Trinity Western Surrenders Major Battle in War on Christianity

Trinity Western drops mandatory covenant forbidding sex

outside of heterosexual marriage

Bethany Lindsay · CBC News 

Students walk past a cross on campus at Trinity Western University in Langley, B.C. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)

Students at Trinity Western University will no longer have to sign an agreement promising to abstain from all sex outside of heterosexual marriage.

The board of governors for the evangelical Christian university in Langley, B.C., voted on a motion Thursday to drop the mandatory requirement that students adhere to what the school calls its community covenant.

The motion said the change was made "in furtherance of our desire to maintain TWU as a thriving community of Christian believers that is inclusive of all students wishing to learn from a Christian viewpoint and underlying philosophy."

The change will come into effect beginning in the 2018-2019 school year, and applies to new and continuing students.

In a written statement, TWU president Bob Kuhn said the school will continue to be a "Christ-centred" facility.

"Let there be no confusion regarding the board of governors' resolution; our mission remains the same. We will remain a Biblically-based, mission-focused, academically excellent university, fully committed to our foundational evangelical Christian principles," Kuhn said.

The covenant binds students to a strict code of conduct that includes abstinence from sex outside of marriage between a man and a woman, and it was at the centre of a long legal battle over TWU's plans for a law school.

The law school was granted preliminary approval by the B.C. government in 2013, but that was later withdrawn in the face of legal challenges.

In June, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that provincial law societies have the power to refuse accreditation for the school, saying the covenant would deter LGBTQ students from attending.

The majority judgment said that LGBTQ students who attended a TWU law school would be at risk of significant harm.

The case went to the top court after the law societies of B.C., Ontario and Nova Scotia had all refused to accredit graduates of the school, saying the covenant discriminates against LGBT students.

In B.C. and Nova Scotia, courts had sided with TWU, ruling the university has the right to act on its beliefs as long as there is no evidence of harm.

Ontario's Court of Appeal ruled the other way, calling the covenant "deeply discriminatory to the LGBT community."

Christianity, itself, is discriminatory to the LGBTQ2SIX community. How long before Christian Universities and schools are completely eliminated? Not long, I suspect.

Trinity Western University ‘Optimistic’ After Supreme Court Hearing

War on Christianity - Canadian Front

Supreme Court considers accreditation of proposed law school

DAN FERGUSON 

Trinity Western University (TWU), in Langley, British Columbia, said it was “optimistic Canada’s highest court will arrive at a decision that supports the freedom of all faith groups and other minorities in Canada” following two days of legal arguments at the Supreme Court of Canada in Ottawa concerning a proposed faith-based law school at the Langley campus.

The case involved two appeals concerning accreditation of the TWU law school, one involving a decision of the Law Society of British Columbia (LSBC) and the other a decision of the Law Society of Ontario (LSO).

At issue is the university community covenant that requires students and staff to abstain from non-heterosexual relationships, something critics say violates the Canadian charter of rights.

It actually requires students to abstain from any sexual relationships outside of marriage between a man and a woman.

Both the B.C. and Ontario bodies refused to recognize the proposed law school.

In BC, the decision was overturned by the lower courts, while in Ontario, the LSO’s refusal to accredit was upheld.

The last time the university went to court over the covenant, it won a 2001 case over its teacher training program when the Supreme Court of Canada ruled there was no evidence to suggest that the religious views of TWU graduates would lessen their competence to practice their profession in Canada’s pluralistic society.

During the two days of arguments that ended on Friday, the high court heard multiple submissions from people on both sides of the law school issue.

Among the detractors were the BC Humanist Association, an atheist group which argued that TWU cannot claim its religious freedom has been infringed as organizations do not have religious rights in Canada, and West Coast LEAF, the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund, which defended the decision to deny accreditation to TWU’s proposed law school on the basis that it would engage in discrimination on the basis of sex, marital status, and sexual orientation.

“As the gatekeeper to the legal profession and the judiciary, and as a public entity whose decisions must comply with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, law societies cannot condone a law school that will through its admissions practices widen the gap between historically disadvantaged groups and the rest of society,” said a LEAF statement issued before the hearing began.

I would hope that the Supreme Court Justices would have enough wisdom to see that this is vexatious, an act of hostility against all religion and Christianity in particular.

