Religion and pro-life advocacy are both under sustained attack by many western governments and politicians. This week Conservative MPs in Canada had to present a petition in the House of Commons calling for the rejection of the plan by the Liberal Party to strip places of worship and pro-life organisations of their charitable status.
The issue arose from a recommendation of the Liberal-controlled Finance Committee seeking the striping of charitable status from these groups. The legislation would amend the Income Tax Act to “no longer provide charitable status to anti-abortion organizations” and to provide a definition of a charity which would remove the privileged status of ‘advancement of religion’ as a charitable purpose.”
Three Conservative MPs – Andrew Lawton, Jacob Mantle, and Garnett Genuis – defended places of worship and pro-life charities against Liberal recommendations to remove the institutions’ charitable status for tax purposes. The MPs stated that “these recommendations are fundamentally anti-religious freedom and anti-free speech” as they advocated for “the complete protection of charitable status regardless of these ideological litmus tests.”
Jacob Mantle, who is a newly elected MP, added that Canadians “lament that some members opposite are so blinded by their animus towards charitable organisations that they would seek to undermine the good works that these groups do for the most vulnerable Canadians”. He lamented that the Liberals “seem not to care for the fundamental freedoms protected in our Charter of Rights and Freedoms: the freedoms of belief and religion”.
Garnett Genuis, stressed the importance work accomplished by religious and pro-life organisations through the provision of “vital services for society, including food banks, care for seniors, newcomer support, youth programmes and mental health outreach, all of which is rooted in their faith tradition, and that singling out or excluding faith charities from the charitable sector based on religious belief undermines the diversity and pluralism foundational to Canadian society”.
The suggested legislation would effectively strip charitable status from all houses of worship, regardless of religion, and would wipe out thousands of Christian churches and charities across Canada. Its intent is to apply a political values test to charitable status determination and revoke the charitable status of organisations that take a position on abortion that is different from that taken by the Liberal government.
Like in most Western countries, religious charities in Canada provide vital services for society, including food banks, care for seniors, newcomer support, youth programmes and mental health outreach, all of which is rooted in their faith tradition. For the radical leftist agenda, faith beliefs are an obstacle to the advancement of its woke agenda.
Despite the demands for diversity and inclusion when it suits the radical left, singling out or excluding faith charities from the charitable sector based on religious belief undermines the diversity and pluralism foundational to not just to Canadian society but to Western society in general.
The petition presented also drew attention to how the two communities targeted by the suggested legislation “promote hope, belonging, social cohesion, and compassion, benefiting both their members and the broader public; freedom of religion and belief are fundamental rights in Canada, protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms; and singling out or excluding faith-based charities from the charitable sector based on religious belief undermines the diversity and pluralism foundational to Canadian society.
The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops had appealed to the Liberal government to rethink the plan to strip pro-life and religious groups of their tax charity status, stressing the vital work done by those organisations in service to the common good of all citizens. Last March, the Conference wrote to the government to request that they abandon legislation which would remove tax exemptions for religious and pro-life groups.
They pointed out: “The Catholic charitable sector in Canada, anchored by dioceses and parishes across the country, includes a wide range of community services and ministries, including foodbanks, soup kitchens, refugee resettlement programmes, climate and social justice programmes, day-care centres and schools, hospitals, long-term care homes and palliative care centres, to name but a few examples.
“These compassionate, purpose-driven, and accessible Catholic services are available to all Canadians, regardless of religious affiliation; these charities meet essential and sometimes complex social needs within communities nationwide,” it explained.
“A recent study found that the cost of replacing the services offered by faith congregations in Canada is $16.5 billion. Simply put, places of worship provide benefits to society that radiate far beyond their congregations,” the letter declared.
Pete Baklinski, Communications Director for Campaign Life Coalition, stated: Bottom of Form
“It must be stated clearly that this isn’t just some banal proposal – it’s a direct assault on religious freedom and the values that have built this nation, founded, as our Charter states, on principles that ‘recognise the supremacy of God.’”
Some Democrats in the United States, officials in the UN and the EU, and their comrades in the extremely well-funded abortion NGO complex have been mooting similar moves against the Catholic Church and Christian organisations, but the Trump administration has stalled any legislative moves in the US.
In October 2018, buoyed on by the referendum on the 8th Amendment, the Irish government published its “Report of the Independent Review Group established to examine the Role of Voluntary Organisations in Publicly Funded Health and Personal Social Services”. Voluntary organisations included a large number of Catholic agencies and a small number of Protestant agencies.
The report stated that the review group “analysed the extent of state dependence on the voluntary sector and found that it accounts for approximately one quarter of publicly funded acute hospital care. The voluntary sector also provides around two thirds of disability services”.
“The review group analysed the extent of state dependence on the voluntary sector and found that it accounts for approximately one quarter of publicly funded acute hospital care. The voluntary sector also provides around two thirds of disability services”.
The report went on to say: “This demonstrates a very significant mutual reliance by the state on voluntary organisations for delivery of services and by voluntary organisations on the state for funding. This must be taken into account in any discussion on the role of the voluntary sector.”
Additionally, and importantly, the review group identified other important areas in which the sector provides added value such as:
Canada is the first country to actually suggest specific legislation aimed at censoring and silencing Christian and pro-life organisations. It is only a matter of time before similar moves are made, particularly in Europe. No doubt the Ireland will be to the forefront in such moves as it appears the political classes have learned nothing from their 2 to 1 defeat of the two referenda last year that were an attack on families, motherhood, and traditional marriage.
Matt Moran is an author and writer living in Cork