Key Dates

• January 25 – deadline to apply
• April 25 – earliest job start date
• July 24 – latest job start date
• September 3 – latest job end date

Funding confirmation will be sent to employers starting in April 2022.

What’s Different?

No COVID-related flexibility

Last year CSJ was adjusted due to COVID-19. These temporary measures are no longer in effect. That means:

• Jobs need to end by September 3
• Jobs need to be a minimum of 30 hours/week
• Jobs need to last at least 6 weeks

Last year the subsidy was higher for private sector employers, part time jobs were allowed, and the allowable employment period was much longer.

Allowing for remote work

The Applicant Guide notes that remote work may be a necessity. Remote work is defined as “a flexible arrangement” that allows employees to carry out some or all of their work duties from a telework place.” Where work is performed remotely, employers are responsible for ensuring that:

• The location respects provincial laws and municipal by-laws
• There is continued and adequate supervision, mentoring, and safety provisions
• The location is within Canada

National Priorities

Applications are assessed using a variety of criteria. One of those is whether the job/project supports a national priority. For 2022 the national priorities are:

• Youth who are early leavers of high school, not in employment, education or training
• Black and other racialized youth
• Youth with disabilities
• Indigenous youth; and
• Small business and not-for-profit organizations that self-report as having leadership from groups that are underrepresented in the labour market

This is a change from the 2021 national priorities, which were:

• Youth who self-identify as being part of an underrepresented group or having additional barriers to entering or staying in the labour market (new immigrants or refugees, Indigenous youth, not completed high school, visible minorities, LGBTQ, women in STEM, youth for whom this would be their first job)
• Organizations that provide services to people with disabilities or intend to hire youth with disabilities
• Opportunities in rural areas, remote communities or official language minority communities
• Organizations that focus on protecting and conserving the environment
• Employers impacted by COVID-19

Local priorities are also used to assess applications. Those vary from constituency to constituency.

Application Process

You can save it!

If you’re using the online application, you’ll be able to save and access your application at a later date. To save your draft application, you have to provide your email address and create a password. You then have 48 hours to complete and submit the application. Your password cannot be reset, so make sure you don’t forget. Otherwise, all of your draft work will be lost!

You’ve got 20 minutes.

If you leave the online application inactive for 20 minutes, it will become unavailable. If you need more time, you’ll probably want to save a draft and come back to you so you don’t lose your work.

The paper version of the application has been formatted differently so that it’s easier to use.

Fine Print

In the Articles of Agreement, there are a few new sections of fine print for 2022. This includes:

• Notices – it sets out how notice is given to parties, whether by mail or email or courier, and when the recipient is deemed to have received that notice
• Severability – if a part of the Agreement is held void or unenforceable by a court or tribunal, the rest of it is still enforceable
• Waiver – failing to exercise a right, power or remedy under the agreement is not a waiver of those rights

The “Access to Information” section from the 2021 Articles of Agreement has been removed. It explained that all information pertaining to the Agreement was public information and could be disclosed to third parties who make requests under the Access to Information Act. That section largely duplicated an existing section about “Access to Information and Proactive Disclosure” which is maintained in the 2022 Articles of Agreement.

What’s the Same?

Attestation

The attestation remains the same as 2021 and 2020. It requires that “any funding under the Canada Summer Jobs program will not be used to undermine or restrict the exercise of rights legally protected in Canada.”

Ineligible Projects

Similarly, the description of ineligible projects remains the same as 2021 and 2020. Ineligible projects and job activities are those that:

• Restrict access to programs or, services, or employment, or otherwise discriminate, contrary to applicable laws, on the basis of prohibited grounds, including sex, genetic characteristics, religion, race, national or ethnic origin, colour, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression;
• Advocate intolerance, discrimination and/or prejudice; or
• Actively work to undermine or restrict a woman’s access to sexual and reproductive health services.

Definitions of “Project”, “Advocate”, and “Undermine or Restrict”

These terms are all defined the same as in 2021 and 2020:

• Project means the “hiring, administration of, job activities, and organization’s activities as described in the Application Agreement”
• Advocate means “to promote, foster, or actively support intolerance, discrimination, and/or prejudice”
• Undermine or restrict means “to weaken or limit a woman’s ability to access sexual and reproductive health services. The Government of Canada defines sexual and reproductive health services as including comprehensive sexuality education, family planning, prevention and response to sexual and gender-based violence, safe and legal abortion, and post-abortion care”

Program Objectives

The three CSJ program objectives remain the same as in 2021 and 2020:

1. Provide quality work experiences for youth
2. Respond to national and local priorities to improve access to the labour market for youth who face unique barriers
3. Provide opportunities for youth to develop and improve their skills

These objectives fall within the same broad aim of ensuring that all the CSJ opportunities “take place in safe, inclusive and healthy work environments free from harassment and discrimination.”

