In a letter sent yesterday, CCCB General Secretary Msgr. Mario Paquette
warned the Senate that: "Participation in the current public debate on
marriage has demonstrated there are individuals who believe that
Catholic Church teaching on homosexual behaviour is hatred. We remain
concerned that this Bill as presently drafted could be used in an
attempt to silence Church teaching in this regard."

The letter explained that the Catholic Church "teaches that hatred is a
sin" but also teaches "that sexual conduct between people of the same
sex is morally wrong." The CCCB proposed an amendment to the bill. "We
suggest that one way of doing this could be to add a section that
clearly exempts, from the hate propaganda provisions, the communicating
of statements about the morality of sexual conduct," said the letter.

"The Bill could also be used to preclude comment on homosexual behaviour
by people who do not profess any particular religious faith," but find
homosexual conduct to be morally wrong.

Recalling the failed governmental promise over previous legislation that
homosexual benefits would not lead to a redefinition of marriage, the
CCCB said, "It would be very helpful for Senators to take the time to
make sure that the guaranteed rights of freedom of religion and freedom
of expression are not overridden."

Janet Epp Buckingham, the director of law and public policy for the
Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, said senators have told her they are
"getting a ton of phone calls and e-mails opposing the bill," but said
there is also "quite a bit of momentum for the bill to pass."

The evangelical fellowship said that if C-250 is passed, it will
endanger faith groups' freedom to read, preach and distribute sacred
texts, and to publicly discuss and comment on sexual morality.

END