Over the past decade, traditional Christian communities, institutions, and individuals have faced an increasingly hostile political and legal environment in Canada.
In a 2018 Supreme Court ruling, Trinity Western University was denied accreditation for a Christian law school in a 7-2 ruling widely recognized as pitting “religious freedom against LGBTQ+ rights.” More recently in British Columbia, former public school trustee Barry Neufeld was fined $750,000 by the BC Human Rights Tribunal for his defense of the Christian view of biological sex. Another trustee promptly resigned for fear that speaking about his convictions could cost him his home. Dozens of other cases and controversies could be cited.
In retrospect, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to close the federal government’s Office of Religious Freedom in 2016 seems an ominous indication of Canada’s direction. Scarcely a month goes by without some clash featuring censorship or restriction for the right of Christians to speak in the public square, from city billboards to public office. Christian institutions rightly wonder how long it could be before their convictions might run afoul of Canadian law, especially with the recent passage of Bill C-9 and the previous passage of Bill C-4.
In this context, Christian churches and institutions would be well-advised to plan for the future. To that end, The Acacia Group offers a wide range of legal services oriented specifically to that purpose.
But there is another aspect of this environment to consider: The vast majority of Canadians do not understand what might be colloquially referred to as “Christianese.” In short: they are unfamiliar with Christian institutions, they do not understand the very basics of Christian belief and theology and are thus susceptible to the growing mainstream narrative that religious liberty is, itself, merely an excuse for bigotry.
Indeed, most Canadians are unaware that the Christian standard for how we must treat our fellow citizens is far higher than mere “tolerance.” Christians are not called to “tolerate” our neighbors, but to love our neighbors (Matthew 22:39). Christians are not called to “tolerate” those who hate them; they are commanded to love their enemies and pray for them (Matthew 5:44). But in Canada, religious literacy has collapsed, and most Canadians understand the beliefs of Christians through the lens of negative press coverage.
In 2020, the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada released a poll highlighting the scale of secularization in Canada. Their research found that a mere 11% of Canadians attend any kind of religious service on a weekly basis—which means a staggering 89% of Canadians do not. That 11% includes synagogues, temples, mosques, gurdwaras and other places of worship. Thus, the percentage of Canadians who regularly attend any form of Christian worship is vanishingly small. A super-majority of Canadians are simply not exposed to what Christianity teaches.
For example, EFC’s poll found that those affiliating with evangelical churches has dropped from 12% of the population in 1996, to 9% of the population in 2015, to a mere 6% in 2019. According to Cardus, the religiously unaffiliated have grown from 12.5% in 1991 to 23.9% in 2011. Their 2022 study found that only 16% of Canadians describe themselves as “religiously committed,” and 19% describe themselves as “privately faithful.” Ignorance about the beliefs, traditions, and practices of the religion that shaped Canada is thus extremely high.
This reality has practical implications for Canadian churches and Christian institutions. There are two primary external challenges facing Christian communities in Canada:
Legal: Many Christian institutions, individuals, and churches are facing challenges from individuals and organizations that view their beliefs and practices as fundamentally bigoted.
Communications: Most Canadians are simply unaware of the beliefs, traditions, and practices of Christian communities. This means their views of these communities and Christian individuals comes from Canada’s largely unsympathetic press and from leaders and activists seeking to characterize fundamental Christian doctrines as bigotry. Many Canadians are not hostile to Christian communities; they are merely ignorant because they are unfamiliar with them.
