The Canadian Parliament just passed a bill that makes quoting certain passages of the Bible a crime. Bill C-9 criminalizes citing Scripture—particularly passages about homosexuality. All this is done under the guise of “stopping hate,” whatever that means.
In Canada, citing texts that criticize lewd behavior is legally perilous. Texts such as Genesis 19:1—11, Romans 1:26—27, or Leviticus 18:22 now carry risks. All it takes for an arrest is for an individual to “feel” threatened or uneasy during a talk or debate. Yes, even if those words were written by the Apostles of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Death of the “Good Faith” Exemption
By passing the Combating Hate Act, the Canadian Parliament has eliminated the traditional “good-faith” exemption. For decades, this vital clause protected individuals from prosecution for expressing opinions on religious matters or quoting sacred texts in good faith. That legal shield is now gone.
Despite vigorous efforts by Conservative MPs to halt the bill, a majority of socialist MPs voted to advance it. With the adoption of Senate amendments, Bill C-9 removes longstanding protections for Canadians’ right to express religious beliefs.
Legislating Feelings Over Facts
It is entirely appropriate to penalize those who physically block access to places of worship or threaten physical harm. However, Bill C-9 does none of this. Rather, it drastically broadens the legal definition of “hate” to encompass almost anything. Constitutional experts have criticized the legislation, warning that it empowers police to pursue individuals who merely hurt someone’s “feelings.”
Open, robust debate over religious issues, morality, and lifestyle choices is now directly threatened. Squelching debate is a sign of profound weakness, since it is usually done when there are no logical arguments to offer.
Because Parliament deliberately left the definition of a hate crime dangerously vague, the law’s scope expands to whatever an accuser decides. The government now wields a convenient tool to punish views it dislikes on flimsy allegations. Furthermore, this legislative overreach does nothing to curb actual extremist activity. Instead, it removes vital safeguards against politically motivated charges and threatens constitutional limits on legitimate, protected protest.
A Lowered Bar for Prosecution
Even if the need for hate speech laws is accepted, Sections 318 and 319 of Canada’s Criminal Code already prohibit advocating genocide and willfully promoting hatred. The Supreme Court of Canada previously defined “hatred” as an emotion of an intense and extreme nature.
Bill C-9 lowers this bar. It proposes a flimsy definition of hatred as an emotion merely “involving” detestation or vilification, thereby completely stripping away the Supreme Court’s requirement that the speech be “intense and extreme.” Instead, it becomes a subjective interpretation of another’s feelings.
Originally, the Canadian government did not propose eliminating the religious exemption. However, political bargaining with the liberal-leftist Bloc Québécois strong-armed Parliament into the exemption’s swift removal. As an editorial in the National Post accurately warned, the full free-speech protections once enjoyed by people of faith have vanished.
A Global Trend of Suppression
Canada is not alone in this anti-Christian legislative blackmail. Finland’s former Minister of the Interior, Päivi Räsänen, faced criminal charges under “war crimes” statutes for quoting the New Testament to criticize her church’s participation in Pride events. Similarly, in Spain, prosecutors opened an investigation into a Catholic bishop’s remarks on human sexuality that aligned with the Church’s traditional teaching.
The Path Forward for People of Faith
Under the banner of combating hate, Bill C-9 opens the door to the criminalization of peaceful religious expression, subject to the whims of accusers.
However, the real object of hatred is Christians. Such punitive laws destroy society by encouraging sin and suppressing the Truth. They hand governments a convenient weapon to silence dissent and marginalize those who remain faithful to traditional Catholic teachings.
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