In his opening statement, Trinity Western University (TWU) Counsel Kevin Boonstra framed the matter as a freedom of religion issue.

“The Charter protects the right to establish communities of faith like TWU,” Boonstra said.

“In order for any religious community to exist and thrive, it has to be able to define itself. In the evangelical context, this includes defining religiously appropriate conduct while individuals are part of the community.”

Outside court, TWU president Bob Kuhn said the case was about more than just a law school.

“It is about freedom for all faith communities and other minorities in Canada,” Kuhn said.

Kuhn led the legal team that won the 2001 Supreme Court case concerning the TWU covenant and the BC College of Teachers refusal to recognize their teacher training program.

“As the BC Court of Appeal stated when it decided in favour of the law school, ‘a society that does not admit of and accommodate differences cannot be a free and democratic society’,” Kuhn said.

A statement issued by TWU following the hearing said the university “welcomes any student who is prepared to live and learn according to the values and principles of its community – regardless of race, religious beliefs, gender, sexual orientation, or place of origin” and said the covenant was “not so different from a code of ethics or a code of conduct, which most universities have.”

The covenant, TWU said, calls on all who attend and work at TWU to live by “virtues such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, compassion, humility, forgiveness, peacemaking, mercy and justice;” it also defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

The court’s decision is expected within the next several months.

Nova Scotia Supreme Court Strikes Down Law Society's Rejection of Christian Lawyers

The Nova Scotia Supreme Court has struck down a decision by the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society to deny graduates of British Columbia's Trinity Western University the right to practise law in the Maritime province.

The Christian university had asked the court to review the society's decision to deny accreditation to its graduates. It argued the law society overstepped its jurisdiction and failed to comply with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

A Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge heard the case in December and rendered a 139-page decision in less than two months.

"What one person sees as having the strength of moral convictions is just sanctimonious intolerance to another," Justice Jamie Campbell wrote.

"As with a lot of things, it depends on perspective."

Campbell said the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society exceeded its authority in trying to exclude Trinity Western students.

"The extent to which NSBS members or members of the community are outraged or suffer minority stress because of the law school's policies does not amount to a grant of jurisdiction over the university," Campbell wrote.

'There is nothing illegal'

Campbell said there would be nothing to prevent someone who has similar religious and moral beliefs as those espoused by Trinity Western to get a law degree from another university and be free to practise in Nova Scotia.

"People have the right to attend a private religious university that imposes a religiously based code of conduct," he wrote.

"That is the case even if the effect of that code is to exclude others or offend others who will not or cannot comply with the code of conduct. Learning in an environment with people who promise to comply with the code is a religious practice and an expression of religious faith. There is nothing illegal or even rogue about that."

The Nova Scotia Barristers' Society decided last April to impose a ban on articling students from Trinity Western University until it dropped a requirement to have students sign a community covenant. That agreement requires students to promise they won't have sex outside heterosexual marriage.

The society argued the agreement represents unlawful discrimination against gays and lesbians under the charter and violates the province's Human Rights Act.

A number of groups intervened in the court action, including the attorney general of Canada, the Christian Legal Fellowship and the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission.

'There is much to consider'

The Nova Scotia Barristers' Society said Wednesday it is assessing its next move.

 "We appreciate that Justice Campbell dealt with this matter very quickly and comprehensively," Tilly Pillay, the president of the society, said in a statement.

"We are analyzing the decision and will review it with our legal counsel before we can determine what the next steps might be. There is much to consider."

Last month, the British Columbia government revoked its support for the law school, saying the university can't enrol students in the program because of the "uncertainty" over approval by the B.C. Law Society.

Trinity Western University has said it will also take legal action against the Law Society of Upper Canada in Ontario, which voted against approving the law school.

Meanwhile, law societies in Alberta, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador and Nunavut have decided to accept Trinity Western's graduates.

Congratulations Trinity Western and well-done NS Supreme Court for that utterly sane decision. Glad somebody's not overwhelmed by the gay lobby.

New Brunswick Upholds Accreditation of Trinity Western Law Program Against Challenge

Graduates of the law school at B.C.'s Trinity Western University will be able to practise in New Brunswick, as a move to rescind their future accreditation failed to pass today.

