There’s some good news, at least for now. Having carefully examined Budget 2025, I find Liberal MP Karina Gould, chair of the House of Commons Finance Committee, was exactly correct when she said last month that “charitable status for religious organizations is not under review, and this government has no plans to change that.”That’s welcome. Last year, the committee had received a proposal to remove charitable status for churches on the grounds that religion was little more than a hobby. To their credit, those preparing the budget seemed to understand the enormous and historic contribution churches have made — founding the first schools, universities and hospitals, and leading in the relief of poverty when governments would not. They still do, and far more efficiently: church volunteers deliver help for a fraction of what government programs cost.Or perhaps the Liberals simply decided they didn’t need one more fight at this moment. Either way, the issue didn’t make it into the budget — this time..Were believers too easily alarmed? Hardly.And that’s the bad news. For a decade now, Canada’s Liberal government has shown growing hostility toward Christianity and its moral worldview.Just two weeks ago, Liberal MP Marc Miller, chairman of the House of Commons Justice Committee, remarked during a hearing that certain passages of the Bible are “hateful” toward homosexuals and shouldn’t qualify as a good-faith defence in a hate speech case. That comment wasn’t a slip. It reflected the thinking that Christianity itself, with its moral boundaries, is a problem..OLDCORN: Is Ottawa trying to censor the Bible? Liberals' assault on Christianity continues.Miller, who identifies as a Christian, is hardly alone. Prominent Liberals repeatedly subordinate their professed faith to party orthodoxy on abortion, same-sex relationships and transgender ideology..As prime minister, Justin Trudeau elevated abortion — something President Clinton said should be no more than “safe, legal and rare” — to an article of Liberal faith. Trudeau made clear early on that no one could even run as a Liberal candidate without supporting abortion. “It is a core value,” he declared, “and we will defend it.”He’s done that with taxpayer money. Since 2021, Ottawa has funnelled more than $81 million through the Sexual and Reproductive Health Fund to promote “reproductive health services” — government-speak for abortion. Meanwhile, Christian charities were denied access to the Canada Summer Jobs Program unless they signed an attestation supporting abortion rights.That’s what an “inclusive” Canada looks like: everyone is welcome, except those who believe in the sanctity of life.The government’s secular bias extends to symbols and speech. One by one, Christian markers are being renamed, rewritten or removed from public institutions.• The long-standing Christmas Lights Across Canada program is now Winter Lights Across Canada.• The Canadian Human Rights Commission has called Christmas and Easter statutory holidays examples of “systemic religious discrimination.”• The Federal Court no longer refers to a “Christmas recess,” opting for the bland “winter recess.”• Government reconciliation reports routinely link Christian holidays to colonial harms rather than celebration.Meanwhile, indigenous ceremonies — smudging, sweetgrass burning, prayers to “the Creator” — are not only accepted but promoted at public events, while Christian prayers are avoided. And in Canada's courts..Even the Canadian Armed Forces has bowed to the new orthodoxy. A 2023 Department of National Defence directive discourages military chaplains from explicitly Christian language during “public spiritual reflections.” In other words, speak about “spirituality” — just don’t talk about Jesus.The message could not be clearer: Christianity may be privately tolerated but this government wants it out of the public square.Nothing however, revealed the government’s bias more than its reaction to the wave of church burnings that followed so-far unproven claims about unmarked graves at former residential schools. Dozens of churches — many serving indigenous congregations — were torched. Instead of firmly condemning the attacks, the prime minister mused that they were “understandable.”Understandable? That single word captured the mindset of a government willing to believe the worst about churches and unwilling to defend them. The Liberals have accepted without question a narrative that casts the Christian faith as an oppressor and colonial villain..Sadly, none of this is random prejudice. It’s the logical and consistent outworking of a secular-progressive worldview that sees biblical morality as regressive and Christian institutions as obstacles to “equity.”In that worldview, gender is self-defined, truth is subjective, and the state — not God — is the final authority. The Liberal government is consistent. Within its own framework, it is acting rationally. The problem is that its framework is godless.Christians must therefore face an uncomfortable truth: the culture that once supported their faith now views it with suspicion, even hostility. For centuries in the West, Christians enjoyed the favour of governments shaped by biblical assumptions. That era is over. We now live under a government that doesn’t share our beliefs and sometimes punishes us for holding them..So, with an unfriendly federal government, what should Christian believers do?At the risk of being thought flippant, vote for somebody else, perhaps. But as the Christian vote is unlikely to tip the scales in Canada, the answer is that they must do what they did in the early days of faith, carry on, do good to others, and affirm the lordship of Christ, whatever demands Caesar might make.This means obeying the law — right up to the point where doing so would be to deny Christ. At the moment, it is still legal to lobby to change a law. So you can do that.God’s people have been here before, after all. The faithful example of the early church remains.Also exemplary is that portion of the Old Testament (Jeremiah 29:7) describing how Jews deported to Babylon, a pagan empire that despised their God were — surprisingly — instructed to pray for its welfare. They, meanwhile, were to get on with it. Marry, build houses, start businesses and pray for the general welfare of this vicious conqueror.Which they did, but only to a point. One of their heroes, the prophet and civil servant Daniel, did exactly that and accepted life in Babylon — its language, its education, even its name changes. But he refused to bow before the king’s gods. He knew where to draw the line, and at great personal risk, he didn’t cross it. (Daniel 6 tells the story.).There is an example here for Canada’s Christians. We may abhor what the state does and short of doing violence, we are certainly free (so far) to campaign against its ongoing abuse of human life. Meanwhile Christians can, and should, serve, work, and contribute to the good of their country — but just not by compromising the truth of Scripture or denying Christ. We cannot agree to a redefinition of marriage and family, endorse gender ideology, or stay silent when the state calls good evil and evil good.Living in Babylon means working for the common good while remembering that our ultimate allegiance is elsewhere. The winds of culture are against Christians now. But that’s not new — it’s more normal for God’s people in every age, than the comparative esteem in which the church has been held in the anglosphere, until recently.Draw the line. Stand firm. Live faithfully. For the God who sustained Daniel in Babylon still reigns over Canada today.