List of Mandatory Workplace Policies

Employers have to show that they have implemented Health & Safety practices and policies and practices to create a work environment free of harassment and discrimination. In 2021, the format changed to a check-box, with a list of policies or practices for each of those categories. The list included a number of new policies for 2021. The list remains the same for 2022, with the exception that COVID-19 policies are not included. Instead the Applicant Guide reminds employers that they’re responsible for staying informed of and following all applicable COVID-19-related guidance.

15-Point Eligibility Criteria

1. Meet the deadline
2. Check the attestation
3. Complete the application
4. Employer is eligible
5. Project is eligible
6. Job duration of 6–16 consecutive weeks *this is the norm after a temporary COVID-related change for 2021
7. Job hours of 30–40/week *this is the norm after a temporary COVID-related change for 2021
8. Declare other sources of funding
9. Salary respects minimum wage requirements
10. Declare any money owed to the government
11. Health and safety
12. Hiring practices and work environment
13. Supervision – describe the plan
14. Mentoring – describe the plan
15. How your organization has done in the past

How Applications are Assessed

It’s the same, but it bears repeating: the Department reviews all files associated with your organization to verify if there is evidence from previous agreements that would make your application ineligible. The Department may also review:

• Information in the public domain, including your website and media articles
• Previous applications
• All previous correspondence, including responses to requests for missing information or clarification
• Past financial irregularities, noted in consultation with CRA

What Will Happen this Year?

That’s not a question we can really answer. But if we look at past years, we can see that faith-based organizations’ applications were rejected for a variety of reasons. For example, statements of faith that adhere to a biblical definition of marriage, because all staff agree to sign statements of faith, or for other similar reasons. On that basis, we shouldn’t be surprised to see more of the same this year. However, we also have several court decisions relating to the CSJ program.

In Toronto Right to Life, the organization challenged the 2018 Attestation. The court held that the Minister had the authority to add the Attestation. Even though it was a form of coerced speech and did engage both free expression and religious freedom, the limit was justified and proportional. It was a one-time impact on potential, but not certain, funding.

However, earlier this year the Federal Court found that the government CSJ process was unfair to religious applicants. If an organization could establish that officials discriminated against faith-based institutions because of their religious beliefs, it may well result in a Charter violation.

Hopefully the court’s caution will give the government pause before rejecting applicants on the basis of statements of faith or other manifestations of sincere religious beliefs.

What to do?

Over the past three years, CCCC encouraged Christian charities to apply for funding since applicants were no longer required to attest to their agreement with government ideology on abortion and matters of sexuality.

As noted at the outset, we respect the view that merely applying for CSJ funding is to acquiesce to the government’s position on “sexual and reproductive health services” including abortion. And each charity must reach its own conclusion.

In the end, we arrive at the same conclusion as last year. Namely, that the phrase “undermining, or restricting” ought not deny the right of religious organizations to speak or teach or live their religious views, even if that doesn’t align with the government’s worldview. It is not contrary to applicable laws for faith-based organizations to hire in accordance with their faith. Therefore, we would again encourage Christian charities to apply for funding in 2022.

The post Canada Summer Jobs 2022 appeared first on CCCC Blogs.

WHY IT MATTERS

Elections always matter, of course! Votes determine who represents Canadians in Parliament, and the party with the majority of successful candidates will form the government.

But for charities, what matters right now is whether your activities are regulated under the Canada Elections Act.

During the election period, any “third party” (including charities) that spends $500 or more on certain activities has to register with Elections Canada. The election period starts on the day the election is called and ends on election day when the polls close. That means right now.

So your charity needs to ask: are any of our activities regulated under the Canada Elections Act?

WHAT IS REGULATED?

Naturally, the next question is, what activities are regulated? There are two types of regulated activity that apply to charities:

1. Election advertising: publicly sending messages that promote or oppose a political party or candidate including by taking a position on an issue with which the party or candidate is clearly associated.

How do you know if your issue is associated with a party or candidate? It all depends on the context. The broader the advertising, the less likely there will be a clear association. Elections Canada explains that where a candidate has championed or opposed a cause and it’s a central part of that campaign, it would likely be regulated.

