The impact of the Supreme Court decision on Trinity Western Universities potential law school will be monumental.
With a bang of the gavel, religious freedoms in Canada took a backseat to political correctness as TWU’s potential law school operating under a strict personal covenant was ruled verboten. The court ruled that the presence of the covenant implied discrimination against the LGBTQ community despite the voluntary nature of the agreement.
The nature of the TWU covenant was one that could be called a public expression of faith, and by striking the usage down, the supreme court has deemed that such practises will not tolerated, despite being protected in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
However, as history has shown, once a major victory over religious freedoms like this, its application is not long in extension rulings.
What if the supreme court ruled that the Holy Bible could no longer be used to swear Truth on in courts?
What if law societies and governments could ban lawyers and judges based on their private faith?
What if provinces and school boards could de-certify Christian schools based on articles of faith despite a ‘closed’ enrollment status, and religious freedom guaranteed by the charter?
What if churches and faith based charities could no longer work under bible based policies and practises?
You might even see a bulletin note like this:
“Statements made in this worship service are the opinion of management and not to be taken as fact.”
In an extreme reach, churches themselves may be considered havens for hate crimes based on scriptures and principles not in vogue with societies humanist views.
For those who see this issue as merely an effort to force inclusion on TWU, one must merely look at dramatic changes in the past that started a wave towards death camps in German as one example. The lessons of history cannot be overlooked, the more narrow minded our citizens and courts are, the faster we move closer to the precipice of a faithless, hopeless society.
Tim Lasiuta
Red Deer