“God placed Adam in the garden to mirror Him by working it and keeping it. The great Creator has created us to create—to work. As Adam’s descendants and God’s creatures, we are cultivators in a fallen world. Still bearing the image of God, we continue to mirror the great Creator as creators, cultivators, and workers—we are culture makers.”
On June 28, 2018, Christian Legal Fellowship (CLF) hosted a Book Launch Luncheon at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law to commemorate the launch of the new book: Assisted Death: Legal, Social and Ethical Issues after Carter, edited by CLF’s Executive Director and General Counsel, Derek B.M. Ross. This is a summary of the event.
“Some might think this is a good outcome. But diversity is not achieved, as the dissent explained, ‘by imposing a forced choice between conformity with a single majoritarian norm and withdrawal from the public square.’ Nor is it achieved by forcing minority communities to alter their defining characteristics to ensure that all people will want to join them. That an institution serves primarily people who affirm its mission and beliefs does not mean that it does so at the expense of others.”
OTTAWA, ON — In two companion judgments released today, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) was split on whether it was reasonable for the Law Societies to deny approval to Trinity Western University’s proposed law school based on its Community Covenant and the Biblical view of marriage expressed therein.
When, if ever, can church membership or discipline decisions be reviewed by the courts? That is the question the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) was called on to answer in its judgment, released today, in Highwood Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses v Wall. The Court found that church membership decisions can only be reviewed in extremely narrow circumstances: when the decision involves an underlying legal right, such as a property or contractual right, and does not require the court to adjudicate questions of theology.
"Some may wonder what the 'kerfuffle' is about, and assert that, in 2018, it is not unreasonable to expect Canadians to get in line with contemporary values. That may be satisfactory as long as one’s ideological allies form the government of the day. But what happens when a new government articulates a contrary set of 'values'?"
Charter rights are not competitors in a zero sum game. They can be fully exercised in co-existence, as this Court recognized in 2001. And since that time, both equality rights and religious freedom have enjoyed expanding interpretations: in tandem, not competition. In the very context of expanding equality rights on the grounds of sexual orientation, religious freedom has been strongly affirmed
On November 10, 2017, the Government of Manitoba passed The Medical Assistance in Dying (Protection for Health Professionals and Others) Act. The legislation specifically protects the rights of those who refuse to aid in the provision of medical assistance in dying on the basis of his or her personal convictions.