The council of the Law Society of New Brunswick debated a motion Friday morning in Fredericton to revoke the accreditation of the law school at the B.C. university — a Christian school that requires all students and staff to sign a covenant that prohibits same-sex relationships. Actually, it prohibits any sexual activity outside of marriage between a man and a woman.

After debate of more than an hour, the vote ended 12-12, with the tie meaning the motion to rescind the accreditation failed.

The vote was held by a secret ballot.

The focus of the meeting was whether the law society will accredit graduates of Trinity Western's law school, which is scheduled to open in the fall of 2016.

Kent Robinson, a lawyer who has represented Moncton's Crandall University, also a Christian school, defended institutions that hold sincere religious beliefs.

"I may not agree with it," Robinson said Friday, but, he said, institutions have the right to their religious beliefs.

Robinson said the law society also cannot discriminate against an institution based on its religious beliefs, even if it doesn't agree with them. Hmmm, tell that to Ontario, Nova Scotia and British Columbia - they think it is just fine to discriminate. In fact, they think it's their duty to discriminate, and if they can destroy some religious tenet or institution - all the better.

James O'Connell, another lawyer at Friday's council meeting, supported rescinding Trinity Western's accreditation.

"I view this as religious oppression. They are telling others how to behave," he said. Which is exactly what they accuse TWU of doing.

In June, the Law Society of New Brunswick’s council voted to accredit the program.

However, in September, law society members passed a resolution directing the council not to accredit the university.

Lawyers in New Brunswick aren’t the only ones having a difficult time deciding how to treat future Trinity Western graduates.

The Law Society of British Columbia also revisited its decision to accredit the Trinity program and it then reversed its decision.  Trinity plans to file litigation against the B.C. law society.

To date, bar associations in Alberta and Saskatchewan have approved accreditation — although Saskatchewan has put its decision on hold, as has Manitoba.

Law societies in Ontario and Nova Scotia voted against accreditation, which caused the school to challenge those decisions in the courts in both provinces.

Law Society of BC Discriminates Against Christian University

Members of the Law Society of B.C. voted on a resolution that declares
'the proposed law school at Trinity Western University is not an approved
faculty of law for the purpose of the Law Society's admission program.'

Members of the Law Society of British Columbia have voted 74 per cent in favour of reversing the society's earlier approval to recognize graduates of Trinity Western University's School of Law.

Victoria lawyer Michael Mulligan says more than 8,000 of the society's 13,530 members voted.

The final decision is up to the law society's board of governors, known as benchers. They are expected to ratify the decision on Friday.

Members of the society triggered a non-binding vote earlier this year that overturned a decision by the society's board of governors to accredit Trinity Western's new law school in the Fraser Valley.

As a result of that, in June the law society said members would vote on a resolution that declares "the proposed law school at Trinity Western University is not an approved faculty of law for the purpose of the Law Society's admission program."

Law Society of B.C. seal
Needs to be redesigned to say "The Anti-Christian Law Society of BC"

The law school at the faith-based university is set to open in 2016. Critics oppose the plan because Trinity Western students must sign a Christian covenant that states sexual relations are to be confined within the bounds of a marriage between a man and a woman.

Critics say the policy is discriminatory against people in LGBT relationships.

The Law Society of Upper Canada in Ontario has voted against approving the law school and the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society has granted conditional acceptance if the school changes the covenant for law students or allows them to opt out.

Trinity Western is legally challenging those decisions in court.

This is a shameful and blatant exercise in anti-Christian bias. There are many Christian lawyers in Canada today and I have never seen or heard of a single complaint against one because of his/her faith. 

So all students who want to study law in a comfortable, moral, Christian environment will be unable to because of the possibility of discriminating against LGBT students. There are no LGBT students at Trinity Western! The last thing LGBT students want to do is go to a Christian school, unless they are specifically trying to make a point.

So, while there is a possibility of discrimination, the likelihood of actual discrimination happening is very close to zero. The law societies themselves are discriminating far more the TWU ever would. Their anti-Christian bias is stinking up the whole Fraser Valley.

This is another step in the increasing anti-Christian bias in BC. It would not be surprising to see other societies pull their accreditation from TWU. That might destroy the only University in BC that practices a moral code. Does everyone else just feel guilty, or what?

