THE COVER story in the October issue of The Walrus was one of several recent articles to raise the spectre of the fearful impact of Christians and others of faith on public life.

In ‘Jesus in the House,’ Marci McDonald asserts that the “stern, narrow-minded theocracy” of American televangelists is being espoused in Canada through some of the “most outspoken players in this country’s religious right wing.” McDonald suggests that not only do these ‘players’ have the ear of the Prime Minister, but that Stephen Harper’s own religious journey puts him firmly in the theo-con path.

The relationship of faith and politics often generates passionate debate, fears and letters to the editor. Interest in the topic has been sharpened by the rise to power of the current version of the Conservative Party, and the association made by observers and party members between the party’s policy directions and particular expressions of Christian faith.

Predictable response

Provocative articles like McDonald’s invoke the predictable response that religion has no place in public life. But this is an impossible proposition. Faith commitments – our deepest commitments – shape how each of us interacts with our neighbours, our institutions and our environment.

In fact, everyone brings their faith to the public square, as well as to other areas of life: work, school, family, the media and so on. If religion is understood as one’s ultimate commitment, then it cannot be confined to private life, or particular rituals or institutions. Such ultimate commitments are not restricted to formally recognized religions; liberalism, humanism and capitalism are also religious value systems. People place their ultimate commitment in the forces of the market, or the state, or human rights, or the scientific method.

Ultimate commitments give meaning and direction to one’s whole life, as well as to institutions and society. Faith perspectives shape how people tackle issues in the public square, and how they participate in shaping our society. Canada consists of persons and communities committed to different faiths. We must guard freedom of religion – and reject attempts to impose freedom from religion.

There are many gods in the House of Commons. Choices made there are shaped by the deepest commitments of the decision makers. The real question is not if, but how, God is ‘in the House’ – and how people of faith can contribute.

McDonald’s piece was not the only recent article to express worry about those on the so-called ‘right’ who are explicit about their faith commitments. The Globe and Mail printed a feature in September, entitled: ‘In Ottawa, faith makes a leap to the right.’ Globe columnist John Ibbitson went so far as to write that if people take their faith seriously, their “worldview reflects barbarism” – and thus, they cannot and should not engage with “secular Canadian society.”

Unhelpful caricatures

Too often, commentators employ simplistic caricatures to support their ‘opinionating.’ They easily label someone as on the religious right or left, and correspondingly on the political right or left. Whole meanings and positions are attributed to someone by their label.

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Unfortunately, people of faith fall into the same trap. When spokespersons or press releases say ‘Christians call for’ or ‘evangelicals call for,’ they sweep a whole group of people up into the label and impose a view on that group, whether or not all the members agree.  Similarly, when people of faith lament the ‘liberal, secular left establishment,’ it is not clear to whom they are referring.

Rather than dismissing the faith or engaging in simplistic caricatures, we need to respect the deepest commitments of Canadians. We also need to engage in a careful discussion of their appropriate role in the public square. We need to draw out the best in faith-based contributions to public life, working out the implications for the common good: whether addressing how to create a sustainable economy, how to address inequality or how we position Canada in the world.

Janice Gross Stein, in an essay in the Literary Review of Canada, asks probing questions about Canada’s commitment to multiculturalism (including multifaith aspects).

According to her, multiculturalism “is being tested by a resurgence of orthodoxy in Christianity, Islam and Judaism – where lines of division between ‘them’ and ‘us’ are being drawn more sharply. And it is being tested because Canadians are uncertain about what limits, if any, there are to embedding diverse cultures and religious traditions in the Canadian context.”

Rather than dismissing the place of religion in the public square, Gross Stein calls for a renewed debate. She asks what to do when “my religious obligation clashes openly and directly with values that I hold deeply as a Canadian.”

As she notes, people of faith (including secular faith) often try to use government to impose a particular religious point of view, to the exclusion of others. Thus, faith commitments lose credibility and no longer enrich the common good.

Canadian citizens need to engage in debate about our public life together, with a clear eye to our core values and faith perspectives. We must engage each other in the public square to shape actual policies and programs that contribute to the common good. This must be done across faiths and ultimate commitments, and also within them.

People who hold strongly to their particular faiths have much to contribute to the common good, and do much through their communities. The challenge is to identify how to engage in the public sphere in a way that can best contribute to a pluralist Canada.

From this respectful dialogue we can influence the shaping of public values that can be the basis of policies contributing to the well-being of all and the integrity of creation. This open and respectful wrestling around core commitments needs to be the hallmark of Canadian democracy. This dynamic will help to shape a politics of hopeful citizenship.

Harry Kits is executive director of Citizens for Public Justice. Courtesy of The Catalyst.

May 2007