lifestyle, such as the story of a photographer in New Mexico that was forced to pay $700 in fines for declining to shoot a same-sex commitment service, to the Vermont bed and breakfast owners who settled a lawsuit with two lesbians who were told by an employee that they could not hold their commitment service on the property. A Kentucky t-shirt screening company was also recently punished for declining to complete a work order involving t-shirts that were to be worn at a local homosexual pride parade. - Finish reading here.
 

Coming to a Supreme Court near you. 

So when I can't pay the fines, will I be put in prison?  Or executed?  I'd rather be executed.


 

The rapidly growing threat to religious liberty.

You'll come to know
... when the bullet hits the bone...

What a blessing it is that more and more voices - in and outside the Church - are being raised to point out the escalating threats against religious liberty facing Christians in the West.  Now - after years of more or less subtle discrimination, misrepresentation and mockery of Christianity from media - especially the entertainment industry.  The ACLU along with our educational system fomenting an absolute separation of church and state mentality over the past decades has contributed in no small way to making religion irrelevant in public discourse, as well as inconsequential to popular culture and morality.


“It starts with intolerance which is a cultural phenomenon.”

Anyway - I found the following on CNA - the good news is that more and more people are beginning to notice - and point it out:

Rome, Italy, Jul 4, 2012 / 04:05 am (CNA).- The head of Italy's new religious liberty watchdog group warned that present threats of “discriminatory legislation” in the U.S. could eventually result in violence against Christians in America.

“In a climate of discrimination, it is possible that somebody will act upon that discrimination to say ‘the laws are not enough’ and resort to actual violence and this is the realms of hate crimes,” Professor Massimo Introvigne told CNA June 28.

The inaugural meeting was held at Rome’s Foreign Press Association June 28. It heard Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore make the case that religious liberty in the United States is currently imperiled by the prevailing culture as well as by legislation such as the recent Department of Health & Human Services mandate.

Introvigne stressed that he did not want to create a “false impression” that he was equating “the bloody persecution of Christians” as presently occurs in some African and Asian countries with “discriminatory legislation in the United States or Europe.”

However, the 57-year-old sociologist suggested that there was a “three stage process” which could lead to anti-Christian violence in the West if action to protect religious liberty was not taken.

“It starts with intolerance which is a cultural phenomenon,” he explained “and then if intolerance becomes so widespread and popular, some politicians will act upon it and introduce discriminatory legislation.”

It is in this “climate of discrimination,” he said, that people can decide to take the law into their own hands and use violence to further suppress Christianity. - CNA

Fostering a 'climate of discrimination'.

One such example may be those activities promoted by gay activists and those promoting same sex marriage, a group calling themselves Catholics for Equality.  I get periodic emails from them protesting the U.S. Catholic Bishop's involvement in the Fortnight for Freedom and the defense of Marriage debates.  They claim the Bishops are hurting the Church and alienating Catholics, as well as overstepping their bounds in speaking out against the escalating threats to religious freedom.  Their campaign slogan: "Bishops: We Need Pastors, Not Politicians. Your Antics are Hurting the Church."  Claiming:

The USCCB's "Fortnight for Freedom" 2012 election year campaign marks an unprecedented level of political activity for the institutional American Catholic Church. Catholic Bishops across the country are unabashedly demanding our priests and parishes use the pulpit and the Liturgy of the Mass to engage in partisan election year campaigning. Catholics in the pews overwhelmingly oppose this and are making our voices heard in the streets where we cannot be silenced.

The irony here is that it is their organization and their antics which is hurting the Church, and posing a greater threat to religious freedom.  They are cooperating with evil, and promoting dissent, thus contributing to a culture of religious intolerance.

The Fortnight is over - now what?  Pray the rosary every day.  And:

 Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore believes that the fight for religious liberty has not been damaged the Supreme Court’s ruling that President Obama’s Affordable Care Act is constitutional.  “So don’t give up, don’t imagine that all is lost, it’s not,” he said, adding that “the struggle is fresh, important and more vital than ever.”

Mass Chat: Reading the letters of bishops from the pulpit.

Grave and serious issues.

Much has been discussed on blogs and in the news praising those U.S. Catholic Bishops (150+) uniting in response to the unprecedented threat to religious freedom stemming from the unjust "preventative services" mandate issued by Obama's HHS, which requires all private health care plans to provide coverage for all FDA-approved prescription contraceptives, sterilization procedures, and related "patient education and counseling for all women with reproductive capacity."

This weekend the letters of Archbishop Nienstedt and the statement of Archbishop Timothy Dolan were included in the weekly bulletin, and the pastor at my parish addressed both letters and the issue from the pulpit.  Included in the bulletin BTW, was the first ever appearance of Archbishop Nienstedt's letter supporting the marriage amendment to the Minnesota State Constitution - in defense of marriage.  (Up until this weekend, nothing has been said at my parish regarding the issue.)

