Pettigrew and the Church

A little bit over a week ago, we wrote that Prime Minister Martin's crusade for rights should have raised its flag in China and India, while he visited those countries, instead of being so selective. Martin lambasted all those who oppose his plan to redefine marriage, but would not raise his voice against those who violate the rights of billions of people. Today, the National Post's Raymond De Souza eviscerates Pierre Pettigrew, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, for attacking the Catholic Church on very similar grounds to what we wrote just yesterday (Pettigrew's Pettiness). De Souza does not mince words. His analysis of the minister's understanding of the church-state divide is excellent, and reminds us of much of the government's hypocrisy.

It was not ironic, but simply obscene that the Prime Minister would denounce opponents of gay marriage as opponents of human rights, as he did in China, while ignoring the massive human rights abuses perpetrated by the very men he was meeting with. To have that compounded by the Foreign Minister trying, by some kind of reverse authoritarian alchemy, to convert religious liberty into a silencing of democratic debate was scandalous.

He also called the Minister "arrogant and ignorant." Kudos to De Souza! Not enough people have the courage to point out the Cabinet's inconsistencies on this question with such strength and ability.