7 News Belize

Evangelicals Criticize Courts
posted (January 7, 2020)
Last week Monday, we took you to the Court of Appeal where a panel of judges handed down a decision re-affirming that consensual same-sex acts between adults are legal. They were disposing of an appeal that the Government brought against the 2016 judgment that Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin delivered in the favor of the local gay rights activist, Caleb Orozco.

Now, that they've had time to digest the ruling, the evangelical churches which make up the National Evangelical Association of Belize, they are of the opinion that this judgment is nothing more than, quote, "judicial activism", end quote. The executives of the association hosted a press conference this evening, and here's what the President had to say in his opening remarks about the judgment:

Pastor Lance Lewis - President, NEAB
"We are, however, gravely concerned at the Appeals Court ruling last week upholding that "Sex in the Constitution is meant to include Sexual Orientation." This is Judicial Activism, where one judge changed the meaning of our Constitution with the stroke of a pen, bypassing Parliamentary and Constitutional procedures. This will have disastrous ramifications for Belize. And what is the definition of Sexual Orientation? Whose definition? Pedophilia is currently claimed as a "sexual orientation" by pedophiles, so now a 'fluid, evolving' definition will form the basis for nondiscrimination in our Constitution? We and our member churches are vehemently opposed to man's efforts to redefine marriage and sexuality, which man did not create. God did! As we have warned for years in this battle, the LGBT now have a green light by the Court for same-sex marriage and to teach our children and grandchildren in schools that 'homosexuality and transgenderism are normal and natural.' Belize, wake up! And our Government is quietly fast-tracking Anti-Discrimination and Hate Speech legislation set for Public Consultation this month, January, yet has not given us a copy of the Law? Neither legislation nor judicial decision can ever turn an unnatural 'human wrong' into a 'human right,' nor can it confer "human dignity" upon acts in which there is no dignity. For those who will mock God with 'the sky is falling', we caution, after years of loving, patient warning by God and Noah, a "sky of rain" did fall. No doubt, God will have the last word."

Now, as viewers will remember the Evangelicals were always of the opinion that the local gay rights activists were simply trying to force this immoral lifestyle on Belizean society.

They reasoned that Belize was chosen as one of the jurisdictions where this foreign agenda could take root in the form of a judgment in the favor of the LGBT community. They believed that once the precedent was set that same-sex acts was legalized, the country would begin to slide down a slippery slope. They were warning from then that the next milestone would be to push for same-sex marriages.

For the most part, however, there has not been any backlash from the general population resisting this judgment. So, we challenged the NEAB head-table today if they are pursuing a cause that Belizeans seem mostly unconcerned about. Here's that back and forth:

Today, Pastor Scott Stirm confirmed that he is a member of a regional religious group known as the Caribbean Cause.

Yesterday, the Caribbean Cause sent out a press release on the judgment which reads, quote, "The …CAUSE, a regional group consisting of individuals and groups from…(14) Caribbean territories including Belize, note with alarm that the Appeal Court of Belize has supported Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin's unilateral alteration of the content and intent of the Belizean Constitution in changing "sex" to "sexual orientation".

We argue that the Court in Belize has taken to itself powers that it does not have and is setting a dangerous precedent that is a threat to our democracies… No judge must be allowed to unilaterally alter the content and intent of the Constitution of a democratic society. This function is the prerogative of the people and their duly elected representatives only." End quote.

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