Anti-Christian Discrimination Case Turns Very Bizarre

The story, immediately below, of a Trinity Western student being verbally attacked for being a Christian has really turned weird.

As more women who received bizarre and inappropriate responses to their job applications to wilderness company Amaruk come forward, efforts to reach the company's CEO have left CBC News questioning whether the business and its jobs even exist.

Amaruk Wilderness Corp. hit headlines this week after CBC News reported on a B.C. Human Rights Tribunal complaint, in which a Trinity Western University graduate — Bethany Paquette — claims her application to work for the company was rejected because she's Christian.

Since Paquette's complaint was reported, CBC News has heard from other applicants, including Lucie Clermont, who applied to Amaruk last year for a job listed as the executive assistant to the CEO, which promised a $120,000 salary and world travel.

Job too good to be true?

Clermont's application was met with a number of emails asking awkward questions — some of them sexual — followed by more that became insulting.

Amaruk Wilderness Corp.
Questions are being raised about Amaruk, the company at the centre of an alleged anti-Christian attack, and a number of associated businesses.

"We are very un-Canadian in the sense that we do not embrace mediocrity," one of the emails reads, apparently from Eric Teheiura, vice president South Pacific. "We are not about to hire just anybody to assist a CEO, consular official, and member of one of Europe's wealthiest families."

Sophie Waterman applied for the same job, but soon believed it sounded too good to be true. She withdrew her application after a friend in the tourism industry warned her Amaruk might not be all that it seems.

"When I cancelled the interview, I received about 15 emails in quick succession," she says. "All pretending to be from different people involved with the company, and all very litigious, accusing me and my friend of slander. My feeling is that it's all one person."

But if that's the case, who that person is remains something of a mystery.

Tracking down a CEO 

Christopher Fragassi-Bjørnsen and Dwayne Kenwood -Bjørnsenare are listed as co-CEOs of Amaruk along with several other businesses, including Norealis, Spartic and Militis.

But the men do not live in Europe and they are not diplomats. And if Olaf Amundsen — the man who allegedly sent Paquette the offensive emails — is real, the picture of him on the company website is not. In fact, it's an image grabbed from social media site Pinterest.

The image presented as Olaf Amundsen is fake.
It was grabbed from Pinterest. Great picture though. 

One of the companies, Norealis, is listed as owning a male erotic website. Many of the models found on that site can also be found in images on the other companies' websites.

The domain names of the websites for all the companies were registered in B.C. by a Christopher Fragassi, who lists a Whistler P.O. Box  as his address.

This image was used to illustrate the Google+
account of Christopher Fragassi-Bjørnsen

Only Christopher Fragassi is named on Amaruk's B.C. corporate registry entry, though Industry Canada's website lists 217 employees and 20 company directors. Calls to several listed numbers reached no one, just a hold signal that played the song of loons down the phone line.

Guide questions aircraft claim

Experienced Yukon guide Nicolas Tilgner saw CBC News's original story about Amaruk and was reminded of the red flags raised when the company tried to join a tourism association in the north three years ago.

At the time, Amaruk’s website claimed to operate its own airline called Amaruk Air.
"We were quite perplexed with the claims of air transport they were saying they provide. They were saying they provide a C-130 heavy aircraft.

"We did find [that] the picture on their website they were using belongs to a military agency."

The photo and the plane pictured, it turns out, actually belongs to the New York National Guard.

The C-130 promoted as part of Amaruk's wilderness adventures

Tilgner said flags were also raised over a picture purportedly of an outpost in the Yukon that does not exist, and the fact Amaruk was offering trips to Baffin Island in December, despite such trips only being allowed from the spring

"We didn't really see any of their staff guides in the field or operating in the Whitehorse area," he notes. "They seem to be a company that existed on the web only."

CBC News sent questions to several Amaruk email addresses about these new allegations. Their lawyer says these are simply allegations. The company has not made any comment.

So, it would appear that this guy or these guys have been running scams for years, and were it not for shooting his mouth off at a Christian girl, he might have continued for several more years. I'll be very surprised if the RCMP isn't investigating this company already.

