OTTAWA, ON—Defenders of traditional marriage have vowed to elect a pro-family Parliament next time voters go to the polls, so that the historic vote June 28 legalizing same-sex marriage can be overturned.

In the meantime, religious leaders say they will continue to treat marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

“We cannot, by reason of faith, conscience, practice and teaching, accept the new definition of marriage ; for it is not what we understand marriage to be,” says Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) president Bruce Clemenger.

McGill associate professor Douglas Farrow, co-editor of Divorcing Marriage: Unveiling the Dangers of Canada’s New Social Experiment, circulated a paper urging Canadians not to recognize Bill C-38, the legislation pertaining to same-sex marriage, as a valid law because it is inconsistent with revealed moral law and natural law.

“C-38 must not be recognized because it attacks and marginalizes the state’s main competitors, faith and the family, which provide a home for natural rights. It thus threatens to subjugate and absorb civil society itself,” Farrow writes, pointing out that allowing the state to define rights any way it chooses is a recipe for tyranny.

Farrow urges clergy not to use the unisex marriage forms provinces have sent out and to continue using terms such as husband and wife.

He also urges academics, politicians and other leaders to “resist any effort to suppress their freedom of speech,” and advises parents to protect their children from indoctrination in the schools.

Religious organizations have repeatedly warned of the bill’s dangers to religious freedom.

“The rights of marriage commissioners to refuse to perform these marriages, the rights of church organizations to control the use of their properties and the rights of parents and school teachers to address what is taught in family life programs are just some of the problems,” says Phil Horgan, president of the Catholic Civil Rights League.

These problems “are going to land in courts and human rights tribunals because of this law,” he says.

In a news conference the day of the vote, members of the Defend Marriage Coalition said the formal fight against same-sex marriage was only beginning, and vowed to work for the election of a pro-marriage parliament.

Canada Family Action Colalition president Charles McVety said he was “rejoicing in the unity of major faith groups” fighting to preserve the traditional institution of marriage, and denounced the MPs who made pro-family promises in the last election, but voted in favor of the bill after receiving cabinet posts.

Independent MP Pat O’Brien, who left the Liberal caucus over same-sex marriage, urged Canadians to “stay organized, to stay mobilized,” because issues like polygamy and euthanasia are next.

On the day of the vote, Liberal cabinet minister Joe Comuzzi resigned in order to vote against same-sex marriage, and NDP MP Bev Desjarlais broke party discipline to do the same. She was later stripped of her position as critic and moved to the backbench for her actions.

Minister of Justice and Attorney General Irwin Cotler says he believes the bill affirms both equality rights and religious freedom, but admits “that some healing may have to be done” as far as religious groups are concerned.

He says he believes these groups would come to accept the legislation when they see “the sky will not fall.”

Cotler says the only way to reverse same-sex marriage would be to use the notwithstanding clause.

Farrow would go further than that. Like William Gairdner at www.enshrinemarriage.ca, he wants Canadians to enshrine marriage in the constitution through a constitutional amendment.

Senators have postponed a summer break to take Bill C-38 through the final phase for it to become law. The bill is expected to be passed and to receive royal assent by August.