2. Election surveys: surveys that are used to decide whether or not you’ll participate in election advertising or that are used to organize and carry out election advertising. Importantly, it includes surveys that are directed at your own members or employees.

IMPORTANT! Charities are ALWAYS prohibited from supporting or opposing political parties or candidates. Whether there is an election, or whether your charity registers as a third party under the Canada Elections Act, supporting or opposing parties or candidates is ALWAYS off limits.

HOW IS IT REGULATED?

As soon as your charity conducts any regulated activity with expenses of $500 or more, you have to:

• Register as a third party with Elections Canada
• Open a separate bank account for the sole purpose of your regulated activities
• Appoint a financial agent to
  • administer financial transactions related to your regulated activities
  • report them to Elections Canada
  • Note: this person has to consent to the role and must be identified in your initial registration form.

If your expenses are $10,000 or more, an auditor must be appointed. Depending on when the $10,000 threshold is reached, interim reporting may be required.

Four months after election day, the financial agent must send a third party return and an auditor’s report, if applicable.

The expense limit on regulated activities is $525,700 overall and $4,506 in a given electoral district.

WHAT IS NOT REGULATED

There are activities that aren’t regulated. These include:

• Editorials, debates, speeches, interviews, columns, letters, commentary or news
• Distributing a book for its commercial value if its release was planned regardless of the election
• Sending a document directly to members, employees or shareholders
• Individual, free, online communication about personal political views (charities need to be cautious here that the personal political views are clearly dissociated from the charity)
• Calling electors only to encourage them to vote
• A third party’s own website content, and social media messages that do not have a placement cost

IMPORTANT!

The Canada Elections Act registration requirements must be read along with two other important limits:

1. Income Tax Act limitations. Your charity can participate in public policy dialogue and development activities, but can never support or oppose a political party or candidate.
2. Lobbying Act requirements. If your charity communicates directly or indirectly with federal public office holders, you need to be aware of the lobbying rules and might need to register.

CONCLUSION

Charities can participate in the election process, and can register as third parties. Just make sure you’re aware of the expenses you’re incurring, whether any of your advertising or survey activities fall within the scope of what is regulated, and ensure that you are not supporting or opposing any particular candidate or party.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Elections Canada, Political Financing Handbook for Third Parties, Financial Agents and Auditors (June 2021)

Elections Canada, “Questions and Answers for Third Parties”

CCCC, Say What? Dos and Don’ts for Charities During the Federal Election (Part I)

CCCC, Say What? Dos and Don’t for Charities During the Federal Election (Part II)

DID YOU KNOW?

Although in practice the Prime Minister generally decides when an election is going to happen, there are formalities to the process.

The Governor General acts on the advice of the Prime Minister. When the Prime Minister recommends that Parliament be dissolved, the Governor General will issue a proclamation to dissolve Parliament.

Dissolving Parliament means that any bills that are still going through the process will “die” – that is, the next government has to re-introduce the bills and the whole process starts over. Even if a bill has been through a committee process it will have to start at the beginning. It can’t start at committee.

You can find out more about the Parliamentary cycle here.

The post Federal Election 2021: What Charities Need to Know appeared first on CCCC Blogs.

Alberta

The temporary relief provided by Ministerial Order 009-2020 is no longer effective as of August 15, 2020. Requirements for holding corporate AGMs and other meetings resume, and annual return filing timeless are reinstated.

The Ministerial order had granted a variety of administrative relief for organizations incorporated under the Societies Act, including suspending the obligation to hold in-person meetings, suspending report and returns to the Registrar, extending time for charitable registrations and renewals, and others.

British Columbia

Ministerial Order No. M116 came into effect April 21 and will remain in effect until the declaration of a state of emergency expires or is cancelled (it was again extended, now until November 10, 2020).

Additionally, section 71 of the Societies Actprovides flexibility for the timing of AGMs. Under s.71(3) the Registrar of Companies extended the date by which a society must hold its AGM to a date not later than November 1 of the calendar year after the calendar year in which an AGM would otherwise have to be held, and which the Registrar authorizes.

The options are helpfully summarized here.

Manitoba

In Manitoba, Order in Council 257/2020 has replaced Order in Council 132/2020. The new Order is almost identical to the old. It allows for electronic attendance at a meeting if the means permit everyone to adequately communicate with each other during the meeting and it applies “even if such means are not permitted or are specifically excluded by the incorporated body’s by-laws” (see s 7(2) of the Order).

