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Error Has No Right To Run A Canadian Law School

The Ontario Law Society has voted against accreditation of a Christian university’s proposed law school. Excerpt: The vote means graduates from the B.C. university would not be able to practise in Ontario. “Benchers took this issue very seriously, and did not find it easy to reach a decision,” said the Law Society of Upper Canada’s treasurer, […]

The Ontario Law Society has voted against accreditation of a Christian university’s proposed law school. Excerpt:

The vote means graduates from the B.C. university would not be able to practise in Ontario.

“Benchers took this issue very seriously, and did not find it easy to reach a decision,” said the Law Society of Upper Canada’s treasurer, in a written statement.

“As members of the legal profession, we recognize the entrenched values of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and Ontario’s Human Rights Code, including the right of equality and the right to freedom of religion, and the foundational nature of those rights to our democracy.”

Trinity Western University students must sign a strict Christian covenant governing behaviour, including abstaining from sexual intimacy “that violates the sacredness of marriage between a man and a woman.”

Critics say the covenant essentially bans anyone in a gay relationship from enrolling in the school.

Not being able to practice law in Ontario means graduates of this law school would not be able to practice law in Canada’s capital city, Ottawa, or in Toronto, its largest city. Who wants a law degree that renders you unemployable in the most influential province in the country, a place where nearly 40 percent of the population lives? Nobody, that’s who. This vote — which was not undertaken by an entity of the state, but rather by a licensing organization — is almost certainly going to kill this and any law school that’s part of a university whose institutional identity is based in traditional Christianity. Which is the idea. The advocates, and avocats, of tolerance do not believe that those in error about homosexuality’s moral status should have the right to practice law.

Now, Nova Scotia’s law society considers what to do, and the rest of Canada waits to see how this will shake out. From the Globe & Mail:

The law society’s ruling could also create turmoil on a national scale. Some lawyers have voiced concerns that having one provincial law society deny accreditation when other provincial societies have granted it could threaten a new national mobility regime that allows lawyers licensed in one province to practise across Canada. The system took more than a decade to establish, and leaders of the Law Society of Alberta have warned that a decision such as the LSUC’s could pose a “direct threat” to mobility agreements.

Because approving of homosexuality is so important that error must not be given any right, and a system governing the practice of law in the entire country must be put at risk to satisfy activists.

You think it can’t happen in the US? You think it’s not going to happen here? This, from the Heritage Foundation:

Accreditation in Higher Education. The accreditation process for institutions of higher education presents another area of potential ideological coercion.

For example, according to the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, in 2001, “the American Psychological Association, the accrediting body for professional psychology programs, threatened to revoke the accreditation of religious colleges that prefer coreligionists, in large part because of concerns about codes of conduct that prohibit sex outside of marriage and homosexual behavior.” According to Becket Fund, “Where same-sex marriage is adopted without strong religious protections, religious colleges and universities that oppose same-sex marriage will likely face similar threats.”

In the United States, the federal government does not directly accredit educational institutions and programs. However, to participate in federal student financial assistance programs, educational institutions must receive accreditation from an accrediting agency that is recognized by the federal government.

This regulatory framework puts accrediting agencies in a position to threaten the religious freedom of religious colleges and universities. “[O]nce accreditation agencies [become] the gatekeepers for federal funding, accreditors essentially gain regulatory control over colleges [and universities].”

Once again, we turn to the Law of Merited Impossibility: It will never happen, and when it does, you bigots will deserve what you get.

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