The sense of urgency and gravity of these notices reminded me of the letter of the Dutch bishops read at all of the Masses during the Nazi occupation of WWII, specifically the pastoral letter of the Archbishop of Utrecht in the summer of 1942, protesting the Nazi persecution of Jews.  The action resulted in an increased, more brutal persecution against Jews and Catholics.  One may also recall how the Church in Germany publicly condemned the so-called "mercy killings" of physically and mentally disabled Germans in the 1930's by the Nazis.  They stopped it - but only for a time, and only after the bishops spoke out.  As we know, the policies were resumed and led to the Holocaust.

Pray for the bishops and the defeat of these policies, but keep in mind, it might just be the beginning of worse things to come.

Photo:  1938, the burning Synagogue of Bielefeld, Germany, during the Pogrom Night. Source

Hillary Clinton: Headmistress of Discipline.

 

Hillary believes in the coercive power of the State to promote LGBT rights... “laws have a teaching effect.”  You vill obey!

“The Obama administration defends the human rights of LGBT people as part of our comprehensive human rights policy,” Secretary Clinton affirms. And to those who object, remember: “laws have a teaching effect.”

“Progress comes from changes in laws,” Clinton explains. “In many places, including my own country, legal protections have preceded, not followed, broader recognition of rights. Laws have a teaching effect….It is often the case that laws must change before fears about change dissipate.” - Hillary Clinton Pushes for Coercive Power of the State.  And even more here.

Oh yes she did.

 

Equality Matters: Gay watchdog group for media and communications goes after priest.

Never heard of the group.
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I'm sure most of you haven't either.  Nevertheless, the gay activist group is going after a priest for teaching Catholic doctrine to his Catholic high school students.  And yet so many activists insist that special rights for homosexuals would never impinge upon religious liberty.  So here's the deal...
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INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana, March 29, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Catholic priest has come under fire from homosexual activists for “anti-gay indoctrination” after he taught his students what the Catholic Church teaches about homosexuality in his high school course on gay “marriage.”

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Equality Matters, a media and communications group for homosexual rights, on their website accused the chaplain of Indianapolis’ Cardinal Ritter High School of “spouting a stream of homophobic and offensive falsehoods about same-sex marriage and gay people in general to a classroom full of students.”
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Fr. John Hollowell, chaplain and teacher at the private Catholic high school, had posted the videos of the lectures on YouTube and his personal blog last week.

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In the lectures he explains Catholic teaching on homosexuality. However, his presentation was denounced as “anti-gay lecturing” by the media watchdog group, who said that the priest “calls homosexual acts ‘an abomination’, advocates for ex-gay therapy, and rails against same-sex adoption and marriage by comparing homosexuality to alcoholism and prostitution.”
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In the videos, however, Fr. Hollowell is seen challenging his students to think about and discuss the “difficult” issues of homosexuality and homosexual “marriage.”

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He points out that the Bible, in Leviticus 20:13 and other places in the New Testament, calls “homosexual acts” an “abomination.” “You have two options,” he says, “God is cool with homosexuality, homosexual acts, I should say … or what the Bible and the Church say about it is correct … There’s no middle ground on that issue.”
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The priest refers to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the official book of the teachings of the Church, which states that homosexuals “must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity,” and condemns any form of “unjust discrimination” against them.

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However, the Catechism also states that homosexual inclinations are “objectively disordered” and homosexual acts are “acts of grave depravity.” “Under no circumstances can they be approved,” it says, explaining that people with the homosexual inclination are called to chastity. - Finish reading here.
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My comments.
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The group actually twists Church teaching, claiming Fr. Hollowell's catechesis was “anti-gay lecturing”.  They point out that Father's use of Biblical references calling homosexual acts "an abomination" is unjust discrimination - it is not - and they insist Fr. Hollowell advocates for ex-gay therapy as a solution to homosexual attraction.  That is not true.  

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It should come as no surprise that Equality Matters spokesmen are deliberately misinterpreting what Fr. Hollowell has taught.  Much of the pro-gay propaganda these days is manipulated and exaggerated.  Truth be told, Father has not advocated for ex-gay therapy, in fact he repeats Church teaching regarding persons with homosexual inclination, teaching that they “must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity,” and (he) condemns any form of “unjust discrimination” against them.

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Hollowell argues that the position he advocates is one of compassion. “If you’re struggling with homosexual attraction, the Church’s first message is compassion,” he told his students, “helping them overcome it is not the first inclination.”
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Programs such as Courage are in place to help people “who want it,” he said, “we’re not out there telling people they need to change.” - Source


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Prayers for Fr. Hollowell and his students.
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H/T Paula and Pewsitters