If a notice of meeting has already been given and it is later changed, information about the change must be provided within a reasonable time via email and (where applicable) posting it to the corporation’s website but a revised notice of meeting is not otherwise required.  Voting can take place electronically so long as the board of directors takes “reasonable measures to ensure” that voter identity is verified and each person who votes does so only in their own right or by a valid proxy.

There are similar provisions for Directors’ meetings.

The key difference in the new Order is that it doesn’t give any more time extensions for holding AGMs.  The Order is effective October 1, 2020 – March 30, 2021 unless revoked sooner.

Among other legislative provisions, the Order suspends and replaces portions of The Cooperatives Act (ss 201(1), (2), 222(7), (8), s 224, ss 236(3), 379(1), (2)), the Cooperatives Regulation Man Reg 95/99 (s 11.3), and The Corporations Act (ss 109(9), 126(4), s 126.1, ss 127(a), s 135).

New Brunswick

There are no specific orders or directives related to the Corporate Registry of Service New Brunswick that speak to meeting delays or flexibility. Non-profits and charities operate under the Companies Act, which provides that all provisions of the Act apply to every non-profit corporation.

What to do? Check your by-laws to know how your corporate meetings are to take place. If your by-laws are silent, s 94 of the Act directs how elections should take place.

Section 94.1 of the act allows for directors to participate in director meetings or committee meetings by phone or “other communication facilities” if the by-laws provide for it or, subject to the by-laws, all the directors consent to that format.

Similarly, section 103.2 allows for attendance at member meetings by phone or “other communication facilities” that allow everyone participating to hear each other if the by-laws provide for it or, all members entitled to vote consent to that format.

Newfoundland & Labrador

As explained in a public advisory from earlier this spring, timelines under the Corporations Act were varied by Ministerial Order. This means that

1. A non-profit corporation can delay holding its AGM for 6 months if the time to call an AGM occurred between May 3, 2020 and October 31, 2020
2. Annual 2020 return filings can be delayed for 6 months if the anniversary month of incorporation was May to October

Nova Scotia

A Ministerial Direction allows for virtual meeting options or meeting deferral whether or not it would otherwise be allowed under any other applicable law, including enactments, articles, bylaws or governing agreements. This directive is in place for the duration of the State of Emergency (unless terminated earlier by the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing). It has been further extended to November 15, 2020.

It applies to societies incorporated under the Societies Act as well as all other societies or corporate bodies, incorporated by or under provincial laws or otherwise.

Northwest Territories

The Northwest Territories has no specific orders or directives related to the Societies Act that speak to meeting delays or flexibility.

What to do? Check your by-laws to know how your corporate meetings are to take place. Unless your bylaws state otherwise, section 16.1 of the Act allows for a member to attend an AGM by phone or other mode of communication if everyone can hear each other.

Nunavut

Nunavut has no specific orders or directives related to the Societies Act that speak to meeting delays or flexibility.

What to do? Check your by-laws to know how your corporate meetings are to take place. Section 5 of the Act requires that a society’s by-laws set out the mode of general meetings and section 17 of the Act requires that the AGM be held in Nunavut. The Act is otherwise silent on how societies are to hold the meeting.

 Ontario

Ontario has again extended flexibility for meetings under the Corporations Act. The Special Rules During Emergency that have been extended to May 31, 2021 include:

• Allowing corporate member meetings to be held by phone or electronic means (Section 3; temporarily suspending s125.1 of the Corporations Act)
• Allowing corporate director meetings to be held by phone or electronic means (Section 5; temporarily suspending s283(3.1) of the Corporations Act)
• Allowing elections and votes to be held by alternate means when it’s not feasible to abide by the bylaws (Section 6; temporarily suspending s287(1) of the Corporations Act)

The time extension granted for annual meetings (section 7) was not renewed. The amendments allowing for deferred annual meetings will expire 120 days after the end of the emergency period. The emergency period began March 17. It ended when the Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act, 2020 came into force on July 24, 2020.

Corporations must have held (or hold) their annual meetings as follows:

• If the last day you were required to hold your AGM was during the emergency period, the meeting must have been held within 90 days after July 24, 2020 (by October 22, 2020)
• If the last day you were required to hold your AGM was within 30 days after the emergency, the meeting must be held within 120 days after July 24,2020 (by November 21, 2020)

Prince Edward Island

Prince Edward Island has no specific orders or directives related to the Companies Act that speak to meeting delays or flexibility. Charities operate under Part II of the Companies Act as well as applicable sections in other parts of the Act.

