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Bloc Quebecois MP Real Menard slags Christian attitude
By DEBORAH GYAPONG
Canadian Catholic News
Ottawa
Members of the special legislative committee examining same-sex marriage gave Christian witnesses a rough ride May 18.
They derided Catholic beliefs about marriage as something out of the Stone Age and accused those who see a threat to religious freedom of collective hysteria. Bloc Quebecois MP Real Menard described the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (CCCB) argument that marriage is inextricably linked to procreation as something from the time of the Flintstones.
Menard insisted homosexuals have children by adoption and insemination and challenged CCCB lawyer Helene Aube to produce studies showing homosexuals were not equally good parents. Menard charged that those damaging marriage the most were heterosexuals.
Bloc Quebecois MP Richard Marceau accused lawyer Ruth A.M. Ross of the Christian Legal Fellowship of participating in a collective hysteria for arguments that Bill C-38 would infringe on religious freedom.
Most committee members seemed deaf to repeated arguments that religious freedom was already under attack in Canada, arguing that the Catholic Church had not been forced to ordain women or marry divorced people and thus priests would not be forced to marry gays and lesbians.
Appearing with Aube for the CCCB, Ottawa Archbishop Marcel Gervais told the committee that laws must respect the “order inscribed in nature. Once laws contradict this natural order, they become unjust,” Gervais said. “They then risk creating division and dissension, and so breed social disorder.”
The CCCB brief noted that the Charter of Rights is not self-referential, that its appeals to principles of equality and freedom are rooted in natural law.
Gervais pointed out that the charter’s preamble affirms “Canada is founded on principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law,” and these laws do “not stem from the will of individuals, judges or governments.”
Full article
By DEBORAH GYAPONG
Canadian Catholic News
Ottawa
Members of the special legislative committee examining same-sex marriage gave Christian witnesses a rough ride May 18.
They derided Catholic beliefs about marriage as something out of the Stone Age and accused those who see a threat to religious freedom of collective hysteria. Bloc Quebecois MP Real Menard described the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (CCCB) argument that marriage is inextricably linked to procreation as something from the time of the Flintstones.
Menard insisted homosexuals have children by adoption and insemination and challenged CCCB lawyer Helene Aube to produce studies showing homosexuals were not equally good parents. Menard charged that those damaging marriage the most were heterosexuals.
Bloc Quebecois MP Richard Marceau accused lawyer Ruth A.M. Ross of the Christian Legal Fellowship of participating in a collective hysteria for arguments that Bill C-38 would infringe on religious freedom.
Most committee members seemed deaf to repeated arguments that religious freedom was already under attack in Canada, arguing that the Catholic Church had not been forced to ordain women or marry divorced people and thus priests would not be forced to marry gays and lesbians.
Appearing with Aube for the CCCB, Ottawa Archbishop Marcel Gervais told the committee that laws must respect the “order inscribed in nature. Once laws contradict this natural order, they become unjust,” Gervais said. “They then risk creating division and dissension, and so breed social disorder.”
The CCCB brief noted that the Charter of Rights is not self-referential, that its appeals to principles of equality and freedom are rooted in natural law.
Gervais pointed out that the charter’s preamble affirms “Canada is founded on principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law,” and these laws do “not stem from the will of individuals, judges or governments.”
Full article