Limiting religious freedoms

Editor’s Note: This article reflects the information and perspectives available at the time it was originally published. Reading it today offers a fascinating opportunity to compare yesterday’s expectations with today’s realities.

Canada has instituted an end to religious freedoms. There was a new bill introduced in September of 2025 that attempts to put an end to hate speech. The part that impacts religious freedoms is the removal of the good faith defence aspect of the law in relation to what people may consider hate.

This particularly surrounds the approach to marriage and sex within the Christian paradigm. Christianity in particular states that marriage is between one man and one woman, and same sex marriage or sex outside of marriage is a sin or wrong. Many people disagree with the Christian approach, and many people call scripture hate speech, or more particularly, those who preach about the bible are spreading hate.

We see many instances of Christians spreading the biblical content online and are often met with hostility. This new bill puts the Christian perspective in danger, if a devote Christian is found guilty of hate speech for simply speaking about Biblical truth.

Canada is considered one of the freest countries in the world, due to its large diverse population. There is a plethora of different religions that exist in Canada, with a wide variety of ethnicities. Canada currently has a Christian population hovering around 50% as of 2025. This means that half the country is affected by the hate speech section of Bill C-9. This makes it incredibly difficult to talk about certain aspects of one’s faith and beliefs without fear of the consequences of the law.

Measures like this spit in the face of religious freedom and freedom of expression. Christians will now be forced to avoid speaking about these controversial topics in the face of persecution.

The question that arises is whether this limits freedom of opinion as well. The ability to say whatever you want if you are not threatening another individual is slowly disappearing. The reigning government party has directly attacked the basics of free expression.

Many people would attribute this as a first step towards persecution. Will Christian speech continue to be restricted, and will the practice of Christianity become an underground religion as it has in other parts of the world, where followers of Christ are directly persecuted and attacked out in the open for their faith? This could be a first step towards that reality, or this could be a genuine attempt to curb language that people feel is harmful.

Many of us have moved away from what violence truly is and are leaning on the way we feel in society. If someone says something that is not liked, then people tend to attribute that to hate in 2026. So, it is taboo to speak outside of popular opinion or anything outside of the majority. You can be labeled a hateful person, a bigot or any analogy that ends in phobic. These terms are thrown around to anyone with an opposing opinion in this world.

Canada has taken a bold step towards appeasing a certain kind of people and persecuting another, and as Christians continue to preach and spread their faith, they will continue to be attacked. This leaves Christians with a watered-down message that does not encapsulate their beliefs. This bill is attempting to put a stop to Christianity outright, and most Christians will not follow this law as it goes against God and his intention according to them.