Our more enlightened and democratic neighbor to the north passed “the Combatting Hate Act” (Bill C-9), a law designed to strengthen the Criminal Code against hate crimes, protect community gathering spaces, and ban the public display of specific hate or terrorist symbols.

Evangelicals have their panties in a twist because The Act repealed a long-standing defense in the Criminal Code that protected individuals from hate convictions if they were expressing a religious opinion “in good faith” or quoting a religious text.

There is no hate quite like “Christian love.” Under the Act, so-called Christians can no longer protest outside a gay-affirming church, call its members an abomination deserving death, and then claim exemption from hate-speech laws because they are quoting the Bible.

This legislation does not apply to private conversations; evangelicals are free to participate in a circle jerk and rail against gays and lesbians.

For millennia Christians have engaged in hateful rhetoric and acts of violence that spring from such hateful speech and used the Bible as justification.

In America under Donald Trump’s fascist regime evangelicals feel emboldened to engage in hate speech against immigrants, the LGBT community and racial minorities, but at least in Canada they will think twice before publicly engaging in hate speech.