Bishop of Peterborough Under Investigation by Ontario Human Rights Tribunal

The bishop of Peterborough is being investigated by the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal for a matter of internal church discipline and doctrine. Read the story here. James Corcoron, a homosexual man who lives with another man, but claims to be celibate, was dismissed as an altar server after complaints to the bishop.

What is outreageous is that the Human Rights Tribunal claims jurisdiction to stick its nose into the Catholic Church and tell the bishop who the Church must allow to lead worship. This is an outrageous violation of the integrity and freedom of the Church from arbitrary interference by the State. If this case type of thing is allowed then we have the State basically running the Church and determining its doctrine and discipline. No State has the authority or competence to do this.

Where are all those people who said that the law on marriage had to be changed in Canada because of the "separation of Church and State?" They bitterly complained that the Christian view should not be enshrined in law because the Church should not control the State. So they weren't really against mixing Church and State, apparently, they just wanted the control to flow in the other direction. They apparently want a union of Church and State with the non-Christian majority dictating what the Christian minority is allowed to believe.

What a heavy-handed case of religious oppression! How the case is decided is irrelevant. The very fact that the HRT thinks it should have the right to determine how Catholics should worship is in itself offensive and wrong. The HRT's are a menace to religious freedom and an outpost of totalitarianism in a democratic society. They need to be abolished now.

You can agree or disagree with the Roman Catholic Church on its doctrine and ethics. You have the freedom to join that Church or leave it. But no one should have the right to enlist the heavy hand of the State - complete with fines and coercion - to force the Church to change its beliefs and practices to suit the currently fashionable opinion of the social majority. Let no one say that Christians are not being persecuted in Canada today.