Sign the petition to the City of Toronto asking that they lift the ban on the Voice of the Nations music festival. Click here.

TORONTO, October 29, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) -- The City of Toronto is refusing to grant a Christian group a permit to use a prominent downtown square for its annual musical festival next year, because the city has decided that singing the name of Jesus in the public venue contravenes city policy against “proselytizing.”

Voices of the Nations (VON) has been using city property since 2006 for an annual “multi denominational” event in which it celebrates Christianity through live music and dance. It has been using the Yonge-Dundas Square without issue for the past five years. This year’s August 1 event attracted 19 different performance acts, including children’s choirs and popular Christian bands, where well-known ‘praise-and-worship’ songs such as “Days Of Elijah” are performed.

When VON’s Events Coordinator Leye Oyelani contacted the Square’s Manager of Events Natalie Belman last week by phone to apply for next year’s permit, he was told that a permit would not be issued and to look for a venue elsewhere.

“I’ve already advised Peter [Paresh, Director of VON] that we're not going to be permitting you guys this year for next year because of the proselytizing on the square, and that’s a big issue for us,” said Belman in a transcript of the October 23 conversation obtained by LifeSiteNews.

A volunteer Board of Management appointed by Toronto City Council operates the Square. Taxpayers contribute about $400,000 of the Square’s annual $2.3 million budget to help pay staff salaries and other costs.

Video from Voice of the Nations 2015:

When Oyelani asked the city official exactly who proselytized at the event, Belman responded that the “performers did.”

“If you’re praising Jesus, ‘praise the Lord,’ and ‘there’s no God like Jehovah,’ that type of thing, that’s proselytizing,” she said.

Oyelani then said that he didn’t think singing about God “would be a problem” given that it was a Christian event.

“That is a big problem,” Belman replied. “That [kind of thing], from the stage, is not acceptable.”

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines proselytism as “inducing someone to convert to one's faith.” Event organizers confirmed to LifeSiteNews that at no point during the performances did the artists induce passersby to convert to Christianity.

Belman went on to relate to Oyelani in the phone conversation that proselytizing goes against the city’s Performance & Display Policy.

While the policy states that “Performances / Displays must not advocate a specific political or religious point of view for the purpose of proselytizing” it does not prohibit singing the praises of God or mentioning the name of God.

Belman, who said she was present at the August festival, told Oyelani that the performers’ songs go against the policy.

“That seems to be a large part of your programming, it seems to be an integral part of what your mandate is, and given that, I think that you guys should be looking for a different venue, because that is not in-line with our policies,” she said.

LifeSiteNews attempted to reach out to Natalie Belman on three occasions by phone, but was unable to obtain a comment by press time.

‘Blatant discrimination’

Rev. David Lynn, street preacher and founder of Christian Positive Space & Stop Bullying Christians Now, called the refusal to grant the permit “blatant discrimination” against Christians.

“How’s a Christian at a Christian Event not to say the name of Jesus in their Songs?” he asked in an interview with LifeSiteNews.

The Ontario Human Rights Code prohibits discrimination based on “creed,” calling it a “discriminatory practice” to deny someone “services, goods and facilities” based on this prohibited ground. Individuals discriminated against can launch a complaint to The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario.

Lynn said he preaches daily in Dundas Square and sees every kind of group using the venue to share their own perspectives and worldviews.

“Daily I see every kind of event, from Muslim, Buddhist, LGBT, Rap, Hindu, and they all share their beliefs and express their philosophies. That is the beauty of diversity, which, while I don't agree with everything everyone says, I nevertheless embrace it.”

Lynn, who has previously faced persecution from the city’s police for spreading the Good News on the city’s streets, called it “bullying” to deny Christians the “right to sing about their God and about their creed” in the public square.

“This City of Toronto verdict is telling the Christian Community that we are not allowed to be ourselves on Toronto property. This is awful,” he said.

Peter Paresh, Director of Voices of the Nations, told LifeSiteNews that he was shocked when the permit was denied. He said his ministry has never had a problem obtaining a permit for the festival since it moved to the square in 2010.

He showed LifeSiteNews endorsements of previous events made by former city councillor Doug Ford and councillor Ana Bailao.

“I’m writing today to express my full support for the Voices of the Nations Concert, to be help at Young-Dundas Square on Saturday August 3, 2013,”  wrote then-councillor Doug Ford to the Square’s former Manager of Events Sarah Peel.

“This fantastic event contributes to the vibrancy and diversity of our City and I am proud to lend my support to it,” wrote Ford.

Paresh views the permit refusal as a direct assault on God and has vowed to fight the verdict.

“The city official is not going up against me or my organization, but against the most high God. She's basically saying, ‘Sorry, but you can't have the name of Jesus being spoken from the stage on Dundas Square. When they go up against the most high God, in my opinion, I have to fight for the name of Jesus. Whatever happens, I will fight for the name of Jesus.”