Trinity Western Grad 'Attacked' for Being Christian in Job Rejection

Bethany Paquette had applied to work in Canada's North for Amaruk Wilderness Corp. Bethany is an avid outdoor adventurer, and Biology graduate from Trinity Western University.

She was “attacked” over her religion by a Norwegian wilderness tourism company, just for applying for a job.

Bethany Paquette, rejected job applicant

Bethany Paquette claims her application to work in Canada's North for Amaruk Wilderness Corp. was rejected because she's Christian.

"It did really hurt me and I did feel really attacked on the basis that I'm a Christian," Paquette said.

In her complaint to the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal, Paquette outlines a series of emails from executives from Amaruk Wilderness Corp.

Paquette, an experienced river rafting guide, applied to be a wilderness guide for Amaruk’s Canadian operations in the North.

She says she was shocked when she read the rejection email from Olaf Amundsen, the company's hiring manager.

He wrote that she wasn't qualified and "unlike Trinity Western University, we embrace diversity, and the right of people to sleep with or marry whoever they want."

Trinity Western is the Christian university in Langley, B.C., where Paquette earned her biology degree. It is also at the centre of a controversy over getting accreditation for its law degree program due to start in a couple years. Several provinces will not recognize the degrees because of discrimination against gay activity while a student there.

All students must agree to a covenant prohibiting sexual intimacy outside heterosexual marriage, under pain of possible expulsion, which has led to controversy over the university's new law school. Paquette was furious and told CBC, "My beliefs have developed who I am as an individual, but they don't come into play when I am doing my job."

Christianity 'destroyed our culture'

What does that mean? That you stopped slaughtering people with axes? That you stopped slave-trading?

In the rejection email, Amundsen also wrote: "The Norse background of most of the guys at the management level means that we are not a Christian organization, and most of us actually  see Christianity as having destroyed our culture, tradition and way of life."

Bethany Paquette used to be a river guide and hoped to become a wilderness guide
for Norwegian company Amaruk's expeditions to Yukon.

Paquette wrote Amundsen back defending her faith, saying "your disagreement with Trinity Western University, simply because they do not support sex outside of marriage, can in fact be noted as discrimination of approximately 76 per cent of the world population!!! Wow, that's a lot of diverse people that you don't embrace."

She also wrote that the Norse people chose Christianity.

"I signed it God Bless, probably partially because I knew it would irritate them," Paquette said.

It clearly irritated Amundsen, who wrote back, describing himself as "a Viking with a PhD in Norse culture. So propaganda is lost on me."

Olaf Amundsen - Amaruk Wilderness Corp hiring manager
a Viking with a PhD in Norse culture.

Trinity Western grads 'not welcome' in company

He explained why graduates from Trinity Western are not welcome in the Norwegian company.

"In asking students to refrain from same-sex relationships, Trinity Western University, and any person associated with it, has engaged in discrimination."

He ended the email writing, "'God bless' is very offensive to me and yet another sign of your attempts to impose your religious views on me.

"I do not want to be blessed by some guy... who has been the very reason for the most horrendous abuses and human rights violations in the history of the human race." Some guy?

Amundsen then used an expletive...Removed as offensive

It was that comment that prompted Paquette to retain a lawyer to take her case to B.C.'s Human Rights Tribunal.

"That's kind of the most offensive paragraph in all the emails because that's going pretty far," said Paquette, who cringed when she re-read the email and another one that followed from Amaruk's co-CEO.

Christopher Fragassi-Bjørnsen
Co C.E.O of Amaruk Wilderness Corp.

Christopher Fragassi-Bjørnsen joined the email chain writing that while "Trinity Western University believes that two men loving each other is wrong… we believe a man ending up with another man is probably the best thing that could happen to him. Seriously? Is that Viking tradition?

"But we do not force these views onto other people, and we are completely fine if a guy decided to go the emasculation route by marrying a B.C. woman," Fragassi-Bjørnsen wrote. Ouch!

Paquette said she resents the assumption that she would impose her beliefs on others in the workplace.

"They'd never even met me and never talked to me in person, and they just assumed all these things… and found it OK to attack me."

Amaruk's emails 'over the top'

Paquette's lawyer Geoffrey Trotter said, "You are not allowed in British Columbia to refuse to hire someone because you associate them with other people, from centuries ago, who you think they did something they shouldn't have done."

