Human Events
tells us that
in Australia the law considers it “religious vilification”, a criminal offense,
to quote the parts of the Koran liberals consider it impolite to mention:
Two Christian pastors in Australia have been found guilty of religious
vilification of Muslims. The decision threatens us all.
One of the pastors, Daniel Scot, is Pakistani. He fled his native land seventeen
years ago when he ran afoul of the notorious Section 295(c) of the Penal Code –
which mandates death or life in prison for anyone who blasphemes “the sacred
name of the holy Prophet Muhammad.”…
Scot went to Australia, only to run afoul of that nation’s new religious
vilification laws. Last Friday, Judge Michael Higgins of The Victorian Civil and
Administrative Tribunal found him guilty of vilifying Islam in a seminar hosted
by his group, Catch the Fire Ministries. The judge noted that during the
seminar, Scot stated that “the Quran promotes violence, killing and looting.”…
He also scored Scot for contending that the Qur’an “treats women badly; they are
to be treated like a field to plough, ‘use her as you wish,’” and that in it,
“domestic violence in general is encouraged.’” He charged Scot with saying that
the Qur’an directs that “a thief’s hand is cut off for stealing.” Yet the idea
of the field and “use her as you wish” are from Sura 2:223 of the Qur’an.
Husbands are told to beat their disobedient wives in 4:34. Amputation for theft
is prescribed in 5:38….
When during the trial Scot began to read Qur’anic verses that discriminate
against women, a lawyer for the Islamic Council of Victoria, the organization
that brought the suit, stopped him: reading the verses aloud, she said, would in
itself be religious vilification. Dismayed, Scot replied: “How can it be
vilifying to Muslims in the room when I am just reading from the Qur’an?”
This of course reminds me of the Saskatchwan case in which quoting the
Bible was ruled to be illegal. As I
posted in 2003,
… Let’s talk about this so-called high threshold, and let’s look at
comparable Saskatchewan human rights legislation and a decision of December
2002, the Hugh Owens decision.
In paragraph 7 of the Saskatchewan Court of Queen’s Bench decision in the
appeal of that particular case, we have the description of the offence:
The bumper sticker in the advertisement displayed references to four
Bible passages: Romans 1 [+/-]Romans 1
[1:1]Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an
apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, [2]which he
promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy
Scriptures, [3]concerning his Son, who was descended from
David according to the flesh [4]and was declared to be the
Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by
his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,
[5]through whom we have received grace and apostleship to
bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name
among all the nations, [6]including you who are called to
belong to Jesus Christ,
[7]To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called
to be saints:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ.
[8]First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of
you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.
[9]For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in
the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you
[10]always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will
I may now at last succeed in coming to you. [11]For I long
to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to
strengthen you-- [12]that is, that we may be mutually
encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine.
[13]I want you to know, brothers, that I have often
intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented),
in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as
among the rest of the Gentiles. [14]I am under obligation
both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to
the foolish. [15]So I am eager to preach the gospel to you
also who are in Rome.
[16]For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the
power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the
Jew first and also to the Greek. [17]For in it the
righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as
it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith."
[18]For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against
all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their
unrighteousness suppress the truth. [19]For what can be
known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it
to them. [20]For his invisible attributes, namely, his
eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly
perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the
things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
[21]For although they knew God, they did not honor him as
God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their
thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
[22]Claiming to be wise, they became fools, [23]and
exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images
resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping
things.
[24]Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their
hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies
among themselves, [25]because they exchanged the truth
about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature
rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
[26]For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable
passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for
those that are contrary to nature; [27]and the men likewise
gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with
passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with
men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their
error.
[28]And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God,
God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to
be done. [29]They were filled with all manner of
unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full
of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are
gossips, [30]slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty,
boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
[31]foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. [32]Though
they know God's decree that those who practice such things
deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to
those who practice them. (ESV)
, Leviticus 18:22 [+/-]Leviticus 18:22
[22]You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is
an abomination. (ESV)
, Leviticus 20:13 [+/-]Leviticus 20:13
[13]If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of
them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be
put to death; their blood is upon them. (ESV)
and 1 Corinthians 6 [+/-]1 Corinthians 6
[6:1]When one of you has a grievance against another,
does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of
the saints? [2]Or do you not know that the saints will
judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you,
are you incompetent to try trivial cases? [3]Do you not
know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then,
matters pertaining to this life! [4]So if you have such
cases, why do you lay them before those who have no
standing in the church? [5]I say this to your shame. Can it
be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a
dispute between the brothers, [6]but brother goes to law
against brother, and that before unbelievers? [7]To have
lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for
you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be
defrauded? [8]But you yourselves wrong and defraud--even
your own brothers!
[9]Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not
inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the
sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men
who practice homosexuality, [10]nor thieves, nor the
greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will
inherit the kingdom of God. [11]And such were some of you.
But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were
justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the
Spirit of our God.
[12]"All things are lawful for me," but not all things
are helpful. "All things are lawful for me," but I will not
be enslaved by anything. [13]"Food is meant for the stomach
and the stomach for food"--and God will destroy both one
and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality,
but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. [14]And God
raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.
[15]Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?
Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them
members of a prostitute? Never! [16]Or do you not know that
he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her?
For, as it is written, "The two will become one flesh."
[17]But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit
with him. [18]Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin
a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually
immoral person sins against his own body. [19]Or do you not
know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within
you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, [20]for
you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
(ESV)
:
9-10, on the left side of the sticker. An equal sign (=) was situated in the
middle of the sticker, with a symbol on the right side of the sticker. The
symbol on the right side was comprised of two males holding hands with the
universal symbol of a red circle with a diagonal bar superimposed over top.
The Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission found–and the court upheld this–
that this advertisement violated the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code because it
exposed homosexuals to hatred. They made a specific legal finding that it
exposed homosexuals to hatred or ridicule.
Quoting Scripture of any kind seems to get judges mad at you, doesn’t it?
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on Thursday, January 27th, 2005 at 1:24 pm and is filed under Uncategorized.
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