Canada Evangelicals Defend Traditional Marriage amid Gay Union Commons Win

The same-sex marriage bill C-38 in Canada has successfully been approved by the House of Commons on Tuesday. The bill looks to grant same-sex couples legal rights equal to those in traditional unions between a man and a woman. It is expected to easily pass through the Senate and become federal law by the end of July. Evangelicals in Canada have strongly defended traditional marriage which they define as the union of one man and one woman.

In the Bill C-38, the Civil Marriage Act stated, "Parliament is embarking on a social experiment that removes the language of husband and wife from the law and eclipses its ability to champion the rights of children to know and be raised by a mother and a father."

The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) has issued a press release regarding the latest move in Parliament for the Bill. Bruce Clemenger, President of the EFC said, "The EFC cannot by reason of faith, conscience, practice and teaching accept this new definition of marriage and we will continue to promote and uphold marriage as the exclusive union of one man and one woman."

"Our pastors and churches will promote marriage as a covenant before God," says Clemenger, "and will provide pre-marital and marital counselling. We are committed to supporting marriage and family, and caring for lone-parent families and children without parents."

Despite that the same-sex marriage issue is deeply concerned with religious beliefs, Clemenger lamented that concerns from the religious groups have not been taken seriously, and they have been made to feel that their beliefs about marriage are "unCanadian and contrary to the Charter."

Many Canadians or supporters of the same-sex marriage legislation have argued it is part of human rights for homosexual people to get married as other couples. The EFC's director of law and public policy, Janet Epp Buckingham, says, "We believe that religious freedom will be compromised by this change in the definition of marriage. The Supreme Court of Canada noted in the marriage reference that the right to same-sex marriage may conflict with the right to religious freedom. Marriage is both a religious and a civil institution and it's inevitable that such conflicts will arise."

Buckingham says, "While amendments to Bill C-38 provide a measure of protection for religious freedom, most of the areas of conflict are within provincial responsibility."

The Christian Legal Fellowship warned, "Bill C-38 will induce the inevitable hampering or chilling of free speech and the marginalisation of religion in the public sphere." The organisation recommitted itself to "the protection of freedom of religion, conscience and speech and will continue to work to ensure these protections are upheld in Canada."