Proposed Christian Law School at Trinity Western Under Fire Because of University’s Anti-Gay Rules

Vancouver Sun ^ | 1/16/13 | Douglas Todd

[marshmallow]

Council of deans argues rules at Langley Christian university are incompatible with teaching law

The heads of Canada’s law schools oppose Trinity Western University’s attempts to star the country’s first religious law school.

The Council of Canadian Law Deans has distributed a letter criticizing the evangelical Christian university’s long-standing requirement that faculty and students refrain from homosexual relationships.

“It’s very troubling for Canadian law school deans,” Bill Flanagan, president of the Canadian Council of Law Deans, said in an interview this week.

The deans’ objection is Trinity Western University’s Bible-based “community covenant,” which the council says makes clear that “gay, lesbian or bisexual students may be subject to disciplinary measures including expulsion.”

In a letter to the Federation of Canadian Law Societies, which has been distributed widely on law school campuses across Canada, Flanagan writes: “This is a matter of great concern for all members. … Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is unlawful in Canada and fundamentally at odds with the core values of all Canadian law schools.”

Despite receiving a copy of the letter from the law deans, Trinity Western University’s website continued to maintain this week that the Langley university has “consulted widely with lawyers, judges, academics and professional organizations” about starting a Christian law school — and “none of these have expressed serious concern.”

The president of TWU, Jonathan Raymond, responded to the law deans in a Nov. 29 letter.

Raymond argued that TWU’s “community covenant,” which forbids homosexual relationships and sex outside marriage, is “consistent with federal and provincial law.”

Citing TWU’s earlier legal dispute with the B.C. College of Teachers, Raymond noted the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in 2001 that a religious school can exempt itself from human rights legislation forbidding discrimination against homosexuals.

[Westbrook]

Let’s see them go after the Muzzloid “law” schools where, not only gays are excluded, but women, too.

These people should just push off.

[Cicero]

So, in order to be a lawyer in Canada, the last requirement to be certified for the bar is that you have to bugger someone before the board of examiners?

Somewhat analogous to taking a driving test—first the pass the paperwork exam, then prove you can drive.

[RansomOttawa]

The Canadian Constitution is grounded in “the sovereignty of God and the Rule of Law.”

Apparently, you can’t have both at a university, though.

[69ConvertibleFirebird]

The good news for liberals is that they haven’t explicitly stated that sex with farm animals and/or tree stumps is out. Compromise, libs... You finally got compromise.