So neither McPherson nor Norris made it onto the second ballot for the Alberta PC Leadership. I'm still not telling you which of those two I voted for, but if I'd changed by vote, the final result wouldn't have changed. And now the second ballot is coming up so I have to pick someone else to vote for. Here are some of my thoughts on something one of the candidates did a while back.
A while ago, the Alberta government was considering Bill 208, a bill introduced by Ted Morton. One thing this bill would do is allow marriage commissioners to refuse to perform same-sex marriages. Now that our country allows same-sex marriage, I think it's very important that religious groups retain the right to choose who they marry. But I'm not sure that marriage commissioners should have that right. Before the beginning of gay marriage, I think marriage commissioners were expected to marry any couple that was legally eligible for marriage. (I've been having trouble confirming this though. Even the Alberta government website seems kind of vague, although I didn't read the Marriage Act, or whatever it's called.) If I'm right about that, allowing marriage commissioners to refuse to do same-sex weddings could open a big can of worms. Here's the big question: should people be able to refuse to perform parts of their job that conflict with their religious beliefs?
Some specific examples: Should Catholic pharmacists be allowed to refuse to sell birth control? Should Muslim fundamentalists working at a passport office be able to refuse to process applications for women who don't wear burkas? (Thanks to a guy named Mark who posted a comment here for that idea.) Should postal workers be able to refuse to deliver advertising that they disagree with? Or should all these people find different jobs if they want to opt out of certain duties?
I think Bill 208 would've given special treatment--not equal treatment--to people who oppose gay marriage. It seems to treat homosexuality like it's one of the biggest issues, while the issue is only mentioned a handful of times in the Bible--far less than it talks about defending the oppressed, helping the poor, etc. And as an evangelical Christian, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth when political candidates can almost automatically get a lot of the evangelical vote just by promising to fight the "gay agenda." This just seems to confirm some groups' portrayal of Christians as bigots.
The other section of Bill 208 (letting teachers and students opt out of class discussions on same-sex marriage) seems to have the same problem. While I really hope teachers don't treat students who are against gay marriage like narrow-minded bigots, giving special treatment to people who disagree with a liberal position on one issue doesn't seem to be a good solution. Students can't opt out of other discussions, can they?
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