August 11, 2003
The left wing mainstream media’s bias against organized religion is perhaps as strong as it is against conservatives. Being the custodians of political correctness, the media singles out Christianity rather than criticize other mainstream religions. After all, Christians, much like Americans, are fair game to the PC crowd.
The anti-church rhetoric came into prominence in the Canadian media after the Vatican reacted to the Canadian government’s position in favour of same sex marriage. The Roman Catholic Church is easier to criticize than other religions because the prominence of the Pope makes it a better target. And to be fair to the media, the comments that were made by Bishop Fred Henry that Prime Minister Jean Chrétien is facing eternal damnation provided fodder for criticism.
The media attack on the church essentially takes two forms. One form is that while upholding freedom of speech by giving a platform for every one of society’s special interest groups, the media looks upon the church having something to say as being illegitimate. The other form of bias is to deny the fact that there is even a debate. The right of gays and lesbians to marry is considered to be tantamount to their right to live and as such, there is really nothing to debate. No other viewpoint is legitimate or worthy of reporting.
On a recent As It Happens on CBC Radio, a guest host was interviewing Bishop Henry and asked him if it was right for the church to try and influence politicians. The Bishop replied that everyone else in society tries to influence lawmakers, so why should the church be treated differently. Henry’s response was met by dead air. The question illustrated the typical thought processes of the left--the church should not be allowed to make statements because, well, the CBC doesn’t agree with them. Had Bishop Henry been advocating the removal of some South American right wing dictator, the CBC would have been cheering him on.
Jim McNulty, writing in the Vancouver Province, used moral relativism to criticize the Catholic Church for giving its opinion on same sex marriage. Since the church has gone through several sex abuse scandals, they should be precluded from "lecturing" others about morality. In other words, the church has a right to speak, but how dare they? The same argument, which people like McNulty would never make, could be made that as long as there are life and death issues affecting Canadians that the government could solve, they have no business wasting time thinking about same sex marriage. The implication in the article is that the entire church consists of degenerate child molesters who forfeit any right to carry out their functions.
Citytv, the station that boasts of its diversity but never expresses a diverse opinion, seemed shocked about a poll taken of Ontario Liberal MPs. The poll showed that 36 MPs were against same sex marriage, while 32 were in favour, and 11 were undecided. Merella Fernandez stressed that the poll was "only" Ontario MPs, as if it that was reason enough to dismiss it. Homosexual activist, Rev. Brent Hawkes, was interviewed and couldn’t believe that the government (whose members were never given an opportunity to vote on the issue) would back down. To bolster City’s bias, Fernandez pointed out that the church was split and interviewed three church members, two of whom were critical of the church.
The Globe and Mail, much like the CBC, thinks that the church has no right to speak. Anti-globalization activists apparently have the right to protest and destroy property, but the church speaking out was seen as "bullying." An August 1 article, Church trying to bully politicians, was devoted to gay groups decrying the views of the church. The next day, the Globe ran an article by Kim Lunman that decried the fact that the church had the nerve to actually mention their opposition from the pulpit.
An editorial ran in the Toronto Star that began by paying homage to the darling of the left--Pierre Trudeau. The editorial quoted Trudeau’s 1967 statement that "the state has no business in the bedrooms of the nation," completely missing the point that marriage is a societal concept, and the current controversy has nothing to do with what people do in their bedrooms. The article then goes on to mention Trudeau’s glorious Charter of Rights, while omitting the fact that the drafters intentionally left out sexual orientation in the legislation’s equality sections. The Star kept referring to separation of church and state; that is also not found in our constitution. According to the editorial, the Pope has a right to ban same sex marriages in his church, but "has no business trying to thwart the recognition of gay marriages in Canada’s secular law." In other words, the church has no right to express its ideas.
It seems to many in the media that the church (and organized religion) has no business expressing its views in a democratic society.