Quoting the Bible could be criminalised as ‘hate speech’ under Canadian proposals

Canada could criminalise the quoting of Scripture under planned changes to hate speech laws, critics have warned.

Currently, people cannot be convicted for “wilful promotion of hatred” if a statement is made in “good faith” based “on belief in a religious text”. But an amendment to the proposed Combating Hate Act would remove this exemption, threatening people with up to two years in prison.

The proposals are backed by Minister of Justice Sean Fraser and the Bloc Québécois party.

‘Essential safeguard’

The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops warned the Prime Minister: “The proposed elimination of the ‘good faith’ religious-text defence raises significant concerns.”

“This narrowly framed exemption has served for many years as an essential safeguard to ensure that Canadians are not criminally prosecuted for their sincere, truth-seeking expression of beliefs made without animus and grounded in long-standing religious traditions.”

The Canadian Constitution Foundation, which is campaigning against the proposals, added: “While prejudice and discrimination should be condemned, the proposed law gives the government new power to subjectively determine which words and ideas are acceptable – a direct threat to the Charter right to freedom of expression.”

Scripture

Earlier this month, a Liberal MP who claimed that Bible passages on sexual ethics contain “clear hatred towards, for example, homosexuals”, was appointed as the Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture.

In October, Marc Millar told the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights: “Clearly, there are situations in these texts where these statements are hateful; they should not be used and prosecutors should have the right to press charges.”

Commenting on his appointment, Conservative MP Larry Brock asked: “Is this really what the Carney government thinks Canadian culture should look like?”