The first advance warning of coming persecution of the Church in Canada

[fpb]

Canadian National Public Radio Broadcasts Call for State Control of Religion Especially Catholicism



OTTAWA, July 19, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Just as Senate approaches the final vote on the gay 'marriage' bill, C-38, Canada's national public radio CBC Radio has aired a commentary by a retired professor from the Royal Military College calling for state control over religion, specifically Catholicism. While parliamentarians dismissed warnings by numerous religious leaders and experts that such laws would lead to religious persecution, former professor Bob Ferguson has called for "legislation to regulate the practice of religion."

"Given the inertia of the Catholic Church, perhaps we could encourage reform by changing the environment in which all religions operate," Ferguson began his commentary in measured tones yesterday. "Couldn't we insist that human rights, employment and consumer legislation apply to them as it does other organizations? Then it would be illegal to require a particular marital status as a condition of employment or to exclude women from the priesthood. "

Ferguson continued, "Of course the Vatican wouldn't like the changes, but they would come to accept them in time as a fact of life in Canada. Indeed I suspect many clergy would welcome the external pressure."

The former professor pitched his idea as a boon to religious freedom. "We could also help the general cause of religious freedom by introducing a code of moral practice for religions," he said. "They will never achieve unity so why not try for compatibility? Can't religious leaders agree to adjust doctrine so all religions can operate within the code?"

Ferguson, would see religion regulated by provinces in the same way professions are regulated. "I am an engineer so the model I am thinking about is rather like the provincial acts regulating the practice of engineering," he said. "For example, engineers must have an engineering degree from a recognized university or pass qualification exams. They must have a number of years of practical experience and pass an ethics exam. The different branches: mechanical, electrical, civil and the like have a code of practice that applies to everyone. Why can't religious groups do the same?"

Continuing his comparison Ferguson stated, "I envisage a congress meeting to hammer out a code that would form the basis of legislation to regulate the practice of religion. Like the professional engineers' P.Eng designation, there would then be RRPs (or registered religious practitioners). To carry the analogy to its conclusion, no one could be a religious practitioner without this qualification."

Ferguson also suggests 'obvious' prohibitions on religion including preaching of 'hate'. "I won't try to propose what might be in the new code except for a few obvious things: A key item would have to be a ban on claims of exclusivity. It should be unethical for any RRP to claim that theirs was the one true religion and believers in anything else or nothing were doomed to fire and brimstone. One might also expect prohibition of ritual circumcisions, bans on preaching hate or violence, the regulation of faith healers, protocols for missionary work, etc.," says Ferguson.

The retired professor concluded his comments aired on CBC yesterday morning saying, "Now what is the point of proposing this? I do it because I am worried that the separation between church and state is under threat. Religion is important in our lives, but it can become a danger to society when people claim that the unalterable will of God is the basis for their opinions and actions. Yes religion can be a comfort and a guide, but we cannot take rules from our holy books and apply them to the modern world without democratic debate and due regard for the law."

Comments

[gunderpants.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah, that would be kinda whack. You can't really force anybody to do anything (a parenting strategy mum and dad use on my brother - in this case, a complete success for the fast food industry), and I think that Canada is hardly on the verge of some extreme religious uprising.

To some extent, though, I would think it a prudent idea for a government body to keep an eye on religions known to be dangerous or risky to the health of citizens (i.e. $cientology, Christian Science practitioners, etc).

And maybe, just maybe, in my ideal world religious institutions would be taxed. It might harm those poor Hillsong preachers, who will probably have to put their $4 million waterfront mansions on the market to make ends meet, but what can you do.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

He is not talking about Scientology. He is talking into forcing the Catholic Church to preach what he wants and be organized as he wishes. He is either mad - the Church will never accept anything of what he is proposing - or deliberately pushing for persecution, and given the kind of talk I have heard coming from Canada, my money is on the latter.

[lyssiae.livejournal.com]

Later today I'll write a measured, thought-out response, but for now....

Is the retired professor a big fan of China?