“Even if part of me is weary about what's going to happen, I know that God is going to take care of everything. I just have to step out and make sure I vindicate his name,” he said.  

Ben Robinson, director of the Toronto Christian Business Directory and a sponsor of the VON event, called it “sad” to see public officials “discriminating against a Christian group for singing songs in public about Jesus.”

“It’s almost as if we are nearing the last days where the Bible tells us that Christians will be persecuted for their faith. This is only the tip of the iceberg and I believe that things will only get worse, but we know that Jesus has already won the war,” he told LifeSiteNews.

Sign the petition to the City of Toronto asking that they lift the ban on the Voice of the Nations music festival. Click here.

Contact:

Taylor Raths, Yonge-Dundas Square General Manager
Online contact form
Phone: 416-979-9960
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @YDSquare

Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam
Yonge-Dundas Square Board of Management member
Phone: 416-392-7903
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @kristynwongtam

Find more Board of Management members here.

Toronto Mayor John Tory
Phone: 416-397-2489
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @JohnTory, @TorontoComms

April 6, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) -- Just two days prior to Pope Francis’ release of his Apostolic Exhortation on the family, a German cardinal who has been an outspoken defender of Catholic teaching on marriage and family has criticized as “impossible” the Synod’s suggestion that civilly divorced and remarried Catholic become “more integrated” into the Church. 

Cardinal Walter Brandmüller, president emeritus of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences, stated in an article appearing today on the Austrian Catholic website Kath.net that integration that is not founded on the truths of the indissolubility of marriage and the sacredness of Holy Communion would lead to “conflicts,” “embarrassments,” and an “undermining of the Church’s sacred proclamation.” Reporter Maike Hickson has translated key sections of the cardinal's article at The Wanderer.

The cardinal said that a married Catholic who enters into a new civil union is “committing adultery,” and that as long as such a person is unwilling to put an end to the sinful situation, he “cannot receive either absolution in Confession nor the Eucharist.” Any path other than repentance and change of life is “bound to fail,” the cardinal said, due to “its inherent untruthfulness.” 

This “untruthfulness” directly applies “to the attempt to integrate into the Church those who live in an invalid ‘second marriage’ by admitting them to liturgical, catechetical and other functions,” he added.

The cardinal said that an integration without repentance and change of life cannot be reconciled with the doctrines of the faith. 

“What is fundamentally impossible for reasons of Faith, is also impossible in the individual case,” he said.

Referring directly to Pope Francis’ forthcoming exhortation, the cardinal said that no matter what the document contains, everything stated must be interpreted in light of the unchanging dogmas of the Church, especially as expressed in the Church’s Catechism.  

“The post-synodal document, Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love), is therefore to be interpreted in light of the above-presented principles, especially since a contradiction between a papal document and the Catechism of the Catholic Church would not be imaginable,” he said. 

The Exhortation is to be released April 8 at noon, Rome time. Two left-leaning cardinals — Lorenzo Baldisseri and Christoph Schönborn — will present the document, a move which Vatican experts say could suggest the document has a progressive bent. 

ANALYSIS

HOLLYWOOD, April 6, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – If J.J. Abrams, the director of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, has his way with future scripts, expect homosexual characters.

Abrams was hosting a pre-Academy Awards event at his production company Bad Robot when asked about prospects for homosexual characters. He responded, “Of course, of course. When I talk about inclusivity it’s not excluding gay characters. It’s about inclusivity. So of course.”

Abrams like everyone else in Hollywood was talking about inclusivity in response to all this year’s nominees for acting Oscars being white (though largely unnoticed was the prominence of gay or transgender storylines). On the larger issue of color—or lack thereof—Abrams had told the Daily Beast,  “It’s shameful. We all need to do better to represent this world. It’s something that is important to me, and is something that we’re focusing on at Bad Robot.”

Speculation immediately began about the close relationship between two leading male characters, Poe (Oscar Isaac) and Finn (John Boyega), in Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens, which has already grossed 2 billion USD worldwide.

Everyone from the Daily Beast to the British Express wondered: Will the sequel, Rogue One, set for release by Christmas, see new and openly homosexual characters take the stage or will the already close friendship between Poe and Finn turn into something more?

Isaac clearly thinks he was in more than a buddy movie. He told the audience of the Ellen talk show, “You have to watch it a few times to catch all the little hints. But there was. At least I was playing romance. In the cockpit I was playing... there was a deep romance.”

Allmagnews.com noted, “After their crash landing on the desert planet, Finn seemed rather distressed that Poe may have been lost. All that was left of the pilot was his leather jacket, and Finn wore it as he made his way through the planet.” Cinema Blend commented about their happy reunion late in the movie: “Did you see that look Poe gave Finn when he told Finn that his jacket looked good on him?”