Trotter called Amaruk's emails "nasty" and "over the top."

Lawyer Geoffrey Trotter reviews Bethany Paquette's human rights complaint with her.

Officials at Trinity Western University agreed, saying they've never before heard of any of their grads filing a similar complaint against a company.

Trinity Western spokesperson Guy Saffold told CBC, "Canadians shouldn't be treated this way by a foreign company." No faith should face discrimination, he said.

"Mocking of their religion — there is a personal shaming element to it that was most unfortunate."

Company says emails 'a mere expression of opinion'

CBC requested an interview with Amaruk Wilderness Corp.

In an email, Amundsen responded saying Paquette's job application was rejected "solely based on the fact that she did not meet the minimum requirements of the position."

Trinity Western University

"Any further discussion after that, including the fact that we strongly disagree with the position that gay people should not be allowed to marry or even engage in sexual relationships, would have been a mere expression of opinion," the email says.

Micheal Vonn of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association said employers are not supposed to express opinions about an applicant's religious background.

"You are allowed to think anything you like. But you have obligations as an employer to act in a non-discriminatory manner," Vonn said.

She said the Human Rights Tribunal will have to consider the reason Paquette was rejected.

"What you have is written documentation that more or less is tantamount to a sign on the door that says no one of religious affiliation need apply for employment here. We don't usually see discrimination cases that are quite this stark."

Not 'open season' on Christians in Canada: lawyer

Trotter said if the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal concludes his client was discriminated against, he will seek compensation for lost wages and "for injury to feelings and self respect."

"The main thing that she's been asking for is to order this company to stop discriminating."

Trotter is asking the tribunal to send "a really strong message" that "it is not acceptable to discriminate based on what somebody believes or where they went to school. That it is not 'open season' on Christians in Canada." Yet! It won't be long now!

Full statement from Amaruk Wilderness Corp.

"As per rejection letter attached, Ms. Paquette was not considered for a position with our company solely based on the fact that she did not meet the minimum requirements of the position.

Any further discussion after that, including the fact that we strongly disagree with the position that gay people should not be allowed to marry or even engage in sexual relationships, would have been a mere expression of opinion.

Olaf Amundsen
Wilderness Guide/Instructor"

Nanaimo City Council Leading the Western World in Anti-Christian Bigotry

In a post a couple weeks ago I revealed that the Law Society of British Columbia, Canada, was pressured into discriminating against Christians when it revoked its stand on recognizing Trinity Western University's Law Program. 


In that piece I wrote: "It has been obvious for decades that gay rights and freedom of religion were going to collide and this is the beginning of that collision." I was wrong! It, in fact, began a month earlier in the small (80,000) city of Nanaimo, British Columbia, when city council decided to tear up an agreement with the city newspaper to rent the convention centre to hold a leadership convention.

Actually, it was a live simulcast of a leadership convention held in Atlanta and Cape Town and simulcast all over the world. Speakers included people like Condaleeza Rice, Laura Bush, and many business leaders from all over. What was so offensive to the Nanaimo Council? One of the sponsors was Chick Filet, and one of the speakers was Dr Henry Cloud who happens to believe that gays can be straightened out. Since, at least, 90% of gays are not born gay, I believe it too.

The owner of Chick Filet spoke out once, a few years ago, against gay marriage and the franchise has been vilified ever since by the LGBT lobby and those who support it. Freedom of speech is well protected unless you are talking about gays or lesbians in which case - God help you.

However, this is tantamount to blasphemy to the city that wants to lead the world in liberalism. Only one councilor had the nerve to question the decision (albeit somewhat meekly) and then voted against the motion which would otherwise have been unanimous.

That they cancelled the contract less than 4 days before the event and after many tickets had already been sold was egregious enough, but they didn't let the newspaper or any of the organizers know that the issue was going to be raised. Consequently, no-one was there to defend the conference or the rights of Nanaimo's Christians. It was sneaky, underhanded, vile (one councilor said that Christians were like criminals), dishonest and illegal.

What they did violates at least four of the basic rights and freedoms in Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and consequently, will most certainly be challenged in court. The court will rule against city council and that will be the end of that, for now.

