Ban on religious gatherings defies common sense

Faith plays key role in lives of many, especially during a pandemic, Brian Bird says.

In British Columbia, it feels like March again. With last week's announcement of the closest thing to a lockdown since the pandemic began, there is a palpable sense that unless we band together by staying apart, the second wave of COVID-19 will pale in comparison to the first.

Various COVID-19 statistics justify many of the new restrictions. Mandating masks, suspending community events and prohibiting certain fitness activities strike a logical chord. Banning social gatherings outside of our households resonates with what we have been told for some time: These gatherings are a primary cause of the recent spikes and surges in the figures.

But one new restriction stands out as lacking justification. With some exceptions, in-person religious gatherings have been suspended — even though this form of activity has not been cited by health authorities in recent weeks and months as a particular cause for concern.

Religious events in the COVID-19 era are not what they were before this era began. They have, for months, been governed by the usual rules: physical distancing, sanitizing, and a maximum of 50 persons (often in spaces with capacities far exceeding that figure).

It is difficult to understand why physically distant and numerically limited worship is now banned while sports, shopping, and dining continue. How religious gatherings could be more problematic than these activities defies common sense and demands an explanation.

The need for an explanation is urgent, as religious freedom is specifically protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

While charter rights and freedoms may be limited if there is justification to do so, more is required than a generic statement that there is transmission of COVID-19 in religious circles.

How much transmission is occurring in these circles? How does it compare to activities that remain permissible? On what grounds does the province believe that it can severely restrict this charter freedom across the board?

These questions have not been answered, and that is troubling in a constitutional democracy. The fact that public officials seem to rarely acknowledge that many of the public health rules are serious infringements of our constitutional rights and freedoms, even though these infringements have often been justifiable, is troubling, too.

The Constitution remains the supreme law of Canada during a pandemic. Even the slightest suggestion that it has become an afterthought for government decision-makers undermines the rule of law in our society.

It is illegitimate to penalize all religious groups if only some of them are, by failing to follow public health rules, sources of significant spread. An over-broad curtailment of a constitutional freedom for reasons of administrative ease and convenience is unacceptable. The answer, as for places such as bars and restaurants, is increased enforcement of public health rules. If particular religious assemblies are breaking these rules, sanctions on those assemblies — up to and including closure — should follow.

The closure of all religious gatherings is distressing given the role that faith plays in the lives of many British Columbians. Much has been said about the how the pandemic harms mental health. For persons of faith, spiritual nourishment is not a hobby, interest, or passion. It is a core aspect of their identity, and impairing it will significantly harm their well-being.

It may be, depending on the scientific data, that there is good reason to ban religious gatherings. But there is never good reason to make citizens wonder if the justifications for charter infringements are true.

Based on what has been publicly reported to date, there is little evidence that religious gatherings are riskier than many activities that continue. The charter requires the province to disprove this apparent state of affairs if the ban is to persist.

Dr. Bonnie Henry has rightly said that we are in this fight together — that we must, united as a society, confront this pandemic.

But to answer this call, all of us must first view ourselves as respected members of this society — as meaningfully visible to our government.

This may now be a tall order for many persons of faith in this province, and we are all worse off as a result.