Background:
· “Rights” are privileges. Once recognized and legislated, it will be illegal for anyone to do anything to stop the exercise of those rights. In other words, a “right” has legislative force behind it and everyone is compelled to allow the free exercise of that right. A different term related to rights is “freedom”. It refers to an individual’s freedom of choice. While no one can actively restrict another person to exercise that choice, no one is compelled to yield to it either.
o Basis of right to life; freedom to profess, practise and propagate religion; freedom of worship, of conscience, of thought and speech
o Basis of sanctity of sex, marriage and family; freedom of peaceful assembly; right to receive respect, whatever gender, age, race or rank
o Basis of right to work and rest; freedom to share in the earth’s resources; freedom to food, clothing and shelter; freedom to health and self-preservation; freedom from poverty, hunger and disease
· Equality is taught in the Bible (Acts 10:34-35). There should not be discrimination on the basis of characteristics that an individual was born with and cannot escape from, such as race and sex.
· But the right to equality is now interpreted as meaning every distinct human charateristic is equal in value and must be accepted and treated equally (based on pluralism).
· It is impossible to treat every group as completely equal. Should a Christian church be forced to employ an atheist as office worker or allow non-Christians to participate in the holy communion?
· Equality is certainly not applied to moral areas, especially for demands of equality based on “sexual orientation” which can include all sexual perversions, such as polygamy, pedophilia, bestiality, etc.
· Example: Every driver has the responsibility to follow some rules while driving, such as stopping at the STOP sign. If everyone insists that he/she has the liberty to drive the car in whatever way he/she likes, there will be disorder, conflicts, and disaster.
· Today’s society tries to avoid responsibility. Criminals use excuses of poor upbringing to explain away their individual responsibilities and blame the society for their crimes.
o Christians should carefully distinguish what is classified as hate literature because Bill C-250, when passed, will classify the Bible and preaching against homosexuality as hate speech.
o Hate literature is written material that directly promotes hate against particular individuals or a group of individuals, e.g. Ku Klux Klan publishes materials against blacks and Jews.
o Hate literature can cause social problems because it may encourage discrimination or physical violence against the targetted group. Therefore, such literature should be prohibited.
o An uncommon religion such as Satanic churches should not be prohibited simply because it is uncommon or newly organized. If a cult advocates unlawful practice, they should then be prohibited. However, the church should caution Christians about the danger of cults and those involved with demonic spirits.
· Christians need to defend our religious freedom which includes:
o free to publicly express our beliefs and our celebrations
o free to distribute the Bible and proclaim the gospel in public
o free to restrict the employment of church workers to people with the same beliefs
o free from coercion by the government to change our Biblical moral standard
· Such freedom may appear reasonable, but there is a trend for the government to take away such freedom. If such a trend is not resisted, more of our religious freedom will be taken away.
· The guarantee or religious freedom by the government will not be sufficient to protect Christians because liberal judges and the ultra-liberal Human Rights Tribunals in Canada have frequently upheld equality rights and penalized Christians.
Background:
· In US, there are about 7,000 to 10,000 hate crimes recorded by the FBI each year. Two-thirds are hate crimes involving race or ethnic origin; the remaining involving religion or sexual orientation.
· There are many different forms of racism in the world against many different racial groups.
· Racism is mostly directed to blacks in the US and Canada, less severe against Hispanic people.
· Racism against oriental people is generally not serious because of their high achievement.
· Explicit racism: whites are regarded as superior to other races, through enforcing stereotypes, and practising segregation and open discrimination.
· Hidden racism: racism assuming a more subtle form in recent times
o structural and economic racism: difficulty in getting jobs or treated unfairly by the police
o personal racism: lack of acceptance in intimate situations, such as intermarriage or friendship
· With the large amount of emigration in recent history, there is a greater mixture of races and subsequently racial awareness and racism increase.
