Peaceful protest greets controversial lecturer
WATERLOO - More than 100 people protested peacefully outside a University of Waterloo auditorium on Tuesday night as an American scholar known for his anti-gay views spoke inside.
And the protestors - lined up behind temporary fencing and carrying rainbow flags and homemade signs - outnumbered those who had come to hear University of Notre Dame professor emeritus Charles Rice.
Addressing the half-empty Modern Languages Theatre, Rice, 80, said he was surprised that his selection by a university committee to deliver the annual Pascal Lecture on Christianity and the Universe had generated such controversy. “I’m just a guy from Mishawaka, Indiana.”
And Rice - an accomplished and respected legal scholar - took great pains to explain that his talk wouldn’t stray from its focus on such concepts as conscience, reason and natural law.
But his reputation - as a devout Roman Catholic who believes same-sex marriage and abortion are wrong and who views homosexuality as a “moral disorder” - preceded him to the University of Waterloo and drew dozens who wanted to ensure Rice knew they don’t agree.
“I’m a practicing Roman Catholic and I cannot conceive of anybody in this day and age talking the way he talks,” said Jean Coughlan of Waterloo.
“I thought we had put this behind us,” she said. “I thought we had a society that was accepting of everyone.”
Melissa Sky and partner Shelley Secrett brought their six-year-old son, Liam, to the protest.
“The university chose to honour someone who blatantly discriminates against our family,” said Sky, a UW alumnus. “We’re not here to silence him. We’re here as a counterpoint.”
The university beefed up security inside and outside the theatre on Tuesday, with at least four paid-duty Waterloo Regional Police officers on hand to bolster the ranks of several campus police officers. No incidents were reported and no one disrupted the talk.
Rice told the audience that he respected the protestors. “I admire, as a matter of fact, their tenacity and their fervour.”
But before launching into a lecture sprinkled with humour and philosophical questions, he defended his contentious beliefs.
“I adhere to and advance the teachings of the Catholic Church on same-sex marriage and other issues, and I plead guilty.”
Rice’s visit to UW includes teaching a philosophy class and giving a private seminar to select faculty. Another group plans to protest his visit by holding a symposium on tolerance and inclusivity in Christianity on Thursday evening, after Rice will have left the campus.
Source
The funny thing is, Rice is apparently too much of a coward to face his critics, so he went in through a back door and we never saw him.
And the protestors - lined up behind temporary fencing and carrying rainbow flags and homemade signs - outnumbered those who had come to hear University of Notre Dame professor emeritus Charles Rice.
Addressing the half-empty Modern Languages Theatre, Rice, 80, said he was surprised that his selection by a university committee to deliver the annual Pascal Lecture on Christianity and the Universe had generated such controversy. “I’m just a guy from Mishawaka, Indiana.”
And Rice - an accomplished and respected legal scholar - took great pains to explain that his talk wouldn’t stray from its focus on such concepts as conscience, reason and natural law.
But his reputation - as a devout Roman Catholic who believes same-sex marriage and abortion are wrong and who views homosexuality as a “moral disorder” - preceded him to the University of Waterloo and drew dozens who wanted to ensure Rice knew they don’t agree.
“I’m a practicing Roman Catholic and I cannot conceive of anybody in this day and age talking the way he talks,” said Jean Coughlan of Waterloo.
“I thought we had put this behind us,” she said. “I thought we had a society that was accepting of everyone.”
Melissa Sky and partner Shelley Secrett brought their six-year-old son, Liam, to the protest.
“The university chose to honour someone who blatantly discriminates against our family,” said Sky, a UW alumnus. “We’re not here to silence him. We’re here as a counterpoint.”
The university beefed up security inside and outside the theatre on Tuesday, with at least four paid-duty Waterloo Regional Police officers on hand to bolster the ranks of several campus police officers. No incidents were reported and no one disrupted the talk.
Rice told the audience that he respected the protestors. “I admire, as a matter of fact, their tenacity and their fervour.”
But before launching into a lecture sprinkled with humour and philosophical questions, he defended his contentious beliefs.
“I adhere to and advance the teachings of the Catholic Church on same-sex marriage and other issues, and I plead guilty.”
Rice’s visit to UW includes teaching a philosophy class and giving a private seminar to select faculty. Another group plans to protest his visit by holding a symposium on tolerance and inclusivity in Christianity on Thursday evening, after Rice will have left the campus.
Source
The funny thing is, Rice is apparently too much of a coward to face his critics, so he went in through a back door and we never saw him.