Recognition of “human rights” often involves the need to balance one set of rights against another. While anti‐discrimination laws generally are designed to outlaw decision‐making on irrelevant grounds, recognition of “freedom of religion” (a clear human right acknowledged in the international covenants on the area) requires acknowledging that decision‐making in many areas on religious grounds is not irrelevant, and hence requires careful crafting of appropriate exemptions to otherwise blanket prohibitions against discrimination. But in many ways there has been a subtle shift in recent decades away from a fully‐orbed recognition of human rights, towards an absolutist prohibition of discrimination alone. This trend raises serious concerns for recognition of the right to free exercise of religion. Should a Christian marriage registrar be obliged to register same‐sex partnerships? May a Christian worker in a secular organisation be required not to wear an openly visible cross? Can a Christian foster‐care agency be obliged to place children in a same‐sex partnership? Must a Christian camping organization accept a booking from a same‐sex advocacy group? This paper considers examples from the UK and Australia to further discussion of how religion is protected in practice as opposed to merely on paper.