Is the Bible hate literature?

OTTAWA (Reuters) - An attempt to broaden Canada's hate-crimes laws to include protection for homosexuals has sparked a fierce debate in Parliament over whether the Bible and the Koran could be branded as hate literature.


It centres on a bill from gay Member of Parliament Svend Robinson that would make it a crime, punishable by up to two years in prison, to incite or promote hatred against homosexuals.


But his attempt to end gay-bashing has brought warnings that pastors or imams could be thrown into jail for preaching homosexuality is evil and that their scriptures could be banned or confiscated.


Robinson, a member of the minority New Democratic Party, dismissed the fears as unfounded.


"There's not an attorney general in the country anywhere at any level who would consent to the prosecution of an individual for quoting from the Bible," he told a House of Commons committee examining the bill.


"An attorney general who tried something like that would be run out of town on a rail."


Opponents of the bill point to the Owens court case in Saskatchewan five months ago involving the right to quote the Bible in an newspaper ad against homosexuality. The judge ruled that a Biblical passage in Leviticus "exposes homosexuals to hatred."


Even though the Owens case dealt with human rights legislation, critics said that sort of ruling could just as easily be applied in a hate-crimes case under the criminal code.


"I'm concerned about the chilling effect of this kind of decision," said Vic Toews of the official opposition in Parliament, the Canadian Alliance.


The gay-rights lobby group Egale suggested the courts would eventually insist on including sexual orientation in the current hate-crimes legislation, which prohibits hatred on the basis of colour, race, religion or ethnic origin.


"I would suggest to this committee that the legislation as it stands, by being under-inclusive, by failing to protect a group equally needing protection, is unconstitutional," Egale's John Fisher said this week.


He said gays were more likely to be attacked than heterosexuals.


Pat O'Brien, a legislator from the governing Liberal Party, recalled an incident in which Robinson himself had confronted a Roman Catholic priest on Parliament Hill who was protesting homosexuality, and Robinson threw one of his signs over the embankment he was standing on.


"I have concerns whether somebody like that is going to be able to carry out his freedom of expression," O'Brien said.


Because Robinson's bill has prompted an avalanche of e-mails and letters to members of Parliament, it has become hot potato that the Liberals appear unsure how to handle.


Liberal Justice Minister Martin Cauchon told the House of Commons on Thursday he supported the bill. But socially conservative members of the Liberal Party were put on the committee on Wednesday when a motion was made to shelve it.


Robinson successfully delayed that motion, and both sides are now looking to a final committee battle on May 26 or 27 that is likely to determine whether the bill will die or proceed to broader consideration by Parliament.