Mar 13
1
The ridiculous and shameful ruling this week that deprived Christian social activist Bill Whatcott of his inherent human right to free speech came down with the rattle of chains and the clanging of prison doors. The unanimous ruling took the highest court of biased secular human opinion in Canada two years to deliver. The judgment tells us “what time it is”, as runaway slave Frederick Douglass said of abolitionist John Brown’s ill-fated attempt to free the slaves at Harper’s Ferry, a few short years before hundreds of thousands of Americans would shed their blood for that same noble cause.
For those of us engaged in the struggle to save Canada from a further descent into social anarchy, hedonism and the black night of terror, this judgment must banish for us any lingering hope that common sense and a shared national moral consensus will somehow drift back into the corrupt judicial system without hard and painful personal sacrifice.
Bill Whatcott has already paid heavy personal sacrifices and appears ready to take on more. His tireless activity, his courageous declarations of truth in the most hostile of settings, his willingness to live on next to nothing while he pours his meagre personal finances into the distribution of shocking but truthful literature, the looming threat of vindictive fines he can never pay and possible jail time—all these are sacrifices he has been willing to make for the cause.
He has held back the tide of terror—the abuse of human rights in the name of human rights—and all of us have benefited from his bold and reckless stand. But the Supreme Court and the so-called “Human Rights” officials of Canada (including the 41 taxpayer-funded lawyers who descended on Ottawa to ensure Whatcott’s “day in court” was a wresting-away of his God-given right of free speech) have agreed that applying justice and common sense was not going to produce the kind of society they want. In a shocking display of dishonest verbiage, the ruling simply ripped away the protection of the law for the exercise of free speech guided by conscience and religious conviction.
A week or two ago, the federal government was grandstanding on its new Office of Religious Freedom, a dubious expenditure of taxpayers’ money designed to provide lip-service for freedom and camouflage for the disrespecting of religious freedom at home and abroad. It is now obvious to anyone who is honest that throwing money around in a crowd-pleasing display of high-sounding words like “religious freedom” and “human rights” is nothing more than expensive window dressing. A government that cared about religious freedom would have enacted laws to protect heroes like Bill Whatcott.
Two other friends of mine and friends of mankind, Linda Gibbons and Mary Wagner, are behind bars in Ontario for attempting to express their religiously-informed consciences in a non-violent manner. Don Spratt, another friend of mine, and Cecilia von Dehn still await judgment in their aging Vancouver case, which fairly drips with political agendas and biased enforcement. (They broke no law but offended the baby-killers at a Vancouver abortion clinic by informing pedestrians about the “bubble zone” injunction).
With this High Court ruling on February 27, 2013, the stakes have been raised in the battle for freedom and dignity in Canada. If we had a culture concerned about “human rights” our legislators would be protecting our most helpless and innocent babies in the womb from the abortionist’s knife. A society that cared about our young people would not be herding them into large brick cattle-cars called schools where—in almost every province now—they are exposed at ever younger ages to graphic sexual content and bluntly compelled to discuss and form opinions about sexual themes and behaviours. And this in a country where literacy and the ability to think and use primary documents are on the decline. Universities, once a haven for open debate and thought-provoking comment, routinely ban pro-life clubs and think nothing of it.
How can all this be explained? How can a nation dedicated (as it thinks) to the elevation of human respect and dignity be using the power of the state to oppress, imprison, silence and hinder the free expression of loving, moral truth? The answer is surprisingly simple.
God has revealed to us that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Prov. 9:10 That means that without that fear, honour, respect for the awesome Creator of the universe and for His Law (written in our hearts and confirmed by the written Word of revelation—the Bible), there is NO wisdom. If respect for God is the beginning of wisdom, lack of respect and awe and obedience to His revealed will can only mean that wisdom has not even begun to sprout.
The 98-page judgment released on Wednesday contained the following statement which is especially shocking because, if viewed from the perspective of the now-victimized Christian activist, it rings true but it is being applied in exactly the opposite direction from that in which the protection of the law might do some good. Justice Rothstein, who wrote the judgment, said this: “…a particularly hideous aspect of hate speech is that it acts to cut off any path of reply by the group under attack…” Far from rejecting any reply, Bill Whatcott has always enjoyed interacting with the homosexual community and has sought to actively engage in meaningful discussion with those living a lifestyle he felt was damaging to them physically, emotionally and spiritually. He has not been the one “cutting off a path of reply”. The Supreme Court Justices, on the other hand, exercising all the power of office and none of its restraint, have forbidden Bill Whatcott to distribute his flyers. Who is cutting off a path of reply?
You men and women who know the truth and who value freedom: we now know “what time it is”. God says to us that “knowing the time, now it is high time to awaken out of sleep; for now is our salvation nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent; the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let’s put on [as a cloak] the armor of light.” Rom 13:11-12
Thanks, Bill Whatcott, for telling us what time it is.
Right on, Rod! I pray Bill’s case not only tells us what time it is, but is an alarm-clock that wakes up not only Christians, but all freedom loving Canadians and we stand up to this rising tide of tyranny.