Meanwhile, what is scary is that you can probably find a significant percentage of average Canadians who will agree with Nanaimo, most of them fooled into thinking that gays are born gay when they are not. At least the large majority are not. This has been well documented scientifically, and I hope to publish an article or series on that soon.

A 40 minute show on this report can be seen here. It features much footage of the council meeting and many commentaries by Ezra Levant. It's pretty interesting!

This is not just a Canadian thing - this anti-Christian movement will explode across the world with astounding speed. If you don't believe that we are in the 'end-times', just watch what happens with the anti-Christian movement. You soon will.

I would love to hear your comments.

Trinity Western Law School Loses B.C. Law Society Vote on Accreditation

Thousands of B.C. lawyers have voted for a non-binding resolution to reverse the B.C. Law Society's April decision to accredit Trinity Western University's new Christian law school, which has been criticized for its stance against same-sex relationships.

A special B.C. Law Society vote was called after critics objected to Trinity
Western University's covenant, which forbids all students and staff
from engaging in sexual relationships outside of marriage
between a man and woman. (Trinity Western University)

The resolution directs the board of governors, known as Benchers, to deny law society accreditation to TWU's law school.

What happened here is a disgraceful display of bigotry - the very thing the Law Society accuses TWU of. Think about it - I'm willing to bet that there are no gay students at TWU. I'm also willing to bet that there are no gay people who want to attend TWU. Consequently, the possibility of discrimination is approximately zero.

Look at it like this - if North Vancouver wrote a by-law forbidding people from jumping over Grouse Mountain, would you claim discrimination against high-jumpers? No, of course not, because no-one is going to try to jump over Grouse Mountain with any possibility of success.

 The by-law may discriminate in theory, but in reality, it affects no-one. TWU's sexual covenant cannot discriminate against a demographic (gays wanting to attend a Christian law school) that doesn't exist!

Therefore, this act by the Law Society of BC is not about discrimination against gays and lesbians, it is totally about discrimination against Christians. 

It has been obvious for decades that gay rights and freedom of religion were going to collide and this is the beginning of that collision. The Law Societies of BC, Ontario, and Nova Scotia have chosen which flag they will march under.

They have the right to do that, but it is not a 'moral' right, nor is it even truth. For the only people really being discriminated against are those who wish to attain a law degree in a Christian University. 

The truth is, this is an anti-Christian movement, and that's all it is.

Of the B.C. Law Society's 13,000 members, 3,210 voted in favour and 968 were opposed. However, the resolution is not binding, so does not automatically reverse the decision to accredit the law school.

"The decision regarding whether to admit graduates from the proposed law school at TWU is a Bencher decision," said president Jan Lindsay.

"However, the Benchers will give the result of today’s [Tuesday's] members' meeting serious and thoughtful consideration."

The special vote was called over the Christian university’s controversial covenant, which forbids students and staff from engaging in sexual relationships outside of marriage between a man and woman.

Victoria lawyer Michael Mulligan, who triggered the vote, believes that covenant is discriminatory.

“We are assessing an institution that wishes to discriminate based on sexual orientation," said Mulligan before the vote.

"In my judgment, that is wrong and offensive, and our law society ought not to countenance that or indeed approve the school as they are asking for."

After the vote Mulligan was pleased 77 per cent of his colleagues who voted agreed.

"In my judgment, this gets us on the right side of history of this issue, both from a legal and a moral perspective," said Mulligan.

But TWU president Bob Kuhn says the university's right to religious freedom must also be protected.

"Difficult decisions involving fundamental rights and freedoms should not be decided by popular opinion," said Kuhn in a press release after Tuesday's vote.

"In a free and democratic society, the faith of TWU graduates cannot preclude them from practising law," said Kuhn. "A just society protects the rights of religious minorities."

Kuhn says the new law school has met every legal standard put before it.

"We have to do a better job of identifying the need for religious freedom in our country, because it's clear people are not giving it the important place it deserves or needs to live in a free and democratic society."

Tuesday's vote was part of a special general meeting by teleconference at 16 locations across the province. It was expected to be the largest meeting ever for the society.

Other provinces have also weighed in on TWU:

The Law Society of Upper Canada in Ontario voted against approving the TWU law school earlier this spring.
The Nova Scotia bar society only granted conditional acceptance if the school changes the covenant for law students or allows them to opt out.

