By Gail Besse
April 3, 2006

MARLBORO, MA (AgapePress) - American Christians had better start defending their right to religious expression before that liberty is outlawed, a Christian civil rights advocate from Canada warns.

Christians are being humiliated, intimidated, and stopped from expressing their beliefs in public, Rev. Tristan Emmanuel recently told a gathering concerned about judicial activism and the erosion of free speech in Massachusetts. He outlined the situation in Canada, where same-sex "marriage" is legal and a 2004 law criminalized the criticism of homosexuality as a hate crime. America is headed the same way unless people of faith stop apologizing for their sincerely held beliefs, said Emmanuel, who founded the group Equipping Christians for the Public Square Centre.

Rev. Emmanuel, a Presbyterian minister, gave the keynote speech at a March 29 Article 8/MassResistance dinner to an audience comprised of mostly pro-life and pro-family Christian lay leaders. Brian Camenker, director of the organization and founder of the Parents Rights Coalition, highlighted the timeliness of Emmanuel's message.

"Over the last several weeks, Cardinal Sean O'Malley, the Archbishop of Boston, has withstood a wave of hateful, venomous attacks by the media, the liberal establishment, and even the business community that is truly unbelievable," he said prior to the meeting.

Camenker, who is Jewish, noted that the nationwide public fury came solely because the cardinal and the three other Massachusetts bishops announced February 28 that they would "stand by Catholic religious doctrine [and normal common sense] and declare that Catholic Charities will not allow kids in its care to be adopted by homosexual couples."

Recent articles against the state's Catholic leadership in the secular and homosexual press have labeled the bishops "hateful ... bigoted ... out of touch with reality ... and extremists" without explaining that the motive behind the Church teaching is to protect children and uphold the sanctity of marriage.

This kind of tactic -- an "ad hominum attack" -- seeks to malign the character of a person rather than allow discussion on an issue, noted Rev. Emmanuel. He said it is a method used to silence debate and called the media "a prime facilitator of this dehumanization."

Language that vilifies religious spokesmen, the clergyman asserted, is dangerous because eventually it produces "a psychological deadening effect on Christians to the point where they accept not being able to speak up in the public square. The Islamic community would not tolerate this treatment."

Emmanuel stressed the danger involved when a legislative body defers to a judicial one, as the Massachusetts Legislature's avoidance of the same-sex marriage issue eventually led to such unions being legalized by the state's Supreme Judicial Court.

In Canada, he said, human rights tribunals started out as watchdog groups but became empowered by Parliament with police powers. The tribunals investigate what they consider to be human rights violations, "educate" people with mandatory sensitivity training, then prosecute and judge on grounds of guilty until proven innocent, according to the pastor. One case involved a Toronto printer who refused to print material on lesbianism. The ensuing court battle -- which the printer lost -- lasted nine years and cost the printer $170,000.

Too many Christians "buy into the idea that if it's not affecting me and my family personally, it's too vague and abstract to bother about," Rev. Emmanuel said. "But if you are a Christian, you cannot and you must not keep your convictions to yourself. We fall all over ourselves to issue edicts that we're about love. We need to show our love for people by saying homosexuality is wrong."

He pointed out how differently people feel about telling smokers that their habit is unhealthy and will not be condoned. "Do we consider the feelings of smokers? Do we worry what effect this will have on their psyches?" he asked.

Rev. Emmanuel is the author of Christophobia: The Real Reason Behind Hate Crime Legislation. He defined "Christophobia" as "an irrational and visceral rejection of the public expression of Christianity" expressed by "militant secularists who demand that only they set the standard for what may be spoken of publicly."

In his book, Emmanuel suggests that Christians engage in politics, but realize that secular humanism "affects every aspect of our nations' identities." Referring to both Canada and America he wrote, "Our cultures should be Christian -- not by political coercion, but by cultural discipleship. We need to get back into all the relevant culture-shaping institutions and become the best in the field as Christians."

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