Where the Rubber Hits the Road

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) in their recently published revised policy on ‘Professional Obligations and Human Rights’ of March 2015 states: “Where physicians are unwilling to provide certain elements of care for reasons of conscience or religion, an effective referral to another health-care provider must be provided to the patient.” Effectively this policy crushes the conscience rights of doctors and puts at risk the safety of their patients. By stripping from physicians the ability to care for their patients in a respectful and moral manner independent of government edicts, patients lose an essential ally dedicated to their care. Put plainly, who can patients best trust to ensure the security of their life? A politicians or their physician? By bowing to the pressures of various government agencies such as provincial human rights commissions and tribunals the CPSO has allowed their membership to be disarmed in using their best medical and moral ju...

I post this as a companion story to the one before. I find it bizarre that on the one hand someone can be granted an exemption from having to work with women (while it's not stated I assume that he was a Muslim) but this baker is ordered to provide a commercial service for a gay couple. It put me in mind of the Duck Dynasty brouhaha where everyone was screaming about his 'homophobic' (aka biblical) comments but virtually no one raised the fact that he also spit out some incredibly racist comments about African Americans at the same time. I guess the 'constabulary' of this new age of morality believe that consistency is 'the hobgoblin of a small mind'. Christian Baker Files Religious-Freedom Appeal in Wedding-Cake Ruling | Daily News | NCRegister.com

Female genital mutilation a 'huge problem' in U.K. - World - CBC News

Archbishop Gomez (Los Angeles) writes an excellent defense of the Church's right to preach, teach and practice according our own beliefs. Well worth the read no matter what side of the issue you stand on. Defending Our First Freedom | First Things

When the Wall Street Journal and Time Magazine (see previous post: "Why Catholic Bishops are Targeting Obama in Religious Freedom) begin to raise the issue of religious freedom, I think it's safe to say that it is not a case of claiming that the Churches are 'whining' over some loss of privilege or status, but a genuine growing concern for the Churches. What do you think? Michael W. McConnell: Washington Wants a Say Over Your Minister - WSJ.com

Some years ago I read a humorous but poignant story about public prayer at a school graduation. It took place during the time when tide had just begun to turn against religious displays etc. in the public square, somewhere in the late 1980s. Up until that time prayer by a local minister, priest or rabbi was part of graduation, almost without exception. We certainly had it at my public high school graduation in 1979. But by the early 1980s the ACLU and other organizations began to insist that prayer of any sort at a public gathering was wrong and violated the (so-called) “separation of Church and State,” (a phrase that does NOT occur in the US Constitution).  And here is where the story picks up: The class valedictorian of a local Virginia high school (I forget which) was a committed Christian, and also something of a class clown. He was told that, under no circumstances was he to invite his classmates to pray or to mention God in a prayerful way and that, if he ...

A story is told of a young businessman sharing a compartment on a train with an elderly gentleman. When he noticed that the old fellow was quietly and intently praying with his rosary in his hand, the young man chided him for his 'superstition' and told him that science had rendered the beliefs of religion irrelevant. “How did you come to discover that?” the old gentleman asked. His companion didn't really know how to answer the question fully right then and there, so he offered to send him a few texts and public lecture notes on the subject for his enlightenment. “What's your address?' he asked “I'll send you the material via the Post Office.” The old lad rummaged in his coat pocket and produced a tattered business card which read ' Louis Pasteur, Paris Institute of Scientific Research .' Louis Pasteur was the nineteenth-century giant of microbiology who proved the germ-theory of disease and invented the rabies vaccine. His humility certainly didn...

There continues to be an enlightening and educational exchange of ecclesiology between 'Small Town Guy', 'Paul' and 'Cliff', the latest in a recent cross-post (Scripture Sola). Cliff posted the following today: "There is one thing that is quite evident amongst all our disagreements, and that is we need to strengthen, clarify and unify the Christian position. The Church, both Protestant and Catholic is under siege by the enemy. We cannot let our emotions run rampant and abandon reason. We need to remember there are faithful, dedicated, sanctified believers in every tradition. Respect and understanding of each other must be priority. After all it is "love" that will prevail. 1 cor 13."    I was moved by his comment when taken in light of some recent posts and cross posts here about the slaughter of Christians in various corners of the Muslim world to offer the following. I would be most interested in your thoughts on the topic. Cliff: You...

I kind of agree and disagree with Fr. Raymond on this one. Yes, if we are speaking of the clash of cultures on an institutional level, then Christians must do everything within their power to preserve their rights and freedoms. BUT... and it's a BIG but, I still believe that anything that might lead to further escalation of the violence should be avoided. Christian militias are not the answer to Muslim extremists. (I know that Fr. Raymond didn't call for them, but it could be taken as an implied conclusion.) The Christian message of peaceful co-existence is. We must demand that countries where these crimes are taking place prosecute the offenders to the full extent of the law. The days when faith was a reason for killing others should be relegated to the distant past in every corner of the globe. Fr. Tim Father Raymond J. de Souza: Christians may need to start fighting back | Holy Post | National Post

"As the placenta is to the child in the womb, so religious freedom for all (including full right of public expression) is to the liberties that our North American cultures claim, cherish and protect." Never thought of it that way before! The thought comes from something said by a character in tonight's PBS 'American Experience/ Frontline series, "God in America". What do you think?  

