God Is Not Dead

In Canada, the CRA’s registration of religious charities relies on trust law’s understanding of “religion”. Historically, for a belief system to constitute a “religion”, trust law required a belief in a god. This theism requirement is reflected in the CRA’s publicly available documents. However, the CRA’s adherence to this requirement is inconsistent with Canada’s changing religious context, and it likely gives rise to Charter issues. This paper considers approaches to “religion” found in Canadian courts and other jurisdictions. It argues that the CRA must remove the theism requirement from its policies and guidelines. Furthermore, the theism requirement’s rejection need not result in an unworkable definition of “religion”. Rather, the minimal case law regarding the CRA’s understanding of “religion” suggests that an emphasis on a belief system’s structuredness might provide a path towards an appropriate definition.