_WORLD WATCH______________________________
______________________CANADA____________________
Justice rips Christianity
Case could justify discrimination
In a court case that could lead to overt legal discrimination against Christians in Canada, two Supreme Court Justices have blasted Christianity as discriminatory and intolerant.
In November the Supreme Court heard arguments on the case of Trinity Western University, in which the British Columbia College of Teachers (BCCT) refuses to approve the teacher education program at Trinity Western because the Christian school’s code of conduct requires students and teachers to refrain from homosexual acts. Two lower court decisions have ordered the BCCT to accredit the university’s program, but the Supreme Court suspended those decisions by granting a hearing.
During the hearing, Justice Claire L’Heureux-Dube, a feminist activist, was quoted in the National Post as saying, “We have all this love stuff, but if Trinity’s code stated that blacks were inferior to whites, or that Jews should be killed, would its teachers still be fit for public schools?” And when the university’s defenders said evidence of discrimination must be found among teachers who have graduated from the program, Judge Dube said, “Evidence is in the program. What kind of other evidence do you want?”
The Post also quoted Justice Ian Binnie as saying, “It’s all very well to say, ‘love the sinner but hate the sin,’ but is that not a contradiction in terms? While the religious may preach tolerance, religion is often an engine of intolerance.” Reacting to the comments, Bishop J. Edward Troy of Saint John, Rothesay, New Brunswick, wrote, “If the learned Justice is unable to comprehend this elementary familiar distinction, what is he doing on the highest court in our land?”
Back to Catholic World Report January 2001 Table of Contents