Moreover, Mark Hamill, who plays Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars and appears for just a moment in the latest one, has emerged as a contender for the gay stakes because of a mysterious tweet to a fan asking about his character’s sexuality. “Luke is whatever the audience wants him to be. So you can decide for yourself.”  

Finally, the latest novel in the print series, has introduced three new LGBT characters to its parallel story line. Though its fictional reality is parallel but not identical to the movie series, its corporate universe is identically dominated by Disney and LucasFilm. At least in print they believe their fans are ready for a gay hero named Sinjir Rath Velus, an Imperial officer who has crossed over to the Rebels.

So far, parents of preteens and early teens have only had to worry about excessive violence (The Force Awakens is rated among the most violent episodes and the darkest). Now must they go the theatre in December 2017 with their “gaydar” units turned on? Does it matter?

“Of course it does,” Dan Gainor, vice president of the conservative Media Research Center, told LifeSiteNews. “Hollywood is mass marketing propaganda. If it isn’t environmental and anti-American propaganda in Avatar, it’s sexual propaganda. There are a lot of gays in Hollywood. But it doesn’t mean that the rest of America is like that.” The MRC has summarized its beliefs succinctly, in a 2012 report titled “Hollywood: Driving the Homosexual Agenda for 40 Years.”

Homosexuals are presented as healthy, normal, living in married relationships with children, a picture that differs significantly from the woeful health and relational patterns of most homosexuals, warns Gainor.  “They are presented as far more common than they are in reality.”

He cites a 2015 Gallup poll showing 53 percent of Americans believe that from 20-25 percent of the population is homosexual, up from 13 percent who believed this in 2002. “That’s Hollywood’s work,” said Gainor. “It means we are deciding policies thinking we are accommodating a sizeable group when it’s a miniscule minority.”

The direct influence of the entertainment media on popular attitudes is well documented. A 2012 survey of “likely voters” by THR showed, according to the Hollywood Reporter, that  “27 percent said gay TV made them more pro-gay marriage, and six percent [said it made them] more anti. Obama voters watched and 30 percent got more supportive, 2 percent less supportive. [As for] Romney [supporters]… 13 percent got more pro-gay-marriage, 12 percent got more anti.” Concluded the Reporter: “Social conservatives who fear the influence of gay-friendly TV are evidently right to fear it.”

But movie studios are far behind TV in pushing homosexuality, laments the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, which noted only a slight increase in homosexual content between 2013 and 2014. “Of the 114 films GLAAD tracked this year [for 2014], only 20 (17.5%) included depictions of LGBT characters, and some of those would have been better left on the cutting room floor,” it reported.

But anecdotal evidence indicates a shift last year to movies with dominant homosexual or LGBT themes. While GLAAD could find no transgender characters in 2014, last year saw the release of The Danish Girl, a biopic about a Danish artist in the 1920s who died from complications of sex-change surgery; Carol about a 60s housewife having an affair with a shopgirl; and Freeheld, about a lesbian police officer dying of cancer and fighting for her partner to get her death benefits. All featured major stars such as Eddie Redmayne and Cate Blanchett.

Still, for Gainor, nothing tops the popular, well-made new TV series called Lucifer. “I’m unshockable. Why should I get upset about a gay character in Star Wars when there is now a TV series marketing Satan as the good guy?”

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 6, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) -- Hillary Clinton has doubled down on her contentious position that “the unborn person does not have constitutional rights,” now stating that even the child just hours away from delivery is deprived of rights because “that is the way we structure it.”

Paula Faris of ABC’s “The View” asked the Democratic frontrunner to clarify her position stated last Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Faros asked Clinton, “At what point does someone have constitutional rights, and are you saying that a child, on its due date, just hours before delivery still has no constitutional rights?”

“Under the law that is the case, Paula,” replied Clinton. 

Clinton then went on to declare her support for the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion, calling it “an important statement about the importance of a woman making this most difficult decision with consultation by whom she chooses, her doctor, her faith, her family. And under the law — and under certainly that decision — that is the way we structure it.”

Weeks prior to birth, a preborn baby is a completely formed human being with perfectly functioning brain, eyes, heart, and lungs. The baby is able to hear sounds from the outside world and recognizes its mother's voice. The baby is capable of surviving outside its mother's womb. 

Critics have called Clinton’s position on life out-of-touch with the American mainstream.

“Clinton revealed that she believes no unborn child is subject to constitutional rights,” the Republican National Committee said in a statement on Sunday when Clinton first made her position clear. 

“Voters now know Clinton’s extreme stance against the value of protecting life, and can no longer be misled by her deceptive pandering,” the Committee stated.