OTTAWA, June 30, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Bruce Clemenger, president of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) lamented the passage of Bill C-38, the Civil Marriage Act saying, “Parliament is embarking on a social experiment that removes the language of husband and wife from the law and eclipses its ability to champion the rights of children to know and be raised by a mother and a father.”
The EFC says it has been working to preserve the historic definition of marriage for over a decade.“Evangelical Christians have engaged on this issue because it’s part of our deeply held religious beliefs that marriage as ordained by God is a union of one man and one woman,” says Clemenger.“Rather than our concerns being taken seriously, we have been made to feel that our beliefs about marriage are unCanadian and contrary to the Charter.”
The EFC’s director of law and public policy, Janet Epp Buckingham, says, “We believe that religious freedom will be compromised by this change in the definition of marriage. The Supreme Court of Canada noted in the marriage reference that the right to same-sex marriage may conflict with the right to religious freedom. Marriage is both a religious and a civil institution and it’s inevitable that such conflicts will arise.”
Buckingham says, “While amendments to Bill C-38 provide a measure of protection for religious freedom, most of the areas of conflict are within provincial responsibility.”
Clemenger says, “The EFC cannot by reason of faith, conscience, practice and teaching accept this new definition of marriage and we will continue to promote and uphold marriage as the exclusive union of one man and one woman.
“Our pastors and churches will promote marriage as a covenant before God,” says Clemenger, “and will provide pre-marital and marital counseling. We are committed to supporting marriage and family, and caring for lone-parent families and children without parents.”
Christian legal experts agree that the new law will threaten religious and civil freedoms. In a press release, the Christian Legal Fellowship said it remained very concerned that “Bill C-38 will induce the inevitable hampering or chilling of free speech and the marginalization of religion in the public sphere.” The organization recommitted itself to “the protection of freedom of religion, conscience and speech and will continue to work to ensure these protections are upheld in Canada.”
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