Four Concerns for the Freedom of Christian Teaching

Removal of the Religious Exemption

Section 319(3)(b) of the Criminal Code protects good-faith expressions based on religious texts. Bill C-9’s amendment would eliminate this protection. Reading Scripture in public could become legally risky if a listener claims he or she felt that hatred was promoted, regardless of the speaker’s intent, even when the truth is spoken in love.

Vague Definition of “Hatred”

Current law requires speech to be “intense and extreme.” Bill C-9 lowers this to any expression “involving detestation or vilification.” This wider, generic definition can be misused to frame even ordinary theological teaching which was never intended or understood as hate.

Removed Prosecutorial Safeguards

Currently, the federal Attorney General must approve hate propaganda charges — a safeguard against politically motivated prosecution. Bill C-9 removes this requirement, which may open the door to charges by local authorities without central oversight or accountability, and independent review.

Listener-Determined Guilt

The proposed new framework understands that guilt may hinge on whether a listener feels intimidated — not on the speaker’s objective intent. This shifts the law from an objective to a subjective standard, where the subjective feeling of an observer determines the legality of an objective sermon. A congregation or its pastor could face legal consequences not for what they said, but for how someone chose to receive it.  For example, how long will it be until, when a Christian simply says, “You are a sinner; we are all sinners”, someone would feel offended by it?

What Could This Mean for a Christian Church?

Legal scholars have warned that expressing genuine biblical teaching about Scriptural topics which are not accepted by other religious and cultural expressions would no longer be guaranteed protection under Bill C-9.

A Balanced Perspective

We do not oppose the law’s intent to protect places of worship from violence and harassment and other provisions regarding discrimination of religion and ethnicity. Our concern is with how the law is written — and what it removes. Solid Christian churches have not used freedom of speech to promote hatred or violence against Canadians. The reason it is enshrined in our laws is to protect clear, objective, and good-faith theological expression.

Removing it solves a problem that does not exist, while creating a new, dangerous one.

A Pastoral Word

Our church is guided by the principles of God’s Word,  in Law and Gospel. Preaching God’s Law and Gospel is an act of love, never of hatred, and this is what, as a Christian Church, we aim to do. We do not expect everyone to agree with us. Nevertheless, we expect that our biblical teaching may be freely taught in our Ministry.

We also affirm that one of our core values is belonging, and we reflect this by welcoming people into our community regardless of background or current situation. We recognize that acceptance and agreement are not the same thing — we seek to create a community that is accepting of all, even though we will have disagreements on various issues. Therefore, it is not our purpose to engage in cultural wars, but rather, to work on what binds us together within our diversity is striving together towards our common goal of being active in love and growing in Christ

The Church has always been called to be faithful — and our task is not to be alarmist nor fearmongering, but to be alert. Our desire is to serve our nation and its people in Jesus, preaching the full Counsel of God.

And we will do so in faithfulness and Christian love — for our neighbours; for those with whom we disagree; and for a nation that still, under its Charter, promises freedom of conscience and religion to every person.

Pastor Lucas Albrecht
“”We must obey God rather than human beings.” Acts 5:29