[fpb.livejournal.com]

He may be an engineer, but he certainly has no notion of history. In the past century alone, that kind of game was attempted by France (1905), Mexico (1926), the USSR (1945) and China (1950). The failure is manifest, and even China is sniffing around trying to find a way to make a deal with the Vatican. However, I feel confident that Canada will try something of the kind. What is most indicative is that Paul Martin continues to declare himself Catholic, which, considering that he is in violation of umpteen-squinchy Church laws, must mean quite simply that he considers himself as good a judge of what is Catholic as the Church. This is Henry VIII's claim, and given that we also are dealing with Henry VIII's motivations - sexual selfishness, and the desire to destroy any potential nucleus of opposition - I rather think that Paul Martin and his gang of crooks will try something of the kind. You are British, after all, and you know how the ruling classes go about this sort of thing - and Canada's political culture is more British than American. First you have a few "eminent" individuals coming out to make statements like Mr.Ferguson's, leaving the impression, a), that there is a problem that needs solving, and, b), that someone is making proposals. Then all of a sudden you find that the Government is considering a few proposals, that eventually become a bill. Then an obedient majority - and God knows that the Liberal-left majority in Canada has sold its collective soul so many times that there is very little it would not approve - forces it through Parliament.

It is insanity, of course. The Vatican will accept nothing of what this aged maniac and the crooks who manoeuvre him are dreaming of imposing on them; and the thing about Martin and his gang is that they are cowardly crooks, without the courage of their convinctions, unwilling to send the army to storm the Grande Chartreuse as Combes did, or to train artillery on monasteries and massacre priests and nuns like Plutarco Calles, or to set up GuLags like Russia and China. They have no weapon to break any Catholic resistance except petty harrassment and fiscal persecution, which will winnow the cowardly from the faithful and create a smaller but much harder Church. If the likes of Calles, Bismarck and Clemenceau have had to give way before the inflexible Church, how do dwarves such as Ferguson and Martin imagine they can force their will on her?

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Excuse me while I take my Bible and go underground right now. Sheesh, I might as well.

[thepreciouss.livejournal.com]

Yikes, next comes the Thought Police.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

"An ethics exam"? Set by the same government that has been found with its hands to its elbows in the cookie jar and which has been purchasing opposition MPs? The thought police is already being proposed.

[(Anonymous)]

Is Lifesitenews a subscription-based site? 'Cause I tried googling some of those quotes and didn't get a single hit.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

I get regular bulletins from them. Anyway I suggest you investigate the CBC, if they had the nerve of putting a record of Ferguson's remarks online.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

It is subscription-based all right. These are the data in their most recent bulletin:

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[(Anonymous)]

Ah, OK. Just checking.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Bear in mind that it is also a pretty extreme news service. I follow it because of all the stuff that does not get published on mainstream media, but that does not mean that I approve of its editorial line.

[(Anonymous)]

I figured so, and so I was a bit skeptical. Still am, frankly, since no-one else, mainstream sources or otherwise, seems to have picked it up. And I have seen some very partisan sites (far left and far right alike) outright invent stuff. So I'm not sure. (If any Canadians reading this have actually heard the segment in question, I'll revise my opinion.)

[fpb.livejournal.com]

I have never known LifeSiteNews to invent stuff, and I have been subscribing to them for months.

[(Anonymous)]

Well, we'll see.

[patchworkmind.livejournal.com]

That's just flabbergasting. That's so flagrantly anti-Catholic and anti-religion it's beyond words. The professor doesn't want religion to have any place in the government or influence the state in any way, but he's perfectly alright with the state dictating what religions can and cannot condone or practice as a matter of established faith and tradition?

Please pardon me while I wax American, but...

He's a f**king whack job.

The whole notion is absurd, but it's what I've come to expect from "progressives".

[(Anonymous)]

Unfortunately, I think he is a whack job with the blessing of Head Office. This is not the first time such things have been published on Canadian mainstream media; in fact, as I already said, it looks exactly like the kind of game that the British establishment plays when it wants to pass some decision that has already been reached within the circles that really govern the country.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Whoops. That was me just now - I forgot to log in.

[patchworkmind.livejournal.com]

I figure he probably does have their consent. I doubt the establishment would allow such a certainly controversial stand to be announced without first having been vetted and approved by the powers that be, which unfortunately isn't the governed.