Did you know that Canada’s criminal code contained laws that criminalized “blasphemous libel”? This blasphemy law, part of Canada’s original criminal code, was removed by lawmakers in 2018.
Canadian law has incrementally moved away from a Christian worldview for several decades. Lawmakers have repealed laws criminalizing not only blasphemy, but abortion, sodomy, divorce, euthanasia, and Sabbath or “blue” laws. Gay marriage was enshrined in law and so-called “conversion therapy” was criminalized.
With a change of gods, of necessity, you get a change in law. The true God is out and the new humanist pantheon is in. Therefore, biblical law is out, and new laws are in. Of course, we can’t just blame the law makers. They are our elected representatives. We live in a day where biblical law is generally viewed with suspicion and even disdain among unbelievers and professing Christians as well. I imagine that few Christians today would support laws condemning sodomy or blasphemy or pride parades. Those kinds of laws are considered draconian and archaic—even though the laws were all on the books in Canada in 1968 (translation: it wasn’t that long ago and wasn’t the tyrannical dystopia conjectured today).[1]
What’s important to remember in these changing times is that laws criminalizing blasphemy are not a thing of the past. Canada has new blasphemy laws now designed to protect the new gods of our society.
Bill C-9 introduces secular humanism’s version of blasphemy laws, also known as laws “combatting hate speech.” This bill seeks to “create an offence of wilfully promoting hatred against any identifiable group by displaying certain symbols in a public place” (e.g., a Nazi swastika); “create a hate crime offence of committing an offence under that Act or any other Act of Parliament that is motivated by hatred based on certain factors”; or “create an offence of intimidating a person in order to impede them from accessing certain places that are primarily used for religious worship or by an identifiable group for certain purposes.”[2] In the bill an offense under this act is defined as an offense “motivated by hatred based on race, national or ethnic origin, language, colour, religion, sex, age, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.”[3]
Canadian law currently provides an exception to the promotion of hatred “if, in good faith, the person expressed or attempted to establish by an argument an opinion on a religious subject or an opinion based on a belief in a religious text.” Currently Bill C-9 has the same exemption, however, MP Marc Miller and Justice Minister Sean Fraser agree with the Bloc Quebecois that the exemption should be removed. Miller doesn’t “think people should be using the Bible, the Qur’an or the Torah to escape from committing a hate crime or claim that … what would otherwise be a hate crime is done in the name of a religious text.” [4]
On October 31, Miller posted on X, “I say this, in particular because I am a Christian: there should be no defence to the crime of publicly inciting hatred because, for example, someone relied on Leviticus 20:13 or Deuteronomy 22:22 which prescribe death to homosexuals and adulterers. It’s as simple as that.”[5]
Just for clarity, Leviticus 20:13 says, “If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.”
And Deuteronomy 22:22 says, “If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.”
In the end, the government continues to legislate speech laws. The change from “blasphemous libel” to “hate speech” is one of semantics, not substance. It is not a matter of having speech laws, it is a matter of standards. By what standard is certain speech considered beyond the pale? The new speech laws protect the new god of the system and relegate the speech of the true and living God as blasphemy.
Libertarianism to the Rescue?
There are many libertarians in the conservative ranks these days. They argue for freedom and speech and freedom of expression, wanting the government out of the business of legislating morality.[6] I appreciate their desire but the libertarian ideal fails because it seeks liberty apart from the true and living God. All laws can do is legislate morality. That’s what laws are. They express moral values. Lawlessness is anarchy. Law and order bring peace and human flourishing.
Let me give you an example. You should not be permitted to say in an airport, “He’s got a bomb!” and appeal to freedom of speech and freedom of expression. Some speech, including threats, and bearing false witness should be criminal. Some freedom of expression, like nudity in public (like in pride parades) or pornography should also be criminal. Libertarianism is not the answer.
The goal must not be to dispense of law, but to have the right laws. And a nation will never be free unless and until is submits to God’s law (Rom 13:1–5). It is an irrefutable fact that the most free nations on earth are nations built upon the principles of Protestant Christianity.
The problem with Bill C-9 is not that it introduces speech laws—every society will have them. The problem with Bill C-9 is that it seeks to protect the humanist gods of self-identity and self-expression while condemning God’s word as blasphemous libel.
How Should Christians Respond?
1. Pray for our leaders and nation
First Timothy 2 calls us to pray for our leaders. We want them to be converted and rule according to God’s principles so that we all might live a peaceable and quite life. In time, the people of Canada will learn that the new “gods” are cruel. We should pray that God would have mercy and that not only our leaders, but the people of our country, would turn to the true and living God in repentance. Prayer and gospel preaching should always be our top priority when our nation runs headlong after false gods and abandons the true and living God.
2. We should never blush at God’s word
These new “blasphemy” laws should change nothing in a true Christian’s speech or conduct. I’m preaching through Deuteronomy now and I will preach with clarity and conviction on every law contained in Deuteronomy. I will present it as authoritative, relevant, merciful, righteous, and good. We should never be embarrassed by God’s word or make any apology for what God has said. The laws of the Old Testament, and yes, even capital punishment for sodomy and adultery are good. They reflect our holy God’s own righteousness and hatred for sin.
Remember Christian, you will stand before God one day to give an account. Don’t be fearful of Canadian law and what it may do to you. Fear God and his law. Do not deny the one who shed his own blood to make you his own. Do not betray the one who has loved and saved your soul. Speak his truth with no regret.
3. Speak grace and truth
While some Christians will be tempted to self-censor and stay silent, other Christians will be tempted to be obnoxious and shout every Bible verse that may offend the gods of the age simply to offend the people of this age. We must make sure to speak truth and grace. Consider Paul’s remarks in 1 Corinthians 6.
“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:9–11).
Our goal is not offense, but redemption. One capable of handling God’s word must be able to use a scalpel, do surgery and cut out the cancer but also use a needle to stitch and mend to bring healing. If the only tool you have is a hammer, then everything will look like a nail. The Bible does tell the truth about homosexuality and gender, but it also gives grace and calls everyone to find mercy in Jesus Christ. Know how to be a good doctor and give the right medicine based on a good diagnosis of the problem. In this way, we show our love, both for God and neighbor.
—Tim Stephens
[1] I’ve addressed the principles of this issue briefly here and at length here and here.
[2] https://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/45-1/bill/C-9/first-reading
[3] Subsection 319(7) defines hatred: “hatred means the emotion that involves detestation or vilification and that is stronger than disdain or dislike” (https://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/45-1/bill/C-9/first-reading)
[4] https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/article/religion-shouldnt-be-exempted-from-hate-speech-law-liberal-minister/
[5] https://x.com/MarcMillerVM/status/1984297064138674285 The post is a response to a quote in question period where Miller mentioned that there is indeed hate speech in the Bible.
[6] https://c2cjournal.ca/2025/09/articles-of-freedom-what-the-constitution-of-an-independent-alberta-should-look-like/