· Effects: prejudice against other races, discrimination in employment and daily contact, segregation in residential areas, hate crimes against other races
o the phenomenon of “white flight”: white residents leaving increasingly black neighbourhoods. The neighbourhood soon becomes all black. The result is inferior schools providing poor education to blacks.
o unequal treatment by the police including racial profiling and higher arrest rates and charge rates
o more severe sentences handed down by the courts to blacks for the same crimes
o However, blacks account for 12% of the US population but half of murder victims, 95% killed by blacks.
o employment opportunities more limited
o There is a persistent black “underclass” while all immigrant groups gradually move up.
o many blacks suffer from a fatalistic attitude, unwilling to work hard, believing it won’t be rewarded
o cling to the status of victims: emphasizing the oppression and discrimination by the white establishment
o successful blacks are ignored as role models, otherwise the victim myth will be disproved: black students who do well in schools are ridiculed; successful blacks are not regarded as blacks
o use race as an excuse for own failures: committing crimes, producing kids but not raising them [70% of blacks in US are born to single mother holdholds], addicting to illegal drugs
o use the charge of racism to malign the enemies: blame white people (making whites feel guilty)
o use anger as a shield to escape taking responsibility: some rap music encourages violence, even the killing of cops; the objective is to rouse blacks to take up arms and physically fight the race war
o use the history of slavery to portrait blacks as victims in order to gain power
o gain material redistribution and more power through race-based advantages in studies and work
o seek large financial compensation to address past wrongs like slavery
o some express their anger by massive riots and destruction of property when triggered by minor incidents such as perceived police brutality towards minorities (the case of Rodney King in Los Angeles)
· to compensate for historical wrongs such as slavery or discrimination (“historical justice”)
· to give an advantage to disadvantaged minorities due to past “institutional discrimination”
· to ensure ethnic diversity in academic or working environments
· to train or employ ethnic minorities in order to achieve greater harmony with minorities
· It is an unfair system which encourages and permeates inferior performance.
· The policies increase the chance of lawsuits because of reverse discrimination or reverse racism.
Background:
· Like the society as a whole, the Christian church has historically discriminated against women. The Roman Catholic Church and most Protestant churches still place limits on women assuming leadership. The Christian and Missionary Alliance does not allow women to be elders.
· Man and woman were created equal (Gen 1:27), and are equal in the church (Ac 2:16-17; Gal 3:28). Husband and wife are to submit to each other (Eph 5:21) and mutually dependent (1Co 11:11-12).
· Man is the head of the family (Eph 5:22-25).
· However, this applies only in the family, not male-female relationship in general.
· He spoke to women in public (Jn 4:27). He spent time teaching women and welcomed them as disciples (Lk 10:38-42). He made a woman the first witness to His resurrection (Jn 20:10-18).
· It began in the 19th century, and was founded on Judeo-Christian principles. It was an attempt to deal with the historical inequality between men and women in many areas of life.
· The only objective was to strive for equality, not any special treatment. They asked for the right to vote; for the control of their own property; for equal employment and educational opportunities and, for the right to obtain divorce on the grounds of brutality and drunkenness.
· In the late 1960s and 70s, feminism abandoned its moral heritage and became a movement based on the attitude of anger, resentment and self-pity. This is represented by the National Organization for Women (NOW) in the US (founded in 1966) and the National Council of Women of Canada.
· They hold that women are victims in the male-established social order. They proclaim women’s sexual freedom. They hate men and marriage.
· Equality is no longer the only objective of the feminist movement. Instead, radical feminists seek to overturn and restructure society.
· A 1999 poll shows that women are growing more uncomfortable with radical feminism.
· Many have returned to support traditional values. They only seek to end discrimination of women. Representative organizations include REAL Women of Canada and Concerned Women for America in the US. They can be called the New Traditional Feminists.
· Traditional feminists saw motherhood as privilege; radical feminists see the family as a prison.
· Traditional feminists were against abortion; radical feminists support abortion.
· Traditional feminists wanted to maintain the traditional family; radical feminists work to destroy it.
· Radical feminism advocate power struggle with male, call for the abolition of marriage and family, uphold self fulfilment above family responsibility, and seek to destroy the traditional family. They should be opposed by Christians. In contrast, traditional feminism is worthy of support.
o Ro 16:1-15 lists 8 women highly regarded by Paul including Phoebe the deaconess [Greek word is actually “minister” (diakonon, translated as “servant” in NIV) meaning one who presides, also 1Ti 3:11]; “Junias” was most likely “Junia”, a female apostle (Ro 16:7).
o Priscilla was Paul’s fellow worker (Ro 16:3) and was sometimes mentioned (contrary to Jewish custom) before her husband Aquila (Ac 18:26) indicating her greater role in church.