The Diversity of Children: A Challenge for the Pluralist State (La Diversité Des Enfants: Un Défi Pour L'Etat Pluraliste)

Abstract

In January, 1993, the Supreme Court of Canada heard an appeal, Young v. Young, that put in question the religious freedom of two Jehovah's Witnesses. Although a conflict between parents about their children's education is seemingly a private conflict that relates to their private beliefs, it can nevertheless be regulated by state officials in a public forum. Furthermore, as the following discussion will suggest, the courts' response, and by extension the state's response, to problems involving parents in marriages or unions of various religions can provide revealing indications as to the capacity of our liberal society to accept and encourage pluralism of communities and complexity of individuals.

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