This story is from Life Site News.
Excerpt:
The Christian group “Bus Stop Bible Studies” has voluntarily removed one of the forty ads it is currently running on Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) buses and streetcars because the transit authority received some complaints about one of the “Life Questions” posed for consideration by riders.
The ad in question asks “Does God care if I’m gay?” and directs the reader to the Bus Stop Bible Studies website to find the answer, which said, in part, “We know from passages throughout Scripture that God hates homosexual acts BUT no more than any other sinful act. Some individuals seem to place homosexual acts in a special class – God does not. Sin is sin.
“Homosexual activity is no better or worse than heterosexuals engaging in sexual activity outside of marriage. The Bible refers to these people as fornicators.”
This answer has since been removed from the website and replaced by a comment from the Bus Stop Bible Studies founder David Harrison saying, “It has become apparent that, while one is free to ask the question, `Does God care if I’m gay?’ one is not so free to answer the question from a Biblical perspective.
[…]Harrison told the National Post that he supported last year’s controversial Atheist Bus Ad campaign, which had said, “There’s probably no god. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life” posted on TTC vehicles, saying they were an expression of freedom of speech.
With regard to the restrictions now imposed on his campaign he observed, “The prevailing attitude at the time is you’re free to say anything that I’m in agreement with, which is not real dialogue. In a supposedly liberal society, ‘liberal’ has become a one-word oxymoron.”
Actually, this is a pretty moderate answer. Aren’t Christians even allowed to embrace a Biblical position on morality in public anymore? I know that Toronto isn’t Calgary, or even Ottawa, but this is ridiculous.
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WINTERY KNIGHT 
I disagree that homosexuality is a sin. I also disagree that the ad was pulled. Free speech is free speech. They should have been allowed to keep it.
That being said, I think that there is some speech that would count as hate speech. I’m not sure where to draw the line between freedom of speech and “hate speech.”
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Jeremy,
I agree these are all difficult questions. I don’t regard the article in question as “hate speech” but was merely bringing up that a line may have to be drawn somewhere. I guess it boils down to whether you are targeting the position/lifestyle versus the person. [Nasty language deleted by WK with examples of hate speech!] “Homosexuality is not acceptable to God” I would not consider hate speech. But this is just my opinion. I tend to lean in the direction that we should just allow all of it, including racial slurs and the like, to protect free speech. But that doesn’t mean we have to like or approve of it.
On the question of sin. I define a “sin” as an immoral act, defined by whether it hurts someone else. (Love your neighbor…) I believe God if he exists does not make arbitrary rules for no reason. He creates rules to serve humanity, not the other way around. Rules are there to protect people, help them thrive, allow them get along. In essence, I believe in a soft form of utilitarianism.
Religious people believe that morals come from God/Holy Book and do not have to be justified by reasons or consequences (or at least not any that are understandable or discoverable by humans.) The rules are more important than people or earthly consequences. Homosexuality is wrong because God said so. Women should not be preachers because God said so. Some religious people will often find utilitarian reasons for their rules such as “pre-marital sex is wrong because of risk of unwanted pregnancy.” But usually this is not their primary reason for believing it is wrong.
I believe the reason most secular folks and religious people disagree on issues such as homosexuality is because of this difference in approach to ethics. We all basically agree that murder, stealing, lying, etc. are wrong, because they are both in our holy books and have obvious negative consequences.
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Craig,
Another question, if I may, that will help me in my response. You said, “I believe God if he exists does not make arbitrary rules for no reason.” This seems to indicate that you aren’t sure if God exists. What is your stance on the existence of God? I ask because it certainly has bearing on the issue of morality, sin and the like.
Thanks.
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“Religious people believe that morals come from God/Holy Book and do not have to be justified by reasons or consequences (or at least not any that are understandable or discoverable by humans.) The rules are more important than people or earthly consequences.”
Craig,
I’m wondering what your proof is that religious people do this. How would you go about proving that religious people think rules are more important than people? Also, how are you defining “religious people”?
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Craig,
With regard to your position on a homosexual lifestyle, how do you define sin?
Also, the trouble with “hate speech” is that hate, like love is an attitude. How can someone determine what my attitude is toward someone? Ironically many who peg Christians with the verses about judging are doing exactly that with issues like “hate speech”. Disagreement with a position or lifestyle is not necessarily hatred. Who gets to determine the attitude of the speaker and whether hatred is intended? In many cases people may in fact have hatred in their heart toward another, but how could someone be convicted of a crime for what is in his/her heart? Who gets to judge that case?
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I’m an agnostic. I used to be an evangelical christian when I was in college. I had the whole born again experience, committed my life to jesus, etc. But I’ve always been a skeptic and I just slid away from it for a variety of reasons.
I find a lot I like and agree with in Christianity: Putting God first, helping others, self-denial, etc. but a lot I don’t agree with as well. Fundamentalism especially annoys me.
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Craig,
Thanks for your response and for sharing some personal information, I appreciate your candor. I’ll be brief on the point of sin as well because the original post was primarily about free speech.
1 John 3:4 says “Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.” A further commentary study on the verse shows that what is meant by breaking the law here is “insubordination to God, wanting one’s own way, and refusing to acknowledge the Lord as rightful Sovereign. In essence it is placing one’s own will above the will of God.” (Believer’s Bible Commentary p. 2316).
This I would say is the Biblical definition of sin. God has established what is right and just and good from His very nature. God established man and woman to leave their father and mother and become one flesh, for one to set their own desires above that established union and choose to join with one of the same sex is placing one’s own will above God’s will. Therefore that action is sinful. I hope you will appreciate that I am approaching this not from a fundamentalist perspective but simply a desire for obedience to a Sovereign and Holy God.
By the way, this is exactly why I believe that too little attention is given to all the ways in which we put our own will above God’s will, like in the case of greed, pride, selfishness, gossip, slander, impatience, etc. I’m not beating up on those who choose a homosexual lifestyle, just trying to be consistent with how the Bible defines sin across the board.
As for the topic at hand, I would just repeat that I don’t like the term “hate speech” for the reason that it seems to me to be impossible to determine where a line would be drawn. How would one prosecute an attitude or intent of hate? Disagreement is not necessarily hatred.
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WK,
Sorry about the “hate speech” you deleted. I didn’t mean for it to be offensive, just an example of hate speech that some like the westboro church and repent america types use.
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This is a late posting to this dialogue but I though it would be helpful to define the word ‘sin’. Sin is an olde English archery term that means to ‘fall short of the target’. Perhaps this is a very appropriate translation of the original Hebrew and Greek words; to sin is to ‘fall short’ of God’s perfect standard. Using this definition as as the basis for conversation it is easy to understand what Paul meant when he said, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”
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Wow, thanks for stopping by David! And thanks for all the great work you do with these bus stop Bible studies. I know things are tough in Canada.
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