I campaign, for example, for the immediate forgiveness of Third World debt.
Posted on 06/15/2005 7:29:06 PM PDT by Coleus
I receive death threats and abuse on a regular basis. My address and phone number have been placed on the Internet by gay militants and people told to harass and assault me. Jokes were made when my father died, insults made about my family.
I have been told by editors and publishers that I will never work as a writer in various places because I defend marriage. But I will not react in kind and I will not surrender. I do, however, want people to know that there is hatred at work.
First, let us deal with the idea that gay marriage has no affect on people who are not gay. We hear the mantra of "why are you threatened?" and "it doesn't concern your marriage."
So very funny. At the fundamental level of basic logic, something does not have to affect me for it to be wrong. I campaign, for example, for the immediate forgiveness of Third World debt. The issue doesn't concern me personally but morally.
Gay marriage, however, does concern marriage itself and the greater society. It's legal in Holland and Belgium but virtually so in Scandinavia. And in Scandinavia marriage has become so shamed because of this that heterosexual people are abandoning the institution.
In Norway, 80% of first-born babies are born out of wedlock. Even those who campaigned for gay marriage in this region are rethinking their position.
Marriage also affects children and is, please, a child-centred institution. Every informed and intelligent expert, every good parent knows that children need the example of a male and female role model. Indeed, it is sexist to assume otherwise. Single-parent families do exist, of course, and are often admirable. But we do not aspire to them.
The statistics are overwhelming. Children from stable, two-parent families do better, are happier, than any other children.
Yet for the first time in human history we are purposefully affirming and creating families where there is no father or no mother, no man or woman as role model or example or parent. Yes, many mother-father families go wrong, but this is not the point. With same-sex marriage we are aggressively trying to limit the chance of children for the sake of a modernist fad.
This is not about equality. Homosexuals already have the rights of common-law spouses. They also have, and should have, equality in housing, employment, inheritance. Some would argue that in certain cases they have more rights than others -- the right, for example, for some to parade naked in the middle of Toronto on Gay Pride Day and not be arrested.
We are told that gay marriage will not affect those who oppose it. Untrue. The Roman Catholic Bishop of Calgary, who has stood firm against gay marriage, has already been contacted by revenue officials and warned.
A teacher in Vancouver, Chris Kempling, has been suspended from his job because he wrote a letter to a newspaper criticizing homosexuality. Civil servants in Manitoba and Saskatchewan have been advised to resign if they oppose gay marriage. The Knights of Columbus have been taken to a human rights tribunal because they refused to rent their hall to a lesbian wedding, even though they offered to pay for the invitations and renting of another hall. (The Knights of Columbus, by the way, use their money to feed the hungry and help the poor and mentally ill.)
Let us open the door on this debate and allow free expression. We who support genuine marriage and genuine family have a great deal to say -- and are tired of being silenced.
Coren and the Toronto Sun are standing on the front lines of the culture wars in Canada.
Freedom of Speech in Canada Quashed by Courts - Professionals Can be Disciplined for Speaking Against Homosexuality
VANCOUVER, June 15, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Christian Legal Fellowship is very concerned with the Kempling v. BC College of Teachers decision handed down Monday by the British Columbia Court of Appeal.
Justice Lowry, writing on behalf of the court, asserted that Mr. Kempling's newspaper editorials articulating his religious beliefs on the homosexual lifestyle were not deserving of Charter protection because the court considered them discriminatory and damaging to the integrity of the public school system as a whole.
The Christian Legal Fellowship, along with other members of Canadian Religious Freedom Alliance (Alliance), intervened on behalf of Mr. Kempling in his appeal for constitutional protection of his right to express deeply held religious beliefs restrained by the Supreme Court of BC & Disciplinary Committee of the BC College of Teachers. Mr. Kempling's argument is that he is disadvantaged in that he is precluded from contributing to public debate on an issue of importance to him because he is a teacher in the public school system.
Kevin Boonstra, co-counsel for the Alliance, responded to the court's decision, "We are disappointed that Mr. Kempling did not succeed in his appeal and are concerned about the Court's conclusion that his statements do not deserve a high level of constitutional protection. The Court drew a distinction between 'reasoned debate' and 'discriminatory rhetoric'. It will be very difficult for people to distinguish between these when speaking publicly about controversial topics on sexual morality and the result will be a chill on free debate and expression."
Of paramount concern to the Christian Legal Fellowship is protection of the freedom of professionals to contribute to public debate on controversial religious issues. On appeal, the Alliance argued that there should be an analysis of the difference between critical speech and discriminatory speech, which was not done in this case.
Furthermore, the BC Court of Appeal's analysis of "harm" in this situation was disappointing.
According to Ruth Ross, Executive Director of Christian Legal Fellowship, "In the absence of proof of harm to the school, a student or parent, the court concluded that the harm was to the integrity of the school system as a whole. This is a dangerous precedent to set," stated Ruth Ross. "All professionals will be extremely cautious in speaking out on matters of public interest especially if they wish to speak out on the unpopular or 'politically incorrect' side of an issue, for fear of being cited for 'conduct unbecoming a professional'".
The Alliance, which is comprised of the Christian Legal Fellowship, the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, the Catholic Civil Rights League, and the Christian Teachers Association, is represented by co-counsel Kevin L. Boonstra of Abbotsford and David M. Brown of Toronto.
Click here for the Coalition intervention factum and related materials on CLF's website.
http://www.christianlegalfellowship.org/interventions.htm
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Canadian Courts Approve Suspension of Teacher who Criticized Homosexuality in Letter to Editor
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/jun/05061408.html
I wrotet a paper to this tune. This is definitely my social and moral issue. Disintegration of marriage leads to further disintegration of the family leads to FURTHER disintegration of society, until we are as the Roman Empire, collapsing from internal corruption. We can not allow that to happen here.
"It's legal in Holland and Belgium but virtually so in Scandinavia."
What does that mean?
"And in Scandinavia marriage has become so shamed because of this that heterosexual people are abandoning the institution."
Now I'm really confused. Is it legal in Scandanavia or not? And why is he using Scandanavia as the example if it is only "virtually" legal there, while it's entirely legal in Holland/Belgium (for which he gave no such figures).
I'm extremely sympathetic with this guys cause and Canada is indeed going down the tubes... but this is not particularly professional or convincing writing.
"until we are as the Roman Empire, collapsing from internal corruption."
Good analogy. I prefer to use the analogy of Sodom and Gomorrah when thinking of Canada, Europe, and American Secularists though.
There is no need to put that tag "traditional" in front of marriage. It's marriage PERDIOD! Common sense, not tradition.
From your profile: "When is a pro-Republican, pro-Christian movement going to swell in Hollywood?"
I thought Mel Gibson was gonna do that... dunno what happened to him though.
If heterosexuals are abandoning marriage because gays can marry, than something is wrong with heterosexual values. The whole cause and effect thesis strikes me as near ludicrous. Of course, to the extent nations without a First Amendment tradition truncate free speech, that is even more awful. A robust debate is good, kooks included. The more, the better.
Exactly right!
I campaign, for example, for the immediate forgiveness of Third World debt.
Some principles must be adhered to at all costs, or a civilization will end.
I was just thinking the same thing....'marriage between a man and a woman' used to be 'just' common sense. Common sense has been lost.
heehee... I love the Sodom and Gomorrah analogy. We referred to Ithaca High School as Sodom and Gomorrah for a long time because of all the filth that went on there.
Many of the men I know interpret it a bit differently than in the traditional sense.
Many also are looking for the "KEY"!!!
;-)
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