Canada's Liberal government just stripped the one legal protection keeping your pastor out of a courtroom.
A Liberal cabinet minister has already named the Bible verses he wants prosecutors to go after.
And Democrats in America are watching every move.
Canada Hate Speech Law Now Strips the Bible Defense
Canada's House of Commons passed Bill C-9 – the so-called Combatting Hate Act – on March 25 by a vote of 188 to 144.
The bill bans public display of terrorist symbols and creates new hate crime penalties.
Buried in the fine print is the part that has churches across Canada sounding the alarm.
Canada's Criminal Code contained a religious speech defense for decades.
It protected people charged with hate speech if their expression came from good faith interpretation of a religious text.
Quoting the Bible was protected.
Liberal lawmakers – working with the Bloc Québécois – voted to strip that protection entirely.
Andrew Lawton, a Conservative member of Parliament, told Fox News Digital exactly what that means.
"Bill C-9 makes it easier for people of faith and others to be criminally charged because of views that other people take offense to," Lawton said.
"The bill weakens protections for freedom of expression and freedom of religion, especially with the removal of the longstanding religious defense, which has stipulated that religious beliefs and religious texts expressed in good faith cannot be seen as 'hateful.'"
Liberal MP Marc Miller – Canada's Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture – told lawmakers which Bible verses he considers criminal during a House justice committee hearing last October.
Miller singled out passages from Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and Romans.
"In Leviticus, Deuteronomy and Romans, there are passages with clear hatred towards, for example, homosexuals," Miller said, according to the hearing transcript.
He then questioned how anyone could invoke a good-faith religious defense for quoting those passages.
A sitting cabinet minister just told lawmakers the government should prosecute people for reading Scripture.
Lawton was direct.
"It's not for government to decide which religious beliefs are legitimate or not," he said.
"But it's incredibly concerning when a Liberal cabinet minister says that certain verses of Scripture are so inherently hateful that prosecutors should be able to press charges against those who quote them."
Paivi Rasanen Was Convicted for a Pamphlet She Wrote 22 Years Ago
Canada's Liberals will say the bill fights antisemitism and hate.
They said the same thing in Finland.
Finland's Supreme Court convicted Päivi Räsänen – a grandmother, a member of parliament, and the country's former Interior Minister – for a pamphlet she wrote about traditional marriage in 2004.
The district court found no crime. The court of appeals found no crime – unanimously.
Prosecutors kept appealing anyway, and the Supreme Court applied a statute covering war crimes and crimes against humanity to convict her.
"When a politician can be convicted by the Supreme Court for expressing her biblical beliefs about marriage in a pamphlet published more than 20 years ago, how is any Christian in Finland supposed to feel comfortable expressing their own biblically-informed beliefs?" asked Arielle Del Turco of the Family Research Council.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke out against the conviction. Representative Chip Roy called on the Trump administration to formally condemn Finland. None of it stopped the verdict.
Cardinal Frank Leo, the Archbishop of Toronto, wrote to Canada's Senate last week urging senators to amend the bill.
"It is vital that legislation aimed at confronting hatred does not inadvertently limit the lawful expression of religious beliefs," Cardinal Leo wrote.
Democrats Want to Bring Canada Hate Speech Law to America
This is not just a Canadian story.
The same legal architecture – hate speech laws turned against people who quote Scripture – is exactly what th Lleft has wanted for years.
House Democrats have repeatedly pushed legislation that religious liberty experts warn would expose Christian schools, churches, and adoption agencies to federal prosecution.
JD Vance said it directly at the Munich Security Conference in February 2025 – free speech in Europe is "in retreat," and American values are the last line of defense.
He was right.
A grandmother in Finland just got convicted for a pamphlet nobody complained about for 20 years – until prosecutors went hunting for something to use against her.
Canada just handed their prosecutors the same hunting license.
Democrats want one too.
Sources:
- Kristine Parks, "Canada hate bill could be 'weaponized' against people of faith, Conservative lawmaker warns," Fox News, April 7, 2026.
- Paul Marshall, "Canada's Bill C-9 and the Growing Threat to Religious Freedom," Hudson Institute, December 22, 2025.
- "Cardinal Leo Writes to Canadian Senators re: Bill C-9 – Religious Freedom," Archdiocese of Toronto, March 27, 2026.
- "Finnish Supreme Court Overturns Lower Courts, Convicts Paivi Rasanen of 'Hate Speech'," Washington Stand, March 26, 2026.
- "Freedom has died in Finland: a warning to Christians after 'dangerous' conviction," Washington Times, April 3, 2026.
- Paul Marshall, "Why Finland's Conviction of Päivi Räsänen Reverberates Beyond Europe," Hudson Institute, March 31, 2026.
