There is a pretty bad pun there to be had...but I will let it go.
So Calgary Bishop Fred Henry has managed to get himself in trouble again expressing his Roman Catholic faith. While I don't agree with him on this one he has the right to express his views. Here is his slight retraction (from the Globe and Mail, hat-tip NealeNews)
...In the interview, he said his only point in tying homosexuality together with adultery, prostitution and pornography was to stress that all of them, in common, undermine the fundamental status that marriage ought to have.
He said that what he meant by the coercive power of the state was that the government should not be endorsing events such as Gay Pride Week and treating sex in bathhouses as private when it's public. And he insisted he wasn't advocating "a bedroom police force. That's ridiculous."
However Bishop Henry, who has marched many times where angels fear to tread -- whacking prime ministers and governments for, in his view, violating the laws of God -- said of himself: "There aren't many people who stand up and say, 'I'm tired of political correctness.' And because I'm tired of it, don't try to silence me every time I open my mouth by telling me I'm a hatemonger. Because I'm not. I'm just trying to speak the truth as I see it, and I should be accorded the freedom to express my opinions and try to influence people to see things as I see them."
That is exactly correct. Free speech should be free and a Roman Catholic Bishop should be allowed to express the teachings of his religion as he sees it.
...Chris Ambidge of Toronto, spokesman for the gay Christian organization Integrity Canada, said Bishop Henry's comments were "completely inappropriate."
"I am horrified he would use a phrase like 'coercive power,' " Mr. Ambidge said. "It's completely un-Canadian."
Which part is un-Canadian? The power part? What would call punting SSM to the Supreme Court instead of Parliament? I call it coercive power. What do you call threatening the tax-exempt status of a church if they don't tow the party line? I call it coercive power.
Free speech means free speech for all!
