Defending our expressive freedoms
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Have you ever been reluctant to share your deeply held views with others? Your pro-life beliefs, for example? Won’t it result in an argument? Will you be dismissed, labelled or judged without being fully heard? Could this undermine a relationship or get you shunned, affecting your workplace, community volunteering or school?
For one young Christian medical student at the University of Manitoba, sharing his deeply held beliefs has even become a legal issue. Rafael Zaki was expelled from medical school for posting his pro-life comments on social media. He did not raise his beliefs in class. When some people objected to his post, he took it down within a day.
However, the university received complaints about the post and was concerned it would have a negative impact in the learning environment. The university decided to investigate, and he was asked to apologize. He did, producing several drafts for consideration, but would not change his beliefs. Despite these attempts to apologize he was found to have been “unprofessional” by a university panel and was expelled.
He took his case to court. The court found it reasonable for Zaki to believe one university official involved in the process was biased and that the panel failed to consider his Charter rights to freedom of religion and expression, plus the Charter values that undergird these rights.
The judge ordered a second university panel to be convened, and he was allowed to return to class. However, the second panel eventually concluded his actions were unprofessional and upheld his expulsion.
Universities are to be such places where morality and ethics, science and law can be seriously debated.
He has decided to appeal the decision of this second panel, arguing it did not provide the robust analysis of Charter values the judge ordered, and again he alleged the process was biased.
The Charter guarantees freedom of religion and freedom of expression. These are not only freedoms for individuals, but are also necessary to the mission of a university. The university is to be nonsectarian and provide an educational environment where students, faculty and staff holding a diversity of beliefs, and adhering to different world views, can come to learn. Freedom of expression is at the core of an institution whose purpose is to study and debate ideas.
For many Christians like Zaki, our views on abortion and euthanasia are grounded in our beliefs about the nature and purpose of human life – that God is the author of life (Genesis 1:2), we are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14) in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), each human being has inestimable worth and everyone has a right to live (Job 1:21).
We also believe our faith requires us to protect those most vulnerable, particularly those who can’t defend themselves (Exodus 23:7; Proverbs 6:16–17; Isaiah 1:17; Jeremiah 22:3; James 1:27).
Too often we hear the issue of abortion is settled in Canada. This is false. The last time it was before the Supreme Court, the judges recognized the state has an interest in the life of unborn children and can pass laws to protect them. The Supreme Court struck down a law that permitted abortion under limited circumstances because the law was being inconsistently applied, not because they thought there should be no restrictions.
They anticipated Parliament would amend the law. A new law was proposed, but Parliament was divided and it did not pass. No government has tried to pass a law since. It is considered political career suicide to advocate for a new law.
The EFC along with other Christian organizations are seeking intervener status in Zaki’s case to affirm pro-life views for Christians are rooted in deeply held religious beliefs, and to argue the panel neglected a robust analysis of Charter values underlying freedom of religion and freedom of expression.
We need to defend public and institutional spaces where the issue can be truly debated, without one side being shouted down or dismissed, or put before tribunals and expelled. Universities are to be such places where morality and ethics, science and law can be seriously debated. Freedom of religion and freedom of expression are about the pursuit of truth and living accordingly. These are freedoms worth defending.
Bruce J. Clemenger is senior ambassador and president emeritus of The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, and author of The New Orthodoxy: Canada’s Emerging Civil Religion (Castle Quay, 2022). Photo of University of Manitoba administration building: Ahmadexp/Wikimedia