OTTAWA (LifeSiteNews) – Canada’s Justice Minister penned an open letter trying to justify a now-approved amendment to a government bill that would criminalize parts of the Bible dealing with homosexuality under Canada’s new “hate speech” law by removing a religious exception.

Earlier this week, Canadian Justice Minister Sean Fraser posted on X a two-page letter in which he tried to defend a new clause that could have broad implications on pastors, priests, and other clerics’ ability to speak freely in regard to homosexuality and what the Bible says about it.

Fraser claimed that Canadians’ right to freedom of “religion” would not be impacted.

“Canada’s commitment to freedom of religion is unwavering. Freedom of religion is a fundamental guarantee under section 2(a) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Nothing in this amendment changes that,” he claimed.

Bill C-9, the Combatting Hate Act, as reported by LifeSiteNews, has been blasted by constitutional experts as allowing empowered police and the government to go after those it deems to have violated a person’s “feelings” in a “hateful” way.

Earlier this week, a committee reviewing the bill passed amendments to it. The bill still has to be voted on in the House of Commons and then looked at by the Senate.

Many were quick to blast Fraser’s claim that Canadians’ religious rights would not be impacted by the bill, noting previous court cases regarding religion that went to the Supreme Court.

“In 2018, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld a decision to not allow a private university, Trinity Western, to establish a law school because the school had a code of conduct that required students to uphold a conduct code in line with Christian beliefs,” wrote Ben Woodfinden, former director of communications for Conservative leader and MP Pierre Poilievre on X, in response to Fraser’s letter.

“The SCC acknowledged that the law societies were violating religious freedom but allowed this decision to stand anyways. So, no, I don’t trust our courts to actually protect freedom of religion which is why I find this legislation so disturbing.”

Well-known and respected Canadian constitutional lawyer Lisa Bildy chimed in as well, noting about Woodfinden’s take on Fraser’s letter that religious freedom in Canada took a “beating” during COVID.

“Exactly this. Religious freedom also took a beating during Covid,” she wrote on X.

“Churches were forced to close while liquor stores and Costco remained open, and the courts were okay with that.”

As reported by LifeSiteNews, the Bloc Québécois Party are backing the hate-speech Bill C-9 after the Liberal government of Prime Minister Mark Carney agreed to take away a religious exception.

The amendments to Bill C-9 have been condemned by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, who penned an open letter to the Carney Liberals blasting the proposed amendment and calling for its removal.

As reported by LifeSiteNews, a government insider revealed that the Liberal government plans to remove religious exemptions from Canada’s hate-speech laws by modifying a bill. This would affect passages of the Bible dealing with homosexuality.

Liberal MP Marc Miller had said earlier in the year that certain passages of the Bible are “hateful” because of what it says about homosexuality, and those who recite the passages should be jailed. As reported by LifeSiteNews, he was appointed as a government minister by Carney.

Recently, Canadian pro-life Conservative MP Jamil Jivani warned the Liberal government is targeting Christians and people of other faiths with a bill that would criminalize quoting parts of the Bible.

In response, the Conservative Party launched a petition over fear that religious texts could be criminalized.

As reported by LifeSiteNews, Canadian Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis blasted the Carney Liberals’ federal plan to criminalize parts of the Bible as an attack on “Christians,” warning it sets a “dangerous precedent” for Canadian society.