What a disconnect

So we have this manger scene which of course is all about the birth of the child at the center of Christianity and the ‘life and light’ he brought into the world, and besides all the other controversies over where it can’t be displayed, now there’s a new one.

Campaign Life Catholic had donated $5000 for figurines for a nativity scene erected by the Catholic lay movement, Gethsemane Ministries, in front of Toronto’s Old City Hall courthouse.  Affixed to the display was an 8 ½  X 11 in. laminated paper sign noting that the display had been erected by Gethsemane Ministries. The Catholic Organization’s logo was the dominant item on the notice. The bottom three lines, in small plain text, stated, “Statues donated by Campaign Life Coalition Catholic in honour of the efforts of Pro-Life hero Fr. Ted Colleton.”

Simple and discreet and innocent enough.

However, the issue exploded onto the national stage after a prominent Toronto blog reported on the sign in a story headlined: “Away in a Manger No Place for a Pro-Life Message.”

Which is a pretty weird thought.

On Thursday all three major Canadian newspapers Рthe Toronto Star, the National Post and the Globe and Mail Рas well as major television and radio stations, covered the last three lines on the notice on the cr̬che as a major news item.

The Star, Canada’s largest circulation newspaper, featured the controversy as the lead story on its Toronto print edition’s front page with a large photo of the nativity display and extensive text that continued onto another page.

(This, while the global economy is in crisis, terrorists are either attacking or being rounded up, world leaders are holding a summit on climate change, etc…)

The sign was incorrectly referred in most reports as being a plaque. To correct the unintended controvery Gethesmane Ministries simply sliced off the offending three lines from the bottom of the paper notice.

Capitulation. Anybody challenge why the three lines offend? Or, respond that such charges are, themselves, offensive and intolerant? 

In what free speech proponent Ezra Levant, who is Jewish, called “a brazen act of censorship,” the City of Toronto caved in to media pressure and ordered the text refering to Campaign Life Catholic’s contribution to be removed, apparently based upon a single complaint.

The politics of fear have no limit.

Suresh Dominic, founder and head of Gethsemane Ministries told LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) that CLC came forward with the donation after the statues had been vandalized. The statues were donated as “a gift,” he said, “for the people of Toronto to enjoy,” and there was “no intention of politicizing it.”

So first the manger scene was vandalized. Now, this assault. 

“We should recognize those who donate to us,” he continued.  “It’s only right.  We call ourselves a multicultural society, but what message are we giving when we are forced to take down our simple acknowledgment to those who donate?”

(That Christians can be bullied.)

“Not surprisingly, this violation of free speech is done in the name of ‘Toronto’s Human Rights Policy’,” said Ezra Levant.  “This would never be done to a Muslim or Jewish group – and certainly not a pro-abortion group.  It’s a sign of politically correct desperation: instead of debating their opponents, they want to silence them.”

And regrettably, it’s working.

This is essentially one of the issues that compelled the drafters and signers of the Manhattan Declaration to launch proclamation, and why it’s growing so rapidly.