Monday November 20, 2000
See today’s LifeSiteNews stories
ELECTION ATTACKS AGAINST RELIGION CONTINUE UNABATED
VANCOUVER, Nov 20 (LSN.ca) – Attacks against the Christian faith have continued from public officials and Canada’s public television broadcaster, the CBC. The defamatory comments from representatives of various political parties were topped off with Liberal Multiculturalism and Status of Women Minister Hedy Fry and Prime Minister Jean Chretien taking stabs at Christianity Friday.
Referring to a statement apparently made by Alliance Leader Stockwell Day that “Jesus Christ is the God of the whole universe,” Fry attacked Christian conviction saying, “We have a country in which a man [Stockwell Day] decides that it is up to him to take his religion and use it and abuse his political power by making all Canadians believe as he said that Jesus Christ is the God of the whole universe. I say that is an insult to every Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh, everybody else who believes in other religions.”
When challenged by the media after her comments, Ms. Fry walked away instead of producing any evidence that Mr. Day was forcing his beliefs on others, let alone that he was the one introducing them into political debate. Rather, the media, led by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, have been the ones raising issues of religion.
Prime Minister Chretien also attacked Day for his decision to spend Sunday at church and with his family rather than on the campaign trail. Chretien said being prime minister is a seven-days-a-week job, “including Sunday.”
Reacting to the attack on Christianity, Gary Walsh, President of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, told LifeSite: “All Canadians of any faith tradition have reason to be concerned over the recent statements made by public officials and the media that relegate historic Christian faith to the margins of society.”
The attacks appear to directed more to the fact that a prominent politician, of any faith, might actually allow traditional religious beliefs and especially, their related traditional morality, to play some role in his political agenda. Since the Trudeau era, Canadian political leaders have enforced an ideology of separation of politics from religion, including their own religion. This has allowed the permissive society to flourish.
(with quotes from the Vancouver Sun, Nov 18, 2000 and CBC’s The National 11/17/00)
PC LEADER JOE CLARK ON CATHOLICISM AND ABORTION
OTTAWA, Nov 20 (LSN.ca) – This morning on Canada AM, Progressive Conservative Party Leader Joe Clark once again touted his pro-abortion views, again mentioning that he considers himself a “Catholic.” When asked if his pro-choice position and Roman Catholic religion were contradictory, Clark responded: “I am a Roman Catholic, I am pro choice. … Anyone who knows anything about the Roman Catholic Church knows that [abortion] has been an issue of division for quite sometime.”
Catholics who contacted LifeSite were extremely offended that Clark is “making a mockery of my religion, day after day.” There is no division in the Catholic Church over abortion. It is clearly defined by the Catholic Catechism as a “moral evil,” a “grave offense” and a “crime against human life” to which “the Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication.”
See Lifesite’s page of quotes by religious leaders on the moral obligations of politicians and voters at:
https://www.lifesitenews.com/interim/2000/election2000/moraloblig…
VATICAN EXPLAINS EMBRYO JESUS
VATICAN CITY, Nov 20 (LSN.ca) – Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, Prefect for the Congregation of Clergy, addressed the 15th International Conference on Health Care and Society Thursday. The cardinal clearly reinforced the Catholic Church’s condemnation of abortion, even in the earliest stages of embryonic development by detailing the life of Jesus Christ in the womb of Mary.
The cardinal said, “Two thousand years ago an egg was miraculously fertilized by God’s supernatural action. … From this wonderful union came a zygote (cell) with its own chromosomal heritage but it contained the word of God … About seven days later … God became no less than a human embryo, and this embryo was the son of God … God’s heart began to beat with the force of Mary’s heart and it began to use the umbilical cord to take food from his mother, the Immaculate Virgin. The Word of God was absolutely dependent on a human being but it was totally independent genetically.”
See the South African WWW news service News24 at:
https://news.24.com/News24/World/Europe/0,1113,2-10-19_941811…
DUTCH EU POLITICIANS WANT TO BOOT VATICAN FROM UN
THE HAGUE, Nov 20 (LSN.ca) – A group of Dutch European Parliament deputies launched a campaign Saturday to oppose the Observer Status of the Vatican at the United Nations. Agence France Presse reported Saturday that European Parliament deputies Lousewies van der Laan, Elly Plooij van Goorsel and Joke Sweibel complained that, “the Catholic Church is the only religion that is represented as a state in world politics, and this is unjust … We wish the Catholic Church to have the same role as other religions.” They exposed the pro-abortion agenda behind their plans, saying, “The consequences of these concessions are especially visible in poor countries where hundreds of millions of women die as a result of illegal abortions, and millions are contaminated by the AIDS virus.” The politicians called on the Netherlands and other EU members to sever diplomatic ties with the Vatican.
The campaign to oust the Vatican from the UN is the brainchild of “Catholics for a Free Choice”, the pro-abortion, anti-Catholic group funded by the Playboy Foundation and Planned Parenthood, among others.
(with files from AFP in UNWire)
REPORT: CANADA A HAVEN FOR PEDOPHILES
OTTAWA, Nov 20 (LSN.ca) – An international report on child sexual abuse has singled out Canada as a haven for sexual predators of children. The report released today by the committee to End Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking (ECPAT) is taking stock of Canada’s commitments to fight child victimization made at the World Conference on the Sexual Exploitation of Children in Sweden in 1996. The National Post reports that the 178-page report, titled “Looking Back, Thinking Forward,” slams Canada for having one of the youngest ages of consent for sex at 14 whereas most countries are raising the age to 18. The report also cites the BC Court of Appeal decision to strike down the child pornography law.
“I’m very disappointed,” with Canada’s Liberal government’s performance said Mark-Erik Hecht, an Ottawa-based lawyer who sits on ECPAT’s board of directors, and a contributor to the report. “We’re sending a very mixed message with our age of consent,” Mr. Hecht said. “Canada has historically been a sender of sex tourists to other countries. The country has recently developed a reputation as a receiving country for sex tourists.”
Debbie Mahaffy, whose daughter Leslie was tortured and murdered by sex killer Paul Bernardo, described the country’s lack of co-ordinated action as “mind-boggling”. “We don’t seem to have a problem getting people’s attention when it comes to protecting them from violence,” said Ms. Mahaffy, who works for the Ontario government’s Officer for Victims of Crime. “So why can’t we enact the most basic mechanisms to protect our children from sexual exploitation?It’s simply inadequate.”
For more see the National Post at:
https://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?f=/stories/20001…