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In cases like these, Canadian progressives often argue as if certain rights had at some point been promoted over religious freedom: the (supposed) right to abortion on demand and the (undisputed) right to same-sex civil marriage are the ones we hear most about when they conflict with the views of religious institutions. But the Supreme Court has been clear, not least in its reference case on the Civil Marriage Act, on what happens when rights collide: the courts don’t pick a winner and loser; rather, they try to balance them.

Liberals and many of their supporters, by contrast, seem to be happy to pick the losers: those who can’t and won’t tick the box. I find it quite odious, but more than that I find the summer jobs program a very strange place for this debate to come to a head. Canadian taxpayers fund Catholic hospitals that won’t perform abortions or offer medical assistance in dying; they fund Catholic schools “rooted in the love of Christ” and in the Catechism, which is neither conspicuously pro-choice nor conspicuously pro-gay. Recently, the surge demand for beds at homeless shelters in Toronto was (barely) met, inter alia, by St. Simon’s Shelter (Anglican), The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul (Catholic), the Salvation Army (Evangelical) and the Scott Mission (non-denominationally Christian).

These are services churches have long provided with the help of public funding, and that makes sense to me: care for the sick and the vulnerable is one of the main things I expect from religiously devout people, and it makes sense to use diverse approaches in providing public services. But it’s very unlikely they would all happily tick the box.

I don’t see how you can be okay with hospitals and public schools and homeless shelters, and not okay with some little backwoods Bible camp. Lots of people have long argued to defund churches and their organizations, even to withdraw charitable status. That certainly has not been a mainstream Liberal position, however. In defending their side, many Liberals seem to be proposing something quite revolutionary without quite realizing it.

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