Saturday, December 11, 2010

Evangelical pastor booted off air for thought crime

The Canadian thought police strike again. The branch involved this time is the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC), whose task is to rid the Canadian airwaves of anything that is not politically correct.

Off the air, thanks to the CBSC, is "Word TV", hosted by telepastor Charles McVety, which used to air on the self-styled Christian cable channel CTS. CSBC ruled that statements Rev. McVety made about homosexuals -- suggesting that perhaps they are less than perfectly normal and well-adjusted -- violated its broadcasting codes.

The CBSC said it had received complaints -- it didn't say from whom -- about how McVety's program portrayed issues "such as homosexuality, Islam, Haiti and euthanasia".

They charged that the program "had included discriminatory comments on the basis of sexual orientation, religion and mental disability". So CTS, faced with the prospect of losing its licence to print money, pulled "Word TV" off the air.

Said Rev. McVety, "They call me evil for expressing an opinion." In his opinion, "it is now a crime to speak against homosexuality." That seems to Walt not so much an opinion as a matter of fact.

Rev. McVety also referred to Toronto's Gay Pride Parade as advertising the city "as a sex tourism destination...with full opportunity for sex with hot boys." Gee, what would make him think that? Could the site of lovely young men (?) waving their, errr, hands from parade floats while clad only in posing pouches (or less) have informed Pastor McVety's comment?

Rev. McVety also blames gay rights groups for wanting to change Ontario's sex education curriculum. Conveniently ignoring the fact that the Ontario Minister of Education who promoted the new curriculum is a self-proclaimed lesbian, CBSC Chairthingy Ron Cohen said "To suggest that document is teaching kids to practice homosexuality? Absurd. Obviously absurd."

Mr. Cohen, who is not at risk of being made a Cardinal of the Church, seems to think that any opinion which he does not share is absurd. Rev. McVety disagrees. "We should not have Mr. Ron Cohen, a bureaucrat, tell me what my opinions can be and what my opinions can't be," McVety said.

A statement on the show's website referred to the CBSC as "thought police" that launched "a vicious attack against Word TV [even though] Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees freedom of speech, opinion, press and religion."

Apparently Rev. McVety hasn't learned that in Canada (as in China) freedom of speech, opinion, etc. only extends to those who agree with the secular liberal establishment.

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