Donald Trump is scheduled to appear on the Larry King Show on CNN this evening to discuss his offer to purchase the Manhattan property near Ground Zero upon which the Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and his Muslim brethren intend to build the ‘Cordoba Center’, an Islamic cultural and religious center. While supporters of the project state that it little more than an ‘bridge building’ effort to the Christian west, an Islamic YMCA, its’ opponents characterize it as an insult to those thousands who perished on 9/11 and a threat to religious peace and civil liberties. They point to Youtube videos purporting to show how Islamists have intimidated and effectively taken over neighborhoods within Europe in which they impose Sharia Law upon the women under their control, in open contravention of the rule of law. Most analysts and media commentators are calling this little more than a publicity stunt with Trump using the occasion to market himself. It need not be so. In fact, if he were to follow ...

Obama bases his position on the principle of religious freedom. Good move! Obama endorses building a mosque near Ground Zero - The Globe and Mail

A young wag once suggested that the RC Church used pot as its incense, they might win back some converts! I doubt I'll ever live to see that day but it will be interesting to read the continuing arguments and the eventual court decision about whether or not the state possesses the right to determine what is a 'legitimate' religion. Charles Lewis writes on the Holy Post blog about a court case in which the state has charged two men with marijuana offenses who are defending their cannabis actives by claiming they were religious acts, and thus protected from prosecution. As part of the legal argument, Professor Katherine Young of McGill University offered the quote below as evidence in the case before the court. Her expert testimony was placed before the court as it wrestles with what legally constitutes a religion. Prof. Young told the court that trying to come up with a definition is an enormous problem for scholars because of the complexity or religious beli...

Today is a fruitful one on the internet. Found this tidbit on the National Post, Holy Blog. ------------------ by Barneyrubble Jan 26 2010 4:33 PM I live in a part of Canada that does have a Muslim population. I don't see too many burkas though. When I see them I think they are strange looking however, kind of like a Jew wearing a skull cap or a Hindu wearing a turban - or even a Christian with a cross dangling about his or her neck. Religion is weird if you are not part of it. As an atheist I have taught myself to respect other peoples' ideas about religion, however.  I know that they believe strongly in the things that they do. Is it my right or my duty to make them conform to my way of thinking? I don't think so. I guess that is why I continue to be proud to live in a country that respects the rights of individuals and in their right to express themselves and to carry on in their own ideas regarding faith and religious dres...

It once was held as gospel that Quebec was one of the most Catholic jurisdiction in the world. The clergy dominated virtually every field of public life, even to instructing the faithful how to vote, under pain of sin (“Le ciel est bleu, l’enfer est rouge”). Then came the cultural transformation known as “la revolution tranquille” and the Church was, in an instant wiped from institutions, government and influence in the public square. In fact, for any idea, policy or moral position to be come from the Church was to automatically cast it in a disparaging light; discarded as out of date and unbefitting modern societies. Through the years, this atheist orientation of sensus fidelium has inexorably moved Quebec from a position of just denying the Church, and the values it embodies, a public role in society, to now attaining its ultimate goal of punitively sanctioning the very expression of all theist voice, but particularly the voice of the Roman Catholic Church.  Now, that wave of “...

Barbara Kay of the National Post writes on the new "religion" that has taken root in Quebec with the blessings of the provincial government. Quebec is the harbinger of what is to come in the rest of Canada unless we learn the lessons of the Church's mistakes in that province. Please pray that our Bishops will be willing to learn from their experience.

If there is one thing that has always been a foundational principle of law in our western democracy, it has been the right of parents to make decisions regarding their children. Alas, this bedrock right is now under attack. Lifesitenews is promoting a story about eight German parents who are going to jail because the held their children home from state sponsored sex education classes. It seems that in Germany, the state has decided that it possesses the right to make these decisions instead of parents. This should raise alarms throughout the western world, especially among Christians. Time and time again we are told that we do not have the right to "impose" our views on others - and for the most part, Christians have respected this societal convention. With this decision in Germany, it is clear that the forces of secularism do not believe that they need offer the same right to Christians. This is just another example of a "canary in the coal mine"; a harbinge...

The topic of "religious freedom" has come to the fore via the Swiss referendum banning the construction of minarets. In the National Post's religion blog (Holy Post) there has been an extensive discussion on this story . Essentially the debate boils down to should Christians adopt a position of militant reciprocity ("you can have your rights here when we can have our rights there") or should our approach be one that calls to the greater angels within Islam so as to call them to the theological/cultural developments to permit the acknowledgment of religious plurality. It is in this light that I recommend an article published by the American Spectator which examines the States that infringe upon the right to religious freedom. This article gives some "real world" perspective with which to assess the challenges that theists face in asserting their right of belief.

The following is a contribution to a comment thread within the pages of the National Post Religious Blog, " Holy Post ". Have any of you good folks read George Weigel's, " The Cube and the Cathedral " or any of his recent writings which offer persuasive argument and evidence as to the imminence of a conflict of cultures and religions that cannot be avoided? I think he gives us the key to understanding this culture and religious conundrum. First by pointing to the changing demographics of Europe, with a Christian birthrate that is insufficient to maintain a significant role within the social and political countries of the near future; certainly insufficient in the face of the of high birth rates of Islamic immigrants. ( Please spare me the migrant worker/immigrant name game. The difference does little more than point out the prejudices of the proponents of the word game ). That is a demographic fact. Further, Weigel points out that there is a subset wit...

http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2009/11/manhattan-declaration58-a-call-of-christian-conscience#