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Portions
of the Bible are in danger of being condemned as hate
literature, say religious groups opposed to changes in
the Criminal Code to be debated next week by the Senate.
In a letter to Justice Minister Irwin Cotler, the Canadian
Conference of Catholic Bishops said Friday that Bill C-250
proposes changes that could lead to the church being prosecuted
for its teaching that "sexual conduct between people
of the same sex is morally wrong."
"Participation in the current public debate on marriage
has demonstrated there are individuals who believe that
Catholic Church teaching on homosexual behaviour is hatred.
We remain concerned that this bill as presently drafted
could be used in an attempt to silence Church teaching
in this regard," they said.
The
Catholic bishops urged senators to change Svend Robinson's
private member's bill, which includes sexual orientation
in the hate propaganda sections of the Criminal Code,
so that no one could be prosecuted under the hate crimes
provisions for publicly commenting on sexual morality.
The bishops said they have seen the impact of including
sexual orientation in previous legislation and suggested
they have little confidence in reassurances that the changes
in the Criminal Code will not affect freedom of religion.
"For example, when the question was about social
benefits, reassurances were given that the traditional
concepts of marriage and family were not at risk,"
they said.
Janet
Epp Buckingham, the director of law and public policy
for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, said senators
have told her they are "getting a ton of phone calls
and e-mails opposing the bill," but said there is
also "quite a bit of momentum for the bill to pass."
The evangelical fellowship said that if C-250 is passed,
it will endanger faith groups'
freedom to read, preach and distribute sacred texts, and
to publicly discuss and comment on sexual morality.
©
The Calgary Herald 2004
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