"... Jesus saith to him: I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by me."
And now, you can't say anything like that:
A church leader has claimed the police warned him that that Bible verses on the back of his campervan could be considered “hate speech”.
Mick Fleming, 59, said he was approached by a police officer who commented on his campervan while he was at a petrol station in Burnley, on Oct 27.
Mr Fleming, who recently gave up all of his belongings and now lives in a van, has the Bible verse John 3:16 emblazoned on the back of it.
The commonly quoted verse reads: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”
Mr Fleming, who runs an independent church and anti-poverty charity in Burnley, was told “the writing could be seen as hate speech in the wrong context”.
The church pastor said: “I was in the petrol station and a policeman came and tapped me on the shoulder.
“He was a really nice guy, wasn’t nasty or anything, and he said ‘a bit of advice – the writing could be seen as hate speech in the wrong context. I am just giving you a heads up’.
(Sidebar: no, he's not a nice guy.)
“He wasn’t there to arrest me: it was just advisory.
“He said if someone reported it police would investigate, and I could end up in trouble.
“I just thought ‘wow’ – I just wondered what people thought … where have we moved to as a country where a bit of Christian scripture on the back of a van can be seen as hateful or spiteful?
“Maybe society is moving to a place where they don’t want faith-based people sat around a table in discussion with them … for me it’s an integral message of how real change is possible.”
This.
But no one is willing to let you say it.
When Parliament’s finance committee slipped Recommendation #430 into its 2025 pre-budget report, few noticed. Yet the clause proposing to delete “advancement of religion” from Canada’s definition of charity could transform the country’s social landscape. If adopted, every church, synagogue, mosque, and temple would be taxed like a business and lose its authority to issue receipts to donors.
Canada’s churches are already struggling with shrinking congregations, ageing volunteers, and rising costs. To remove their tax exemption now would be a mortal blow. It would also sever one of the oldest links between faith and public welfare — one that predates the welfare state itself.
For centuries, religious orders fed the hungry, cared for the sick, and taught the young, long before governments entered these fields. Their charitable status simply acknowledges this legacy.
To revoke it is to forget that most of Canada’s social infrastructure — from the first hospitals and universities to today’s shelters and food banks — sprang from faith-based work.
Even in a secular age, churches remain the backbone of the voluntary sector. According to Statistics Canada, they still attract $4.9 billion in annual donations — nearly triple the total raised by health charities. Congregations fund refugee sponsorships, addiction programmes, soup kitchens, and emergency shelters. In Toronto, for example, St. Patrick’s “Street Patrol” volunteers have served food and friendship to the homeless for 30 years. “The food lets us in,” founder Lucio Abbruzzese explains.
Canadian congregation, the surrounding neighbourhood receives $3.39 in socio-economic benefits — about $2.8 million per church annually. Extrapolated across the country, the total value exceeds $18 billion. By contrast, the estimated extra tax revenue from cancelling churches’ exemptions would be just $1.7 billion. Ottawa would gain a dime while communities lose a dollar.
Proponents claim the change would ensure “neutrality” between religion and non-religion. The British Columbia Humanist Association, whose brief inspired Recommendation #430, argues that recognizing religious charities privileges “theistic viewpoints.” Yet this logic confuses equality with sameness. True neutrality does not mean erasing difference; it means allowing diverse visions of the common good to coexist.
Faith communities are not lobbying machines for superstition.
They are among the most efficient service providers in the country. Statistics Canada notes that the most active Canadian volunteers are either university-educated or religious — and that the latter donate most of their hours to non-religious causes. Churches generate civic energy that governments cannot replicate and money cannot buy.
This bill is a way to cripple churches and make everyone dependent on the government.
Prove me wrong.
No comments:
Post a Comment