TWU has launched a court action challenging those decisions.

Law Society Decisions Send 'Chilling Message' About Religious Freedom

Trinity Western University Blasts Nova Scotia, Ontario Law Societies

Trinity Western (Christian) University says law societies in Nova Scotia and Ontario sent a "chilling message" about religious freedom in Canada by restricting or rejecting accreditation for its proposed law school.

“We are very disappointed,” said president Bob Kuhn in a news release Friday. “These decisions impact all Canadians and people of faith everywhere. They send the chilling message that you cannot hold religious values and also participate fully in public society.”

At issue was Trinity Western's requirement that its 3,600 students sign a community covenant forbidding intimacy outside heterosexual marriage, which has been criticized as discriminatory against gays and lesbians.

'We feel the Ontario and Nova Scotia decisions are legally incorrect.'
- Bob Kuhn, Trinity Western University president

Nova Scotia's bar society voted Friday to conditionally approve the law school from the Christian liberal arts institution, which plans to open the law school in 2016.

The conditional acceptance means the Nova Scotia's Barristers Society will only accept articling students from the school if it changes the covenant for law students or allows them to opt out.

The Law Society of Upper Canada (Ontario) has voted 28 to 21 against the accreditation of Trinity Western University's proposed new law school in B.C.

The vote means graduates from the B.C. university would not be able to practise in Ontario.

Kuhn said the criteria Nova Scotia and Ontario used to consider Trinity were unclear, and the university is considering legal action.

“These provincial law societies are not the final authority. We feel the Ontario and Nova Scotia decisions are legally incorrect and it may now be necessary to re-litigate an issue that has already been decided in our favour by an 8 to 1 decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in 2001,” Kuhn said.

In that case, the British Columbia College of Teachers rejected Trinity's teaching degrees because students had to sign an agreement not to engage in homosexuality. The Supreme Court of Canada said the college (of Teachers) was wrong to reject Trinity on the basis of discrimination. 

The university will press ahead with plans for Canada's only faith-based law school, he said.

Trinity said its potential law graduates are cleared to article and practise in the following provinces and territories:

British Columbia
Alberta
Saskatchewan
Prince Edward Island
Newfoundland and Labrador
Nunavut

My thoughts on this travesty are expressed in the two links near the top of this page.

"We'll Approve Accreditation if You Approve Students Disobeying God"

In a follow-up to yesterday's post, below, Nova Scotia's bar society has ruled on whether or not they will approve the accreditation of Trinity Western's proposed law program. 

OK, the title is a paraphrase, they didn't actually say that, but that is their intention - to have the Charter of Rights and Freedoms destroy the Bible, nothing less.

Nova Scotia's bar society has voted to conditionally approve Trinity Western University's proposed new law school a day after barristers in Ontario ruled not to accredit the faith-based institution.

The B.C. university, which prohibits same-sex intimacy and bills itself as the largest independent Christian liberal arts institution in Canada, will open a law school in 2016.

At issue was Trinity Western's requirement that its 3,600 students sign a community covenant forbidding intimacy outside heterosexual marriage, which has been criticized as discriminatory against gays and lesbians.
Like I wrote yesterday, how many gay and lesbian students want to attend a Christian university? Probably, none! So this whole thing is a sham and a farce.

The conditional acceptance means that the Nova Scotia's Barristers Society will only accept articling students from the school if it changes the covenant for law students or allows them to opt out. 

In other words, so anybody can have sex with anybody they want, whenever they want. That will lift TWU into the echelons of other western universities where the 'Culture of Rape' is rampant. That would be such a great improvement???!!! Thanks Nova Scotia!

The decision for the conditional accreditation was reached after the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society council met Friday in Halifax and voted 10 to nine in favour of the move.

The Nova Scotia Barristers' Society held public hearings on the issue earlier this year, in which legal experts condemned the Langley, B.C., school's policies.

Elaine Craig, a faculty member at the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University, told the society panel that endorsing the institution would amount to sanctioning "blatant and explicit discrimination" and is not consistent with Charter values. What a load of dung! It doesn't discriminate against anyone because there is no such demographic!