Human Rights Commissions might spell end for Christian aid
By MICHAEL COREN
There was a time, long ago, when sanity ruled. When people could disagree with each other without malice and nobody was silenced for having unfashionable opinions.
If you don't like something on television or radio, we were told, don't watch it. If you don't like a particular newspaper or magazine, don't read it. And if you don't like the values of certain employers, don't work for them.
But that was before the good Pierre Trudeau and his followers told us that we had never before enjoyed human rights. Times had changed, we were instructed, and from now on we would be free, happy and diverse. That was an order.
If you doubt it, speak to members of a group by the name of Christian Horizons in Kitchener, Ont. It operates homes for the disabled across the province and do extraordinary work for people who often have little or nothing. Work, in fact, that most people refuse to do.
Being evangelical Christians, however, they require employees to sign a morality statement in which they agree not to engage in extra-marital or pre-marital sex, not to view pornography and not to get drunk or lie. They also agree not to engage in homosexuality.
One would have thought that clients of the organization would rather approve of being helped by people who don't lie, cheat, watch porn, drink or run around on their spouses. Not according to our betters in the highly lucrative human rights industry.
They have insisted that Christian Horizons remove the morality statement and instead introduce an anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policy and start a human rights training program. The reason? Three guesses.
LESBIAN
Yes, you got it in one. One employee announced to colleagues that she was a lesbian and began discussing her sexuality. Eventually she was let go. She complained to the Human Rights Commission, which fined Christian Horizons and demanded the change. Demanded, in fact, that they not be Christian.
Quite simply, without Christian groups and Christian people the social welfare network of Canada would collapse. This is not hyperbole. Walk along almost any main street and look at the names of the houses, associations and institutes that care for the poor, the abused, the marginalized, irrespective of their gender, race, religion or sexuality.
Christian welfare groups tend to be the most successful in dealing with the needy, much of their work is performed by volunteers and most of their money comes from donations. They are motivated by their faith -- the same faith that leads them to sign morality statements and not to lie, cheat, be promiscuous or, sorry, engage in homosexual sex. Goodness, this isn't brain surgery. If people want to be homosexual, that is their business. If people want to be Christian, it should be theirs.
In California the Salvation Army was forced to close down several inner city missions because officials refused to sign a document approving of homosexuality. The destitute suffered terribly as a consequence. In Britain the Roman Catholic church similarly was obliged to shut the doors of its adoption agency.
This is not about justice, equality or discrimination. It is about crude bullying and triumphalism. The campaign stopped being about tolerance a long time ago and now is about penalizing anyone who will not embrace a particular social and sexual agenda. It's enough to drive you to drink -- unless you've signed the morality clause!
http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Coren_Michael/2008/05/03/5459116-sun.php
By MICHAEL COREN
There was a time, long ago, when sanity ruled. When people could disagree with each other without malice and nobody was silenced for having unfashionable opinions.
If you don't like something on television or radio, we were told, don't watch it. If you don't like a particular newspaper or magazine, don't read it. And if you don't like the values of certain employers, don't work for them.
But that was before the good Pierre Trudeau and his followers told us that we had never before enjoyed human rights. Times had changed, we were instructed, and from now on we would be free, happy and diverse. That was an order.
If you doubt it, speak to members of a group by the name of Christian Horizons in Kitchener, Ont. It operates homes for the disabled across the province and do extraordinary work for people who often have little or nothing. Work, in fact, that most people refuse to do.
Being evangelical Christians, however, they require employees to sign a morality statement in which they agree not to engage in extra-marital or pre-marital sex, not to view pornography and not to get drunk or lie. They also agree not to engage in homosexuality.
One would have thought that clients of the organization would rather approve of being helped by people who don't lie, cheat, watch porn, drink or run around on their spouses. Not according to our betters in the highly lucrative human rights industry.
They have insisted that Christian Horizons remove the morality statement and instead introduce an anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policy and start a human rights training program. The reason? Three guesses.
LESBIAN
Yes, you got it in one. One employee announced to colleagues that she was a lesbian and began discussing her sexuality. Eventually she was let go. She complained to the Human Rights Commission, which fined Christian Horizons and demanded the change. Demanded, in fact, that they not be Christian.
Quite simply, without Christian groups and Christian people the social welfare network of Canada would collapse. This is not hyperbole. Walk along almost any main street and look at the names of the houses, associations and institutes that care for the poor, the abused, the marginalized, irrespective of their gender, race, religion or sexuality.
Christian welfare groups tend to be the most successful in dealing with the needy, much of their work is performed by volunteers and most of their money comes from donations. They are motivated by their faith -- the same faith that leads them to sign morality statements and not to lie, cheat, be promiscuous or, sorry, engage in homosexual sex. Goodness, this isn't brain surgery. If people want to be homosexual, that is their business. If people want to be Christian, it should be theirs.
In California the Salvation Army was forced to close down several inner city missions because officials refused to sign a document approving of homosexuality. The destitute suffered terribly as a consequence. In Britain the Roman Catholic church similarly was obliged to shut the doors of its adoption agency.
This is not about justice, equality or discrimination. It is about crude bullying and triumphalism. The campaign stopped being about tolerance a long time ago and now is about penalizing anyone who will not embrace a particular social and sexual agenda. It's enough to drive you to drink -- unless you've signed the morality clause!
http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Coren_Michael/2008/05/03/5459116-sun.php