Lately, in North America at least, we've been tolerating too many human rights violations (e.g., discrimination against homosexuals) in the name of religious freedom.

In a secular democracy, only those aspects of religion that do not infringe on people's human rights should be protected from discrimination (e.g., not eating pork, keeping the sabbath); the aspects that do infringe on others' human rights (e.g., restricting women's reproductive rights, inciting hate of homosexuals) should not be tolerated.

Now, with Singh being both religiously orthodox AND the leader of the NDP, not to mention an uncritical supporter of the niqab and burqa, it is legitimate to worry that he may be overly biased toward religious freedom vs. all other human rights.

Similarly, it was to be expected that Harper, as an Evangelical Christian at the head of the Conservatives, would crusade against abortion (well, until the topic proved too unpopular).