Leading evangelical pastor Franklin Graham has called on Christians of Canada to “listen and wake up!” over a new Ontario law that allows government to remove children from homes where parents don’t go along with their gender identity.
“This law is not supported by science, Scripture, logic, research, experience, or common sense,” Graham exclaimed in a Facebook post. “This is totalitarian and oppressive!”
Rev. Graham was reacting to news stories regarding Ontario’s “Bill 89,” which was passed on June 1 by a vote of 63 to 23. As Breitbart News reported earlier this week, the new legislation has removed language regarding a family’s religious identity and replaced it with concepts such as “sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression” as relevant factors for determining a child’s best interests.
Ontario’s Minister of Children and Youth Services, Michael Coteau, who introduced the bill, said earlier this year that a parent’s failure to recognize and support a child’s gender self-identification is a form of child abuse, and a child in these circumstances should be removed from the situation and placed into protective care.
“I would consider that a form of abuse, when a child identifies one way and a caregiver is saying no, you need to do this differently,” Coteau said. “If it’s abuse, and if it’s within the definition, a child can be removed from that environment and placed into protection where the abuse stops.”
“Can you imagine having the government take your children away from you if the children decided they felt like switching their gender identity and you disagreed?” Graham wrote in his post.
“I hope Bible-believing churches and Christians across Canada will stand against this wicked law that has been pushed by progressives and the LGBT community,” he added.
Rev. Graham, the son of celebrated evangelical leader Billy Graham, also invited readers to take note of why political awareness and voting are so important in a democracy.
“This is another example of why who we vote for on the local, provincial, and national levels is so important! And the U.S. had better be on guard against laws like this being pushed right here in our own backyard,” he said.
Follow Thomas D. Williams on Twitter Follow @tdwilliamsrome
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