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Shutterstock OTTAWA, June 15, 2018 ( LifeSiteNews ) – The Supreme Court decision favoring LGBTQ “rights” over a Christian college’s freedom to uphold Christian moral standards is an outright attack on religious freedom, said a number of critics.
In a pair of 7-2 decisions ( here and here ), the top court ruled it was “proportionate and reasonable” for the law societies of British Columbia and Ontario to refuse accreditation to graduates of Trinity Western University (TWU) proposed law school because the Christian college’s Community Covenant discriminates against and reportedly harms LGBTQ people.
TWU, a Langley, British Columbia-based private Christian college associated with the Evangelical Free Church, requires students sign a commitment to refrain from, among other things, any sexual activity “that violates the sacredness of marriage between a man and a woman.”
It’s unclear if TWU will go ahead with its planned law school in light of the ruling since future graduates would not be able to practice law in Ontario and B.C.
“This decision is an obliteration of religious rights,” said Jim Hughes, President of Campaign Life Coalition, Canada’s national pro-life, pro-family political lobbying group.
“Trinity Western, like any other private institution, is entitled to hold its religious views including those on the biblical understanding of sex and marriage. Tragically this decision states that there is no room for religious diversity in the public sphere,” he said in a Friday press release.
“This is anti-Christian bigotry, there is no other way to put it,” Campaign Life Coalition vice president Jeff Gunnarson added.
“The court’s decision to deny Trinity Western the right to exercise its religious rights, sets a dangerous precedent for other faith-based schools, organizations, charities,” he said.
That was echoed by Phil Horgan, president of the Catholic Civil Rights League (CCRL), one of the over 30 interveners in the landmark case the Supreme Court heard November 30 and December 1 last year.“Today’s decision is a distressing example of same-sex and gender viewpoints ‘trumping’ enumerated Charter rights,” he wrote in CCRL’s Friday press release.The decision “will provide a launching pad for future attacks on the continued access of religious organizations to public benefits,” warned Horgan.“In […]