Even if the Alberta Human Rights Commission was not busy investigating Calgary Bishop Fred Henry, it should still be abolished as a waste of taxpayers' money.

Bishop Henry made the news last week by refusing to apologize for promoting the Roman Catholic teaching that sex is legitimate only between husband and wife. In keeping with what his church has been saying for about 2,000 years, Bishop Henry lumped homosexuality in with adultery, prostitution, and pornography as forces which undermine the family. Two Calgarians have complained that their "human rights" have been "violated" by the bishop's teaching, and our provincial tax dollars are now paying for an "investigation" by the Alberta Human Rights Commission.

In a free country, citizens have the right to dismiss Bishop Henry as a raving lunatic, or to submit to his teaching as God's truth, or to choose any other response between these two extremes. Nobody is forced to agree with Bishop Henry, and in a free country, this holds true for all points of view. For example, when other people argue that prostitution, pornography and homosexuality are harmless personal choices which don't belong in the Criminal Code, nobody is forced to agree, or even to listen. It's called freedom of speech, frank debate, and fair input from all citizens to shape public policy.

But Canada is no longer a free country. The federal election gag law, which gives politicians and political parties a monopoly on election debate, to the exclusion of citizens and citizens' groups, is not the only threat to our freedoms. Another threat is the creation of a new, politically correct "human right" to not be offended, which is destroying our traditional human rights to freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of contract, and freedom to own and enjoy one's private property. Our common law tradition, dating back to the Magna Carta of 1215 and earlier, never recognized a "right" to not get one's feelings hurt by someone's criticisms or opinions. Doing so would have undermined - or eliminated entirely - our precious freedom of speech, freedom of contract, freedom of religion, and private property rights.

A "right" to not get one's feelings hurt by politically incorrect opinions shuts down everyone else's right to freedom of speech. It's true that some people are so principled and so courageous that they will risk the public humiliation of being prosecuted by a human rights commission, with the further risk of a fine, massive legal bills, and potential jail time for refusing to pay the fine. But most people would rather shut up than pay that kind of a price for expressing themselves, so freedom of speech no longer exists.

Thanks to human rights tribunals, Canadians now enjoy a "right" to be free from hearing politically incorrect opinions, and our tax dollars are used to silence people like Bishop Henry.

No doubt, the time will soon come when a human rights complaint is filed against the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) for its long-standing advocacy of the equality of all Canadians, including aboriginals. Feelings get hurt when the CTF compares current aboriginal policies to apartheid, and says that aboriginals should be treated like every other ethnic group in Canada.

Our freedom of speech - a cornerstone of democracy and western civilization - is not the only freedom which is threatened by so-called "human rights" legislation. Our right to own and enjoy property, and our freedom of contract, are also diminished.

For example, an Ontario printer was prosecuted and fined for refusing to print stationary for a political group with which he vehemently disagreed. The Vancouver Rape Relief Society was ordered to take on a "transgendered person" (an ex-male in this case) as a counselor for rape victims. Companies which operate dangerous work sites requiring the use of heavy equipment are limited in their ability to set up drug testing programs for employees, because addictions are a "disability" under human rights laws. Canadians no longer enjoy the freedom to contract - or not contract - with other people as they please, because the "human right" to not have hurt feelings trumps our centuries-old human right to own, enjoy and use our private property as we see fit.

The longer our tax dollars keep paying for human rights commissions to promote political correctness, the more our real human rights and our real freedoms will be eroded.