Your bylaws should tell you all you need to know about your meetings. To be granted letters patent for a non-profit company, a petition must accompany the application. That petition must include a variety of detailed information including the “mode of holding meetings, provision for quorum, rights of voting…” as per s 90(2)(b). The Act does not speak to digital, telephone, remote or other forms of meetings.

To help plan compliant meetings, see PEI Gatherings Guidance.

Quebec

An Order in Council (1150-2020) issued on November 4, 2020 renews the public health emergency along with a laundry list of other Orders in Council and Ministerial Orders.

One of the renewed orders was Ministerial Orders (2020-029). This Order allows any meeting of a deliberative body that normally takes place in person to be held by other means so long as everyone can communicate with each other immediately. If a secret ballot would normally be required, it can be held by any means of communication that everyone agrees upon, or alternatively, in a way that preserves the secret nature of the vote and can be verified.

“Deliberative bodies” includes non-profit organizations governed by the Companies Act [Act], as confirmed in a government press release [French only].

Since November 2019, the Act has allowed meetings by phone, videoconference or other digital means so long as everyone can communicate with each other immediately (ss 89.2-89.4, 224). But this permission in the Act is subject to bylaws of the corporation. So if the bylaws prohibit phone or electronic meetings, the Act isn’t much help.

That’s why the Order 2020-029 was necessary. It essentially overrides any bylaw or other corporate provisions that would prohibit alternate meeting options. Since the public health emergency has been continually renewed since it was declared March 13, it is almost certain it will continue to be renewed, extending the option for virtual meetings.

Saskatchewan

In Saskatchewan, OC 222/2020 authorizes non-profit corporations to hold annual general meetings (AGMs) by phone, video-conference or other electronic means, so long as the articles or bylaws do not prohibit it and participants are able to adequately communicate with one another. It is effective as of the day of filing, which is May 14, 2020.

The existing Non-profit Corporations Act requires that member meetings “shall be held at the place within Saskatchewan provided in the bylaws” (see s.122). The Order amends the definition of “held at the place” by adding a definition to s.13 of the existing Non-profit Corporations Regulations, 1997 to remove the geographic restriction. 

Yukon

A Ministerial Order issued earlier this year (May 13, 2020) remains in effect. A society under the Societies Act, an association under the Cooperative Associations Act and for-profit corporations are allowed to hold AGMs partially or entirely by phone or electronic means even if the bylaws don’t provide for the meeting, if the directors choose to hold it by those means or a member calls such a meeting and it allows all member to attend, participate, and where applicable, vote.

Similarly, directors meetings can be held electronically.

These meetings are deemed to have been held in Yukon and participants are considered to be present.

The order applies for the “designated period” which means the period beginning March 17, 2020 and for societies and associations, ends 90 days after the end of the state of emergency. The state of emergency was renewed for the second time on September 9, 2020 for 90 days. It is retroactive to any time in the designated period, or before the state of emergency was declared (March 27, 2020).

Federal

An August order extending deadlines for federally incorporated charities remains in place. It allows charities to delay calling the AGM and delay presenting financial statements by six months.

That means the 2020 AGM can be extended to the shorter of the following two options: (1) 21 months after the previous AGM and no more than 12 months after the last financial year-end or (2) December 31, 2020.  You don’t have to apply to Corporations Canada to take advantage of these extensions.

As for virtual meetings, you need to check your by-laws to see what they allow. If the bylaw specifically allows virtual meetings, great! You can hold a fully virtual meeting. If the bylaw is silent or doesn’t permit virtual meetings, you can consider a partially virtual meeting. Some attend in person and other participate virtually as long as everyone can communicate.

Corporations Canada suggests an alternative could be to sign a resolution instead of an AGM. Practically, this is probably only an option for corporations with a small membership. The resolution must, at minimum include (1) director elections, (2) financial statements, (3) appointing the auditor or waiving such appointment. All other business items normally communicated at the AGM must also be included.

For more, check out this article on Holding a Successful AGM.

Charity leaders are invited to share how they are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic within their organization in our online community forum, The Green: COVID-19 Response Room.

The post AGM Options Across Canada appeared first on CCCC Blogs.

The federal government is making $350 million available to community organizations serving vulnerable Canadians. Applications for the Emergency Community Support Fund opened May 19. Access to funding is through three national intermediaries:

• United Way Centraide Canada
  • Applications through local offices
  • Application guide here
• Community Foundations of Canada
  • Application results
  • Application guide here
  • List of local offices participating in the review process available here)
• Canadian Red Cross (application page here; for non-profits only)

Applications must be completed by July 27 (for Community Foundations of Canada) or July 31 (for United Way) for activities occurring between April 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021. Applicants may only submit one request per unique emergency project across the funding agencies, but applicants can apply for more than one project. The maximum request per project is $75,000 (no minimum).

