1. Condemn Christian nationalism as a distortion of the gospel of Jesus and a threat to Canadian democracy.
2. Reject the damaging political ideology of Christian Nationalism and oppose this threat to our faith and to our nation.
3. Encourage individuals, congregations, dioceses, and other communities within the Church to educate themselves about this issue and its negative effects on marginalized groups.

As Christians, our faith teaches us everyone is created in God’s image and commands us to love one another. In our Baptismal Covenant, we promise to seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbours as ourselves, and to strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.  As Christians, we are bound to Christ, not by citizenship, but by faith. As Canadians, we value our system of government and the good that can be accomplished in our parliamentary democracy.

This motion expresses our concern about a growing threat to both our religious communities and our democracy — Christian nationalism.  Christian nationalism seeks to merge Christian and Canadian identities, distorting both the Christian faith and Canada’s parliamentary democracy. Christian nationalism demands Christianity be privileged by the State and implies that to be a good Canadian, one must be Christian. It often overlaps with and provides cover for discrimination against marginalized groups, which often increases threats and violence against members of those groups.

It is our hope that this motion reaffirms our beliefs that:

• People of all faiths and none have the right and responsibility to engage constructively in the public square.
• Canada has no second-class faiths.
• Patriotism does not require us to minimize our religious convictions.
• One’s religious affiliation, or lack thereof, should be irrelevant to one’s standing in the civic community.
• Government should not prefer one religion over another or religion over nonreligion.
• Canada’s historic commitment to religious pluralism enables faith communities to live in civic harmony with one another without sacrificing our theological convictions.
• Conflating religious authority with political authority is idolatrous and often leads to oppression of minority and other marginalized groups as well as the spiritual impoverishment of religion.
• We must stand up to and speak out against Christian nationalism, especially when it inspires acts of violence and intimidation—including vandalism, bomb threats, arson, hate crimes, and attacks on houses of worship—against religious communities at home and abroad.

In the normal course, an ordinary motion must be passed by a majority of the members of General Synod present and voting together.

Six members of General Synod may, prior to the question being put, require a vote by Orders, with a majority of each Order being necessary to pass.

If a question passes on a Vote by Orders, any six members (two from each of three different dioceses) may immediately before the next item of business require a vote to be taken by dioceses. A motion passes if a majority (or a tie) of dioceses vote in favour.

Source: Sections 4 and 5 of the Declaration of Principles and sections 18, 19 and 20 of the Rules of Order and Procedure.