by arthur Weinreb, associate Editor,
May 31, 2004
The May 23 edition of CBC News: Sunday ran a segment entitled "Questions of Faith". The piece used as its introduction, the poll that was conducted by the Liberal Party that asked respondents if they would be more or less likely to vote for the Conservative Party if they knew that the party had been taken over by evangelical Christians.
at first glance the program appeared to be balanced. Opinions were sought from such diverse people as former Reform Party head Preston Manning, Bill Blaikie, a United Church minister and NDP MP, and a Catholic priest. But first glances can sometimes be deceiving and on closer examination the CBC still managed to show its anti-religion, anti-american and anti-conservative biases before MacNeil wound the piece up with her put down of those who read the Bible.
after using the poll about the Conservatives being taken over by evangelical Christians, the segment never did get into whether that fact is true or not. By not examining the question, they helped accomplish what their Liberal friends in Ottawa wanted done; they left the viewers with the impression that the Conservative Party of Canada is controlled by a bunch of religious zealots. Neither party leader Stephen Harper nor anyone else from the Conservatives were interviewed and asked about the role religion plays in the Party, if any. Not only was the failure to seek the input of the party against whom the allegations were made evidence of bias, it was irresponsible journalism. Sure they had a priest and an NDP minister and Preston Manning, but the latter two only talked in generalities, expressing their opinion that people’s religious beliefs cannot be separated from the world view that they have. It was interesting that the priest was interviewed while walking in a pro-life march; the visuals of the pro-life placards in the background was to give the impression that the legalization of abortion will end if "those people" get elected.
after the segment was shown, the co-hosts, Carole MacNeil and Evan Solomon discussed the issue of religion in politics. MacNeil who never misses a point to show her anti-american bias, worried that we might end up like the United States where powerful lobby groups would try to impose their religious views over the constitution and the will of democracy. She was espousing the CBC’s position that freedom of speech and freedom of expression is the freedom to express those views that they agree with. apparently gays and lesbians can have lobby groups but Christians can’t. That would be just too scary.
MacNeil then said to Solomon:
" But you know never in this country in recent memory did we have such a clash that had a lot to do with religion as the issue of gay rights. and in the end the federal government had to change its approach and send another question to the Supreme Court. I won’t get into the heavy details but they had to change it because 40 some percent of this country was opposed to gay marriage and as a result a lot of those people were looking to their bibles to make the justification for their position on gay marriage so it wasn’t an issue that was driven by politicians who were religious; it was an issue that was driven by the electorate that was using a religious based argument for what they wanted the government to do. [Emphasis added]
MacNeil was making the argument that no one, especially those Christians, do not have any deeply held religious beliefs, specifically about gay marriage. They are simply an unenlightened bunch of people with bigoted viewpoints who use their Bibles to back up their prejudices.
at least Evan Solomon had enough sense to keep his mouth shut while MacNeil was belittling religious Canadians. Carole MacNeil’s comments were insulting and disgusting. It’s too bad her employers won’t agree.