| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"rob wade" |
| Date: |
25 Oct 2005 03:57:53 PM |
| Object: |
The Knock on the Door |
The Knock on the Door
By Lee Duigon
Canadian police pay a visit to Christian commentator.
As a writer, I can't imagine anything more chilling than for the police
to come to my door and tell me I'd better stop writing about certain
issues. As an American, I can't imagine a worse insult to my First
Amendment rights.
But Robert Jason is a Canadian citizen, and he doesn't have to imagine
a thing like that, because it really happened-to him.
Jason, 70, a retired high school teacher who supports himself by caring
for mentally handicapped persons in his home, writes columns and
collects news items in support of Christian, pro-family issues, such as
the defense of marriage. He sends them daily to like-minded persons on
his e-mail list.
On New Year's Day 2004, Jason and his wife received a visit from two
plainclothes policemen.
"They were there because someone showed a homosexual activist one of
my e-mails, and the activist complained to the police," Jason said.
"He told them he felt personally threatened by my e-mails. He convinced
the police that I was threatening his life."
At the time, Canada's current "hate speech" law had not yet been
enacted. That didn't stop the police from getting involved.
"The officers were quiet and friendly," Jason said, "but just
having them there was very intimidating to me and my wife. All the
neighbors were watching, and we were terrified."
The officers didn't tell him to stop writing, he said, but they
"implied" that he should.
"I replied, how could I threaten this person? I'm only defending my
values. And the e-mail wasn't sent to him."
Jason said incidents like this will happen in the United States if
"hate crime" legislation, followed by "hate speech"
legislation, becomes federal law.
"If you give homosexuals special rights, they're just going to use
them to threaten your rights," he said. "Canada doesn't have a
First Amendment, and it's going to get worse here before it gets
better. We're just hoping that someday there'll be a backlash among
people with common sense."
In spite of his warning from the police, Robert Jason is still writing
his columns and sending them to fellow Christians on his e-mail list.
He does not know when the police will come again.
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| User: "William December Starr" |
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| Title: Re: The Knock on the Door |
26 Oct 2005 08:13:46 PM |
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In article <1130273873.777795.7180@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com>,
"rob wade" <rob_c_wade_01@yahoo.com> said:
The Knock on the Door
By Lee Duigon
Canadian police pay a visit to Christian commentator.
As a writer, I can't imagine anything more chilling than for the
police to come to my door and tell me I'd better stop writing
about certain issues. As an American, I can't imagine a worse
insult to my First Amendment rights.
People could mistake you for Rob Wade.
No wait, that'd just be a general insult, not one against your
constitutional rights. Never mind.
--
William December Starr <wdstarr@panix.com>
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| User: "Dean" |
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| Title: Re: The Knock on the Door |
25 Oct 2005 06:52:53 PM |
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rob wade wrote:
The Knock on the Door
By Lee Duigon
<snip>
"If you give homosexuals special rights, they're just going to use
them to threaten your rights," he said. "Canada doesn't have a
First Amendment, and it's going to get worse here before it gets
better. We're just hoping that someday there'll be a backlash among
people with common sense."
<snip>
And snip the three million crossposts....
No you dumb ***** (subject of story, not the poster) we don't have a
First Amendment. But we do have the Charter of Rights and Freedoms
which says:
2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:
a) freedom of conscience and religion;
b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including
freedom of the press and other media of communication;
c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and
d) freedom of association.
Learn about your rights in your own country, *****. Don't assume
that because we don't have a "First Amendment" (which, btw, just means
they didn't get it right the first time) that you don't have a right to
free expression.
I suspect that if this jackass is dumb enough not to know his rights,
he was probably dumb enough to write something a little more
inflamatory than might be considered to be a reasonable statement of
opinion. Example: "I believe that homosexuality is a deviant
aberration," is a reasonable statement of personal opinion and belief.
"I urge my readers to beat the living ***** out of a deviant homosexual
today," is not. Perhaps his tone tended to the latter.
All that said, our "Hate" speech laws need to be watched very carefully
to ensure that we retain our right to hold and express an opinion, no
matter how unpopular it might be. Support your local Civil liberties
association!
Dean
Member of BC Civil Liberties Association
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| User: "nJb" |
|
| Title: Re: The Knock on the Door |
27 Oct 2005 12:53:55 AM |
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Dean wrote:
rob wade wrote:
The Knock on the Door
By Lee Duigon
<snip>
"If you give homosexuals special rights, they're just going to use
them to threaten your rights," he said. "Canada doesn't have a
First Amendment, and it's going to get worse here before it gets
better. We're just hoping that someday there'll be a backlash among
people with common sense."
<snip>
And snip the three million crossposts....
No you dumb ***** (subject of story, not the poster) we don't have a
First Amendment. But we do have the Charter of Rights and Freedoms
which says:
2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:
a) freedom of conscience and religion;
b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including
freedom of the press and other media of communication;
c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and
d) freedom of association.
Learn about your rights in your own country, *****. Don't assume
that because we don't have a "First Amendment" (which, btw, just means
they didn't get it right the first time) that you don't have a right to
free expression.
I suspect that if this jackass is dumb enough not to know his rights,
he was probably dumb enough to write something a little more
inflamatory than might be considered to be a reasonable statement of
opinion. Example: "I believe that homosexuality is a deviant
aberration," is a reasonable statement of personal opinion and belief.
"I urge my readers to beat the living ***** out of a deviant homosexual
today," is not. Perhaps his tone tended to the latter.
All that said, our "Hate" speech laws need to be watched very carefully
to ensure that we retain our right to hold and express an opinion, no
matter how unpopular it might be. Support your local Civil liberties
association!
Dean
Member of BC Civil Liberties Association
Sounds like you have a 1st Amendment.
Are you in BC? How 'bout those Nucks?
--
Jack
Plonked by Thomas
bobo1148atxmissiondotcom
http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/xmissionbobo/
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