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Victory in B.C.!

Today the B.C. Court of Appeal unanimously upheld the constitutional right of Trinity Western University to open a law school. The Law Society of British Columbia had voted to ban any graduates from TWU’s law school (which hasn’t even opened yet!) from practising law. The law society was brazen: they were banning TWU grads because the university official supports Christian values, including a student “covenant” by which students agree to live a moral life — no gambling, no drunkenness, no extramarital sex, etc. So the law society banned all TWU lawyers — as did law societies in Ontario and Nova Scotia.

Today’s B.C. ruling couldn’t have been clearer: Christians have the right to their own values and beliefs, even if others (including gay rights activists) don’t like them. Here’s a key line in the ruling: "Indeed, it was evident in the case before us that the language of “offense and hurt” is not helpful in balancing competing rights. The beliefs expressed by some Benchers and members of the Law Society that the evangelical Christian community’s view of marriage is “abhorrent”, “archaic” and “hypocritical” would no doubt be deeply offensive and hurtful to members of that community.”

In other words, there is no counterfeit human right not to be offended — and even if there was, Christians could be offended by the law society’s words!

You can read the whole ruling here. http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/jdb-txt/ca/16/04/2016BCCA0423.htm

Our friend John Carpay of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms has been an intervenor on the side of Trinity Western University since the beginning, fighting this fight in all three provinces where it’s been to court. We’ve done our best to help crowdfund some of his costs.