What  the selection criteria? Funding is only approved if the project:

1. Addresses a pressing social inclusion or well-being need caused by COVID-19, by supplying necessities of life and supporting activities of daily living, such as:
   • Education materials for children in low-income homes
   • Mental health supports for people in crisis
   • Accessibility services to persons with disabilities
2. Serves one or more vulnerable populations
3. Can be carried out in a short timeframe with a reasonable budget and
4. Can attest to not having secured funds to cover the costs of the program from another intermediary, federal COVID-19 response program or other source

Vulnerable populations includes people such as seniors, persons with disabilities, veterans, newcomers, refugees, women, children and youth, LGBTQ2 people, Indigenous people, racialized people, those experiencing homelessness, those living in remote or rural areas, and people from an official language minority community. For an expanded listing, see the Application Guides.

If you’ve never written a funding proposal before, check out A Guide for First-Time Proposal Writers (Part 1) in CCCC April 2020 Bulletin for helpful advice and practical tips.

Ministry workers are invited to share how they are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic within their organization in our online community forum The Green: COVID-19 Response Room. 

The post COVID-19: Canada Emergency Community Support Fund Applications Open! appeared first on CCCC Blogs.

On Friday afternoon (August 23, 2013) I presented on a panel, “Is Religion Special?”, moderated by Edward Gaffney of Valparaiso University Law School.  The panel also included Micah Schwartzman of the University of Virginia Law School and Mark L. Movsesian of the St. John’s University’s Center for Law and Religion.

I outlined my investigation of Canadian jurisprudence for why the law protects religion.  There is very little that answers the question.  Up until the arrival of the Charter, in 1982, the courts were fixated with trying to determine if religion (in the law) was a federal or provincial jurisdiction.  Since the Charter, the court has reviewed the history of religious freedom in the modern age and determined that religion is protected because that is what an “enlightened” society does.  The court’s rationale is that religion is personal, the Charter does not want to prescribe a definition of the good life.  The “enlightened” society allows every person to find their own way as long as he does not interfere with another’s rights.  (John S. Mill “harm principle”)  The high water mark appears to be the Gruenke decision where two justices made a strong case for the benefits religion gives to society, i.e. stability, the assisting of individuals to find their way in life, etc.  Since Gruenke, the cases have been fixated with equality rights — this has led to a diminution of the protection of religion in favour of other “competing rights” by use of the “proportional” analysis.  My conclusion is that the Canadian law has a void — it lacks a rationale for the protection of religion. Such a rationale must ultimately be developed to properly address the modern context while appreciating the past.

Mark L. Movesian shared his current work on the “nones” – those who claim no religious affiliation and how that affects religious freedom law in the U.S..  He made reference to the “Psychic Sophie” case, wherein the court held that “following one’s inner flow” is not religion meriting constitutional protection.  Mark’s presentation was very well organized and clearly presented the confused state of American law on the subject.  It would be well for the judiciary to heed Mark’s work and put order to the jurisprudence.  I am of the opinion those who claim no religious affiliation must also have their deeply held beliefs respected in law.

Micah Schwartzman presented his recent thinking on “Religion as a Legal Proxy.” The thought is that while religion may not merit special protection, an argument he has written on previously, religion could be a proxy for all the goods that do.  In other words, “religion” becomes a label of sorts.  However, he recognizes that perhaps religion may be so loaded a term that another might be more appropriate such as “conscience.”  Micah has a very precise paper that is certainly worth further investigation.  Since he has argued religion is not special he is by this concept of “religion as proxy” putting into play the idea that religion may still be useful.  Personally, I do not see how religion as a proxy can work.  First, I disagree with the underlying premise that religion is not special, for reasons that I will continue to explore in this blog; second, to treat religion as a proxy is itself an admission, it seems to me, that religion must have some special character — for why else would you seek cover under its umbrella?  Third, what do we mean by religion?  Such a concept is bound to get bogged down in semantics if we were to use it as a proxy.  Finally, I think Micah is correct to be leery of the usefulness of religion as a proxy.

The debate continues.

The post Bussey Attends Law and Religion Studies Conference in Richmond, Virginia appeared first on CCCC Blogs.