2017]
RIGHTS INFLATION
249
The BC Court of Appeal adopted Laskin’s opinion, on that point, as their own when they balanced the two rights and found in TWU’s favor. 380 In a robust manner, Justice Campbell of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court noted that the widespread public acceptance of gay and lesbian rights over the last fourteen years did not render the 2001 case out of step with current legal thought and social values. 381 The case involved not only gay and lesbian rights, but also freedom of religion and conscience. 382 Therefore, he concluded: The conversation between equality and freedom of conscience has not become old fashioned or irrelevant over the last 14 years, and the Supreme Court’s treatment of it can hardly now be seen as archaic or anachronistic. Equality rights have not jumped the queue to now trump religious freedom. That delineation of rights is still a relevant concept. Religious freedom has not been relegated to a judicial nod to the toleration of cultural eccentricities that don’t offend the dominant social consensus. 383
In the review of the case law since 2001, Justice Campbell concluded that “[r]eligious rights have not been marginalized or in any way required to give way to a presumption that equality rights will always prevail.” 384 There remains in the law significant room for religious freedom and religious expression that offends the secular concerns and the claim for asymmetrical equality rights. Unfortunately, Justice Campbell did not acknowledge the fact that religion itself is an equality right. It is not simply religion versus equality, but rather the asymmetrical claim of equality rights that seek to eclipse religion. 385 Finally, Professor Craig asserted that TWU’s Community Covenant will not allow the law program to teach the skill of critical thinking. 386 “Academic staff are required to teach students that the Bible is the ultimate, final, and authoritative guide by which all ethical decisions must be made.” 387 Professor Craig maintains, “[t]o teach that ethical issues must be perceived of, assessed with, and resolved by a preordained, prescribed, and singularly authoritative religious doctrine is not to teach the skill of critical thinking about these issues.” 388
380
Trinity W. Univ. v. Law Soc’y of B.C., 2016 BCCA 423, para. 159 (B.C.). Trinity W. Univ. v. N.S. Barristers’ Soc’y, 2015 NSSC 25, paras. 195–96 (N.S.). 382 Id. 383 Id. 384 Id. at para. 200. 385 See supra notes 22–24 and accompanying text. 386 Letter from Elaine Craig, Assoc. Professor of Law, Dalhousie Univ. Schulich Sch. of Law, to Rene Gallant, President, N.S. Barristers’ Soc’y 10–11 (Feb. 5, 2014), http://nsbs.org/sites/default/files/ftp/TWU_Submissions/2014-02-05_Craig_TWU.pdf. 387 Id. 388 Id. 381