A religious freedom advocate is warning that a proposed Canadian law could imperil freedom of speech and religious liberty.
Jeff King, president of International Christian Concern (ICC), a religious persecution watchdog, told CBN News proposed Bill C-367 “amends the criminal code and it takes away some religious exemptions that protected Christians.”
King compared the proposal to the Equality Act, a U.S. legislation that the Biden administration championed but failed to pass.
The U.S. bill sought to prohibit “discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation and gender identity in areas including public accommodations and facilities, education, federal funding, employment, housing, credit and the jury system,” but ignited religious persecution concerns.
Similarly, Canadian Bill C-367, King said, would create potential problems for people making biblical claims or basing objections to certain issues on the Quran or other religious sentiments.
With these protections potentially in danger, King said the potential impact could create a similar dynamic to what is seen in more restrictive and despotic nations.
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“This is what the dictators and the despots do overseas to strangle Christianity or whatever faith,” he said. “They say, ‘Oh, we have religious freedom, but not in the public sphere.’ So, it’s the same game.”
King said hate speech laws are “always being promoted … for the common good,” but he said such provisions tend to “create division.”
He explained that hate speech laws were passed in Canada in 2003 and 2004 with protections, but warned that these caveats are now potentially on the chopping block.
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Reprinted with permission from cbn.com. Copyright © 2024 The Christian Broadcasting Network Inc. All rights reserved.
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