OTTAWA (LifeSiteNews) — The majority of Canadian MPs have voted to pass a Liberal bill that will allow the criminalization of religious expression and belief when quoting parts of the Bible, including about homosexuality and gender.
Early Wednesday evening, MPs from the Liberal Party and the Bloc Québécois, in a 186–137 vote, passed Bill C-9, known as the “Combatting Hate Act.” Conservatives, NDP, and Green Party MPs voted against the bill in a rare form of unity among the usually opposing parties.
The bill now heads to Canada’s rubber-stamp Senate for review.
A last-minute effort by the Conservatives to change the wording of the bill failed to pass.
Earlier this week, Liberal MPs forced the bill through the report stage, after earlier, as reported by LifeSiteNews, shutting down all debate on the bill in the committee stage.
In comments sent to LifeSiteNews, Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) blasted the passage of Bill C-9 and called upon “Christians and pro-life advocates to prepare for increasing hostility.”
“With the passage of Bill C-9 in the House, Christians and pro-life advocates will almost certainly face an entirely new level of hostility, as the door swings open to actual persecution under a cloak of supposed legality,” said CLC’s Campaigns Manager David Cooke, who is also a Christian pastor.
Cooke said the Bill C-9 was framed as a law going after “hate,” but, in reality, it is a bill that religious leaders from various faith communities “say could lead to hate-related charges against believers—empowers ideologically-driven police officers and judges to target, for the first time, the very word of God on matters of life, family, and faith.”
“We must prepare for the battle ahead,” said Cooke, adding Canadians must “commit” to the “One who has won the ultimate victory over every foe, demonstrated by His resurrection on that first Easter morning.”
CLC’s Director of Political Operations, Jack Fonseca, noted that Bill C-9 must be stopped in its tracks in the Senate, but admitted it will be a hard battle, as most of the senators were appointed by former Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“The battle to defend religious freedom in Canada has now moved to the Senate, which, unfortunately, Justin Trudeau has spent the past decade stacking with anti-Christian bigots like Kristopher Wells, a radical LGBT activist who I suspect will relish the opportunity to criminalize parts of the Bible as ‘hate speech,’” he said.
Despite this, Fonseca noted that there is always hope that things could turn around.
“We call upon all people of goodwill to flood senators with phone calls, emails, social media comments, and, if possible, personal visits. For those who are Christian, we also encourage these efforts to be reinforced spiritually through extra prayer and fasting between now and the final third reading vote in the Senate. God answers those who ask for help,” he said.
Conservative MPs have been demanding that a Liberal amendment to the bill, which removes a religious exemption, be rescinded immediately.
As reported by LifeSiteNews, Bill C-9 has been blasted by constitutional experts as allowing empowered police and the government to go after those deemed to have violated a person’s “feelings” in a “hateful” way. The bill was introduced by Justice Minister Sean Fraser last year.
The removal of the religious exemption prompted condemnation from the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, who issued an open letter criticizing the proposed amendment and calling for its repeal.
