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The Knock on the Door 10/20/2005 Canadian police pay a visit to Christian commentator.
As a writer, I can't imagine anything more chilling than for the police to come to my door and tell me I'd better stop writing about certain issues. As an American, I can't imagine a worse insult to my First Amendment rights.
But Robert Jason is a Canadian citizen, and he doesn't have to imagine a thing like that, because it really happened—to him.
Jason, 70, a retired high school teacher who supports himself by caring for mentally handicapped persons in his home, writes columns and collects news items in support of Christian, pro-family issues, such as the defense of marriage. He sends them daily to like-minded persons on his e-mail list.
On New Year's Day 2004, Jason and his wife received a visit from two plainclothes policemen.
“They were there because someone showed a homosexual activist one of my e-mails, and the activist complained to the police,” Jason said. "He told them he felt personally threatened by my e-mails. He convinced the police that I was threatening his life."
At the time, Canada's current "hate speech" law had not yet been enacted. That didn't stop the police from getting involved.
“The officers were quiet and friendly,” Jason said, “but just having them there was very intimidating to me and my wife. All the neighbors were watching, and we were terrified.”
The officers didn't tell him to stop writing, he said, but they “implied” that he should.
“I replied, how could I threaten this person? I'm only defending my values. And the e-mail wasn't sent to him.”
Jason said incidents like this will happen in the United States if “hate crime” legislation, followed by “hate speech” legislation, becomes federal law.
“If you give homosexuals special rights, they're just going to use them to threaten your rights,” he said. “Canada doesn't have a First Amendment, and it’s going to get worse here before it gets better. We're just hoping that someday there’ll be a backlash among people with common sense.”
In spite of his warning from the police, Robert Jason is still writing his columns and sending them to fellow Christians on his e-mail list.
He does not know when the police will come again.
Lee Duigon is a Christian free-lance writer whose work periodically appears on www.cwfa.org and frequently appears at www.chalcedon.org.
To read more about the dangers of “hate crime” laws, see these new Special Reports by CWA's Culture & Family Institute:
The Federal Hate Crimes Bill: Federalizing Criminal Law While Threatening Civil Liberties
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