Canada is barreling toward a chilling new reality where quoting certain Bible passages could be treated as a criminal hate speech offense.
Bill C-9, the so-called Combatting Hate Act, cleared the House of Commons on March 25 and now moves to the Senate.
Critics say the legislation guts a decades-old legal safeguard that protected sincere religious expression, handing prosecutors new tools to target Christians and other believers who dare reference holy texts on topics like sexuality.
? Canada just criminalized the Bible.
— ??? Karoline Leavitt (@WHLeavitt) April 2, 2026
Bill C-9 has passed.
Quoting Scripture on marriage, sin, or God’s design for sexuality can now be prosecuted as “wilful promotion of hatred.”
Do you support free speech?
A. Yes
B. No pic.twitter.com/jskW38sNTl
The bill, introduced last September by Liberal Justice Minister and Attorney General Sean Fraser, eliminates sections 319(3)(b) and 319(3.1)(b) of the Canadian Criminal Code. Those provisions had long stated that a person could not be convicted of hate speech if they “expressed or attempted to establish by an argument an opinion on a religious subject or an opinion based on a belief in a religious text.”
Quoting the Bible could be classified as hate speech under proposed Canada bill, lawmaker warns https://t.co/aegvBhdWQ1
— Daily Mail (@DailyMail) April 7, 2026
Fraser and his Liberal allies insist the measure will not touch religious practice. “Canadians will always be able to pray, preach, teach, interpret scripture, and express religious belief in good faith, without fear of criminal sanction,” Fraser claimed on December 9.
Yet Conservative MP Andrew Lawton is not convinced. “Bill C-9 makes it easier for people of faith and others to be criminally charged because of views that other people take offense to,” he told Fox News Digital.
Lawton added that the legislation “weakens protections for freedom of expression and freedom of religion, especially with the removal of the longstanding religious defense, which has stipulated that religious beliefs and religious texts expressed in good faith cannot be seen as ‘hateful.’”
Liberal hate speech Bill C-9 has passed Canada's parliament and is now with the senate.
— Jason James (@jasonjamesbnn) April 2, 2026
John Carpay from the JCCF tells us how this bill could further erode free speech in Canada—particularly the right to practice religion.
Watch the full episode below ?? https://t.co/tYA8e7ctcL pic.twitter.com/rm8q87Nt5r
Liberal MP Marc Miller made the threat explicit during an October House justice committee hearing. “I don’t understand how the concept of good faith could be invoked if someone were literally invoking a passage from, in this case, the Bible, though there are other religious texts that say the same thing,” Miller said. He continued: “How do we somehow constitute this as being said in good faith? Clearly, there are situations in these texts where statements are hateful. They should not be used to invoke … or be a defense.”
Miller specifically cited passages in Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and Romans as examples.
The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops fired back in a December 2025 letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney. “This narrowly framed exemption has served for many years as an essential safeguard to ensure that Canadians are not criminally prosecuted for their sincere, truth-seeking expression of beliefs made without animus and grounded in long-standing religious traditions,” the bishops wrote.
The Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council warned the bill “poses disproportionate risks not only to marginalized and racialized communities, but to faith-based communities more broadly including Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Sikh, and Jewish communities.”
Supporters point to a reported 169 percent rise in hate crimes since 2018 and argue the changes target real threats like Nazi symbols or terrorist insignia, including those linked to groups such as the Proud Boys. But the removal of the religious-text defense has faith leaders across denominations fearing selective enforcement against traditional biblical teachings.
The bill also creates new hate-crime sentencing enhancements and makes “willful promotion of hatred” — including displaying designated terrorist symbols — punishable by up to two years in prison, though journalistic, educational, or artistic uses remain exempt.
While a handful of Jewish organizations back the legislation as a tool against antisemitism, the overwhelming response from Christian and Muslim advocacy groups has been fierce opposition.
This is the inevitable endpoint of leftist governance that treats disagreement on marriage, sexuality, or human nature as a public danger. Once governments decide certain truths are “hateful,” scripture itself becomes contraband. Canada’s experiment shows how quickly religious liberty evaporates when bureaucrats get to define good faith.
Americans watching this unfold have every reason to reject the same path. Free speech and the right to live and speak according to one’s faith are non-negotiable. The fight to preserve them isn’t abstract — it is happening right now on the northern border.
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