Tuesday, November 20, 2007

What Happened To The Freedom Of Religion?

On October 27, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal issued a precedent-setting cease and desist order which forbids Jessica Beaumont from posting certain Bible verses on the Internet. If this 21-year old woman posts the wrong Bible quotation online - even if it is on an American website - she could face up to 5 years in prison.

Five years in prison for quoting Scripture.
...
Jessica Beaumont does not own a website. She was merely posting comments on existing sites (mostly in the United States). But the fact that she could go to prison for posting Scripture verses on a server in another country means that our religious freedom is in direct jeopardy.
Did the Parliament recently pass a bill abolishing Freedom of Speech? Or is it Freedom of Religion which has recently been taken out of the Charter without anyone noticing? If it was none of that, then how come an institution which is believed to protect human rights can decide which Bible verses Canadians shouldn't be allowed to post on the internet?

Of course, this legal abomination didn't happen without help of a famous censorship champion Richard Warman; a compulsive self-googler who uses the "human rights tribunal" to silence people he doesn't agree with. A ruling that could put a 21-year old waitress in jail for posting thoughts that do not violate the law is one of this professional complainer's recent achievements.

The media reaction was typical. The very same mainstream media that is going nuts about the rights of a Taliban combatant with a Canadian passport, didn't utter a sound when a Canadian woman was denied her freedom of speech and threatened with a 5-year prison sentence with no criminal charges laid against her. (Tell me who is your friend and I'll tell you who you are.)

But what about us? The media is silent but why should we remain silent when our rights are being taken away by a bunch of Bible-hating political activists? The misappropriation of state power by unelected unaccountable groups and establishments is getting uglier and more abusive by the day. So if we don't stand up for ourselves - then who will?

2 comments:

Jemdude said...

You're right about the need to stand up for ourselves. I'm shocked that this is happening here in Canada.

Madonna said...

Our Canadian Charter of Rights And Freedoms serves no purpose whatsoever. At least not to us "regular Canadian folk." As for Freedom of Religion, seems to me that so-called right cannot be exercised without certain sexual preference groups getting up in arms, which by the way reminds me of something which may ruffle the feathers of some included in the (dare I say it again) sexual preference group. I am a married heterosexual female. That said, why were my "rights", and the rights of many others like me totally obliterated when my marriage was placed into the same category as a homosexual "union" without so much as a "Sorry Mrs. but it's going to be like this from now on." By the way, I'm just as proud to be a heterosexual as most are to be homosexual but you don't see me and my kind whining for our week on the street so we can parade around on a float wearing leather thongs and showing off our latest nipple piercing!