Hi all,I'm new here. I've been visiting Sermon Index and reading the posts for quite some time, but never really felt the need to post something until now. I should probably post something in the welcome/intro forum (whatever it's called). I'll try to remember to do that. But I just wanted to post a little note of encouragement and caution about this particular topic (if this post winds up in completely the wrong spot, you'll have to forgive me, I'm new at this).I live in Canada and am well aware of the legislation that prompted the initial post in this topic. But unfortunately there's a fair bit of misinformation being passed around in church circles concerning the real nature of the bill. Nobody is trying to ban the Bible (not yet at least).The effect of the law would be to ban the incitement of hatred against homosexuals. We already have a law prohibiting the incitement of hatred against groups of people based on "colour, race, religion or ethnic origin". The effect of the new bill would be to add "sexual orientation" to the list of groups against whom you can't incite hatred. Fortunately, there is built into this provision an exception for religious communication. You're off the hook if you can establish that you "in good faith ... expressed or attempted to establish by argument an opinion upon a religious subject." So arguably, even the "God Hates Fags" crowd (as wrong as that is) could be protected by the exception.I'm not saying that this legislation is a good thing, but the long and the short of it is that Canada is not on the brink of banning the Bible. On the other hand, we are a very hard-hearted nation desperately in need of the fires of revival. And I wouldn't doubt that a bit of persecution would probably do us some good.If you do think to pray for Canada, we're actually in the middle of one of the most important federal elections in a long time. It's a real horse race and we would really appreciate your prayers for more Godly leaders.
